Auburn University confirmed nowadays that a herbicide commonly used to kill trees was deliberately applied in lethal amounts to the soil round the Toomer’s Corner live oaks on campus, leaving very little probability to save lots of the trees.
The University learned that a caller to The Paul Finebaum Show, a nationally syndicated radio show based mostly in Birmingham, on Jan. 27, claimed he had applied the herbicide.
As a precaution, soil samples were taken successive day and sent to the Alabama State Pesticide Residule Laboratory on campus for analysis. thanks to atiny low hearth that occurred within the Alabama lab in December, the tests were sent to the lab at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss., to expedite results.
Officials said during a news unharness that the bottom quantity of the poison detected was zero.78 elements per million, described by horticulture consultants as a “very lethal dose.” the best quantity detected was fifty one elements per million, or sixty five times the bottom dose. consultants believe a traditional application by itself would are enough to kill the trees, that are estimated to be quite one hundred thirty years previous.
"We can take each step we will to save lots of the Toomer’s oaks, that are the house of countless celebrations and an emblem of the Auburn spirit for generations of Auburn students, fans, alumni and therefore the community,” said University President Jay Gogue