Antifreeze and trees

[EZ]

A guy at work was telling me he was pulling some logs out of his woods with his tractor. The last log he pulled out he didnt set the brake on the tractor and when he unhook the chain the tractor took off down the hill. He said it was unreal, it was like the tractor was being driven by remote control. It went about a 1000 yards, mist the house, mist the barn and drove itself dead center into a Walnut tree. Said it made one heck of a bang when it hit the tree. Broke the tractor in half, said there is oil and antifreeze all around the tree. He was wondering if the antifreeze would kill the tree. I told him I didnt know but maybe he should cut the tree down to help pay for the tractor.
EZ

[Ianab]

Oil and glycol in the soil isn't going to do the tree any good  
Has he spilt enough to kill it?.. only time will tell.
Suggest clean up as much oil and contaminated topsoil as possible to reduce the amount that permeates down around the roots and hope the tree is healthy enough to survive

Ian

[beenthere]

EZ  I don't think the antifreeze will harm the walnut tree in any way. Neither will the oil.

I had a similar experience with a "run-away" tractor. Had a 2 cyl JD 420 that decided to roll (one night when I was burning a huge pile of tree tops after cutting our logs firewood) and when I tried to jump onto it to hit the brakes, it was going too fast. Tossed me end over end and knocked me out (missed getting run over by the wheel ).  I woke up, the tractor had hit a rock with the front blade, and had broken the front end and separated it from the tractor. Lost all the antifreeze.

Didn't know what to do. Called the neighbor farmer to let him know my tractor was sitting in his ravine. Couldn't for the life of me figure out how I was going to move it, as it seemed it would have to be lifted in two pieces. Nothing seemed to be workable, as it was nose down in a ditch, not accessible with a wrecker.

That night I returned home from work, and the tractor sat by my garage door!!!!  Turns out the old farmer (just a half generation beyond using horses) had tied a chain around the front and back, used a chain tightener to draw the two together which then connected the torn-off radiator hose, put water in, started it, and drove it out of the ravine and home. I was impressed and very appreciative. He was a great neighbor in so many ways.  

[shopteacher]

EZ, I could use a few neighbors like that, got any extras?  Closest thing I have to it is you folk here on the forum.

[rebocardo]

Now that is a neighbor! What I would worry about is the anti-freeze running into well or drinking water, since it is pretty bad stuff to drink even greatly diluted.

[Jason_WI]

We have busted hydraulic hoses on the headlands while lifting the disk and pumped out 30 quarts of hydraulic fluid in  a smalll area. Never bothered the soybeans the were planted there. The sun will break down hydrocarbons fairly quickly so there is really nothing to be worried about. What ever you do don't say anything to the local DNR or half of your farm will be hauled away at YOUR expence.

Jason

[SwampDonkey]

There will be some damage to feeder roots of the tree which are near the surface, but overall the tree will be fine if its already healthy. Oil is used by some to kill burdock. No, not me, I used roundup, but its expensive ($35.00/500 ml).

My uncle had a tractor that got away from him and his place is probably about 600 yards uphill from mine. The tractor came down and struck a good sized maple tree and knocked it over. The hill is only gradual, because its all field. Then down the road to my brothers a car left the road and struck a box elder and just knocked a little bark of it. The car was a right-off ,along with the occupant (DUI casualty)  :-/

[Mark M]

I would probably try to clean up as much oil as I could (without going to a lot of trouble). I wouldn't worry too much about the glycol as it is easily broken down by soil organisms. Its harmful to animals and humans because it gets metabolized to oxalic acid and some other things in the liver (if I remember correctly). Crystals form that damage the tissue (tear it apart) but walnut trees don't have livers (they have walnuts).

[SwampDonkey]

Stinky

Oxalic Acid? Same with Alcohol you drink.

[Mark M]

Yep - but with alcohol we have alcohol dehydrogenase to detoxify da metabolites (assuming you drink a little now and then). Dats why folks who drink a lot can handle it better than those who don't. One treatment for ingestion of ethylene glycol is to drink a heapin helpin of alcohol (I keep some Jack Daniels on had just for this purpose). I can't remember the exact biochemical pathway but the ethanol competes with the glycol at certain enzymatic sites and if there is enough booze present it can keep you from having your liver explode.

[SwampDonkey]

Some ethnic groups like Asians and Native Indians are not so tolerant to it though, right? I remember a documentary done by Dr. David Suzuki which talked about the effects of alcohol and oxalic acid on certain ethnics groups.