Can I Use Glysophate Now to Kill Ivy?

dogstarheaven

seakay: thanks for vote of confidence. didn't realise that Bob Flowerdew approves of glysophate.. it's a full-sized lottie, and when faced with the prospect of one half being supposedly deceased japanese knotweed, and a quarter (or 7'+ wide from the boundaries where the willow trees/hedges are) are willow suckers, 1/3 bramble and the rest nettle and i think, rosebay willowherb (from what i guess with the stubbs of new shoots everywhere, and the tall brown thin flower stalks, and brittle white roots), wouldn't anyone want to resort to using the dreaded evil weedkiller? i didn't know that the residual glysophate wouldn't be a problem in the soil.

i've dug out another new bed today for three hours, and mostly it was ivy and rosebay willowherb, which wasn't too bad. then my toes too cold and went home at 4pm. tomorrow, i shall go down again, and prob. spend about 5 hours or so. it's hard work constantly pulling out the weeds, the zillions of glass shards, the rubbish.. plus the fact i don't drive, so everything's a bit arduous, you know..:o

cootambear

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Yes, that'll be it!

You've heard of the terminator gene, obviously.

We have every reason to be wary of Monsanto.

I am wary (sceptical) viz any scientific discourse, its the only healthy way.

At least Monsatos motives are transparent - profit. Their main opponents motives, after peeling away the beauty treatments, are far more sinister.

Out of interest, would ever use a tomato variety whose seeds do not breed true (eg F1 hybrid)?

Sambucus_Nigra

Seakay wrote: »

It's an allotment - see #1 "just got myself a lottie last Mon"

Post No 1 didn't mentioned Japanese Knotweed! Which is why I asked.

Seakay

John Cushnie has a few ideas:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3347272/10-must-do-gardening-jobs-for-Easter.html

As do the folk on self sufficientish:
http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5781&start=0

Good luck with your allotment - I gave mine up after I got ill becaue I didn't have a car or the energy to both get there and then deal with it!

Seakay

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Post No 1 didn't mentioned Japanese Knotweed! Which is why I asked.

You asked if it was an allotment or a garden. Again I tell you, it's an allotment (which I know because the OP said so in #1 which also contained the questions that he wanted answering)

Sambucus_Nigra

cootambear wrote: »

Out of interest, would ever use a tomato variety whose seeds do not breed true (eg F1 hybrid)?

Sorry - would who?

Sambucus_Nigra

Seakay wrote: »

You asked if it was an allotment or a garden. Again I tell you, it's an allotment (which I know because the OP said so in #1 which also contained the questions that he wanted answering)

So - why don't you answer them then!

cootambear

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Sorry - would who?

I quoted your post, so I`am asking if you would?
Of course anyone else who wishes to put their views could do so too.

Sambucus_Nigra

cootambear wrote: »

I quoted your post, so I`am asking if you would?
Of course anyone else who wishes to put their views could do so too.

I do, yes.

I grow F1 Sungold and usually a F1 yellow courgette. However, this year I'm dropping the Yellow Courgette as I found an open pollinated one that is just as good as, and produces better yields than the F1.

I have a chum who is de-hybridising the F1 Sungolds and hopefully next year will have a stable Sungold F5 which has many of the traits but will be open pollinated.

I believe that de-hybridised sungolds are now available in the States that are stable, open pollinated and have 99% of the taste of the original......secret....F1 mix.

A._Badger

In my opinion, the problem with glyphosate here is likely to be the weakness of the mixture sold to amateurs. I was made painfully aware of this when faced with a major problem renovating an old garden a few years ago. Two helpers I employed also worked in agriculture and forestry and pointed out to me that the strength of the product they regularly used was far greater than the watered-down stuff I was using, without any conspicuous success.

This, I'm sure, is why I've never found glyphosate quite as devastating as some say. If it won't work on ground elder (and it won't) I don't imagine it would have a snowball in hell's chance with Japanese knotweed.

As for ivy - my impression is that the plant needs to be quite actively growing for it to have much effect and even then, as has been suggested, you would get better results by crushing the leaves and repeated applications.

I suspect all you are going to be able to do here is try it and see. No one is going to be able to offer you any sort of guarantee.