Weed killer. Roundup?

helen_roberts_2

Hi, the end of our garden is wildly overgrown and ridiculous. I figured while it's still cold and it's not growing much I would try and get rid. It must be about 40/50 square meters of ridiculous overgrown weeds/unwanted plants. I figured if I just bought some of that ready prepared round up and cover the area this weekend then next weekend I'll be able to dig it all up and then the following weekend cover it in that plastic stuff till I decide what to do with the area.

To be honest I've never used roundup, I don't know if it's any good or if it's what I need. Any advice would be great. Want to get rid of it all before the children start playing in the garden again.

Cheers

Helen

amcluesent

In the colder weather I think it'll take more than a week for the glyphosate to work.

Dan_Gleebitz

Search for and try some of this. It is very good stuff.
I don't know if it would work as well at this time of the year though.

Bayer Ground Clear Soluble Sachets.


Dan.

Mojisola

Round-up works by being taken into the plant and moved around inside it, including down to the roots. It works best when the plant is actively growing.

Patchwork_Quilt

I've found it does a very good job but I think you may need to wait a little longer.

Resolva was better, though.

Mojisola

Resolva is a mixture of glyphosate (which is the chemical in Round-up) and diquat. The diquat will show results faster than glyphosate on its own but you still need to give the glyphosate time to be translocated to the roots if you don't want a lot of regrowth. Both chemicals are taken into the plant via the leaves. If the weeds you want to get rid of are just bare sticks now, you will be wasting your money. Wait until the weeds are back into active growth.

Alternatively you could hire a strimmer now and cut everything down to ground level. Cover the area with plastic as you mention. When the growing season starts, pull the plastic back and apply your weedkiller of choice. All the fresh growth will rapidly spread the chemicals around the weeds and sort the problem out.

helen_roberts_2

Thank you. I like that idea of hiring a strummer to get rid for now and tackling the weed killer later. Does anyone know how much it costs to hire one? And would I wait til march or later for best result of weed killer?

Invalidation

Strimmers arent expensive to rent. Ive had mixed results with Roundup, some Ive used works within 24 hours, some never worked at all, coulod have been an old batch I suspect. Its best used when the plant is actively growing so cut back with a strimmer (Ive got a machete I bought off Ebay, great excercise) then wait for the new shoots and leaves to appear and spray with Roundup or Glyphosate. I also had good result with straight copper sulphate crystals dissolved in water, but only used them on Brambles and rubbish growth

gardenroute

As mojisola said the weedkiller won't work unless the plant is actively growing. You also need a few days of dry weather after spraying so the chemical is not washed off. Spraying it now would be a waste of time/money.
50m2 is a large area to spray, I would take it down to ground level first, cover it, and then spray what's left when its warmer.