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Sometimes when using a weed killer  it can unintentionally get on to plants you don’t want to get rid of.  Occasionally when spraying a wind will carry the spray onto other plants and it won’t be until sometime later that the damage appears.  The first thing you should to do is wash it off with plenty of running water - a hosepipe is best.  The faster you do this the better the chance of your plant surviving.  You will know if you have this type of damage as leaves will become smaller, narrowed and probably  twisted.

Once this damage is spotted there is little that can be done other than to remove the damaged parts of the plant and trust that more damage will not become apparent over the next few days.  Sometimes a plant will recuperate if it has only had a scant amount of weed killer sprayed on it.  The amount of damage really does depend on how much weed killer it was exposed to and how strong the plant is.  Some plants are a great deal more susceptible than others and only a small amount will be enough to kill the plant.

You should always take great care if you must use chemical weed killers to make sure that none of it drifts to vulnerable areas.  Try to only use chemicals of this type when there is little or no wind and use a spray that will direct the liquid exactly where it is needed with little risk of overspray.  It is also sensible to have special containers for each spray that you use in the garden as residual weed killer left in a container that you might use for other things could kill your plants.

Chemical weed killers should really only be used in extreme circumstances, hand weeding before they take hold is the best defence.  If you do hand weed, remember not to put them in your compost if they are flowering or seeding as it is unlikely that a domestic compost heap will get hot enough to kill off the seeds and you could end up spreading them all over your garden again.

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