Bold patch on the neck

[leeweedon]

I've read posts about flame throwers, vinager, boiling water and other hocus pocus methods of killing weeds.

 

I'm after buying a chemical solution to kill everything in an area of my garden and on my paths.

 

Round up seems expensive, and there are several versions.

 

Does anyone know of a chemical solution / product that is strong and reasonably priced?

 

Hopefully IF the rain stops gardening is on the menu!

 

L

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Chickens .

 

Sorry, apart from that, I don't know much about weedkillers!

[Olly]

Do you really want to kill everything in that part of the garden? Not just plants, but EVERYTHING? And do you want whatever you use to filter into the water system? Glyphosate (which is what Roundup is) will kill most surface weeds and it degrades fairly quickly, I don't use anything else in my garden and I only use it sparingly. It's systemic, it will kill live weeds but it won't destroy anything in the soil so you'll still need to weed again in future. Perennial weeds such as bramble, couch grass etc would need repeated applications.

 

There really isn't any substitute for getting in there with a fork and a wheelbarrow, yes it's hard work but you get a workout at the same time and you will be able to get out the roots of perennial weeds, too. You could use glyphosate on the paths where it is very time-consuming to get weeds out, personally I wouldn't use anything stronger.

[Alex_LJZ]

Hay, Anyone know what the life of Glyphosate is once on the ground. I use it sparingly for bottercups which drive me mad. Wondering how long I should keep the chickens of the area for it to breakdown??

[BlueSilver]

Glyphosate seems to have a worrying half-life with a very wide variable of half-life (which is only when it loses it's effectiveness, it isn't gone). The data in various studies states it's can be anywhere between 3 to 137 days...which us a shocking range, and seems to suggest no one really knows where it goes....which is rather why using the stuff is worrying.

 

I make a mix of straight vinegar, rock salt, and washing up soap, add a little water and spray on a bright, clear day. It takes a few applications over the year, but it does the job. But don't think it's any nicer - salting fields was what Romans did to ruin the ground, and if you put too much of this down, you'll kill everything same as the nastier weed killers. I put it on my front patio to control the dandelions (whatever I'm not feeding my Henz anyway) and it works pretty well.

 

And since a good workout is sadly beyond me right now, I've decided to combat the main issue by seeding between cracks and patches with moss and clover -brings bees, and grows quickly, choking out space the weeds would come in and doesn't give them a chance to spread. Nature hates a vacuum, so fill the space before weeds do, and there's no backbreaking weeding required.

[Alex_LJZ]

That is worrying.

 

Interestingly glyphosate is the only weedkiller licenced for general use commercially over water or near rivers. This ends next year and specific licence will be needed each time it is used.

[BlueSilver]

Which in and of itself is baffling, as a 2012 study shows the stuff has been showing up in groundwater in toxic levels. (Analytical and Biolanalytical Chemistry, March 2012, issue 7). Glyphosate is a difficult compound to measure and track, it seems. I'm a bit of a chemistry nerd, albeit an out of practice one, but I've been keeping track of the chemical reports; overall, it's not safer because it appears "gone" in tests -it's because the tests have been inaccurate and haven't measured the half -life outside labs with the appropriate formulae or new measuring technology.

 

I need a nerdy glasses icon heh.

[Olly]

Yikes - Glyphosate is the only chemical I use in the garden because I understood it degraded fairly quickly and 'safely'. Looks like that's off the list as well, now!

[Alex_LJZ]

I also wonder how often the concentrations get messed up. My company made the decision to only buy it bottled because people kept getting the mix ratios wrong on the powdered stuff.