weed killer

Davesnave

Aidanmc wrote: »

Chemical weedkillers are toxic, its widespread knowledge at present.
You can make your own choices but you need to be aware of the risks.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/costly-cancer-lawsuits-may-spur-search-replace-worlds-most-common-weed-killer.

A good article, but not a great one to back your scary question: "Are you aware of the health risks associated with using toxic weedkillers like roundup?

Do you also lurk on cookery forums and write "Are you aware of the health risks associated with that beef in your spaghetti bolognese?"

People should indeed make their own choices and risk assessments, based on the best evidence available at the time. The evidence at present is that using glyphosate in a domestic situation is as safe as many other everyday activities, provided care is taken mixing it and common sense is applied in its use/clean up afterwards.

I'm forever pointing out here that whether people use glyphosate themselves, there are many food products where it will have been used during production. The only way to avoid it is to buy certified organic produce....or grow your own.

madjackslam

I agree. For a domestic gardener, if you use it properly, glyphosate seems pretty low risk. I use it maybe twice a year on some bits of paving/gravel, and I can't say it worries me. I take care with euphorbia sap, bramble thorns getting infected, breathing in compost or petrol, rats peeing in the compost heap, next door's bonfire... but I'm not going to stop growing euphorbia, picking blackberries, using compost, mowing the lawn, or composting. I'd stop next door's bonfires if I could, but only because they don't check first if we've putting the washing out :rotfl:

frankie

another vote for Rosate. Just use sensible precautions.

Farway

Davesnave wrote: »

A good article, but not a great one to back your scary question: "Are you aware of the health risks associated with using toxic weedkillers like roundup?

Do you also lurk on cookery forums and write "Are you aware of the health risks associated with that beef in your spaghetti bolognese?"

People should indeed make their own choices and risk assessments, based on the best evidence available at the time. The evidence at present is that using glyphosate in a domestic situation is as safe as many other everyday activities, provided care is taken mixing it and common sense is applied in its use/clean up afterwards.

I'm forever pointing out here that whether people use glyphosate themselves, there are many food products where it will have been used during production. The only way to avoid it is to buy certified organic produce....or grow your own.

Sensible as usual
If using US lawsuits as guide to harm, maybe consider this one for baby talc? Maybe us it as a weedkiller:D?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/business/johnson-johnson-talcum-powder.html

greyteam1959

What exactly is the OP trying to kill with Roundup ??

DigForVictory

Horses for courses. Roundup comes in different forms & at different strengths & you can send a lot of money on the low voltage stuff that isn't going to exterminate your knotweed issue in anything under five decades.

If you solved your weed problems with vinegar, hurrah & eco-friendly and affordable and all these other good things.

If you are up against an aggressively invasive species, you need the heavier chemistry & an acceptance that it may not be 100% safe for you the gardener, but most of the gardening community tend to live to terrifying old ages, so fingers crossed OP is one of the lucky ones.

JEN22

Im just trying to kill general weeds in block paving and patio. I guess Rosate is the way forward.


Thanks for all responses

fatbelly

JEN22 wrote: »

Im just trying to kill general weeds in block paving and patio. I guess Rosate is the way forward.


Thanks for all responses

It was mentioned earlier. For those sort of weeds, it is worth giving white vinegar a try. I was using a garden centre spray (can't remember which one) and it was not very effective. My wife stated using vinegar from a normal vinegar shaker bottle and it killed the lot!

Davesnave

fatbelly wrote: »

It was mentioned earlier. For those sort of weeds, it is worth giving white vinegar a try. I was using a garden centre spray (can't remember which one) and it was not very effective. My wife stated using vinegar from a normal vinegar shaker bottle and it killed the lot!

As has been pointed out, glyphosate will not be seen to work immediately, or even soon. For many people, 3 weeks is too long to wait. Glyphosate disrupts the plant's ability to photosynthesise, so it experiences a slow death from being unable to manufacture food from nutrients.

White vinegar, being a concentrated acid, will attack the plant cells physically, giving results much sooner, leading to greater satisfaction for those who want to see cause & effect quickly.

Because it degrades rapidly, glyphosate will have no residual effect and new weeds might start to grow in cracks on patios even before the sprayed ones have died!

So...what many people want to do is poison the soil between the slabs, or place a chemical in there that will inhibit seed germination for a decent length of time. This is understandable, but the chemical which used to be used, sodium chlorate, was banned in 2011 and professional germination inhibitors are only available for pro use at a high cost......hence 'home remedies.'

What the effect of thousands using white vinegar might be, I can't say, but certainly water authorities wanted sodium chlorate out of run-off water, presumably for good reasons. Our rivers are full enough of contaminants.

justjohn

gallup weedkiller . its concentrated same ingredients as round up.


We use it for a car park that has stone chips and a path that is just soil. We spray once per year and the weedkiller takes 2 weeks to work. We spray end of April beginning of may. (we use at max strength as directed, but I think it could be watered down more)