HELP! i think ive weedkillered my beech hedges!

Hello there. about three or four weeks ago i used some Roundup to try to get rid of some bind weed i had. however.. i didnt realise it was so strong and my very well established eight foot beech hedges have got very rust coloured leaves when i got some on the hedges. im really concerned that i may have killed them... ive tried to lop off some of the branches to try to stop the poison. is there anything i can do to stop the rot? its my hedge i believe but my neighbour will kill ME if ive killed the hedge?

PS.. im not using weedkiller any more anywhere near any other plants!

 

Well, I don´t know what to say, a weedkiller is just a very smart name for what is actually a PLANT killer. There are a few selective killers out there that you can use on the lawn for example, but if it is not specified a killer is a killer is a killer, period. Which is why I never use herbicides of any kind.

If the hedge is really well established and the sprayng was light you may get away with a bit of burning else... my farmer neighbour killed all of my garden on a windy day six years ago...

Next time wear your gloves and get to it with your own hands.

 

Hi Mandy
I think you have just learnt a very hard lesson. You must be extra careful with weedkiller Round Up is one of the strongest, you will suffer heavy loss, i cant hold out any hope for much at all.

You must use a seperate watering can for weedkiller,Wilkos sell red ones which is what i use for weedkiller ,i can make no mistake RED is danger,and if you use the ready mixed spray bottles even wind drift can cause a lot of damage,you would have to shield nearby plants with cardboard or something similar while you are spraying

 

I think the only thing is to hope! As others have said, if its well established you may get away with minor damage. Best of luck and let us know.

I learned the hard way with the watering can which I used for dual use washing in between. Obviously didn't wash enough one day and ended up with a big squiggly S bare patch right through the lawn.

I don't use weedkillers at all now (just handweed or put up with them as best I can). On the other hand, I would definitely use one if they worked selectively on Ground Elder which is a major menace in my garden/lawn. Grrrrrr.

 

well it looks like ill just have to hope and pray. the hedge is very well established... im hoping that i have just "burnt" the leaves like one of you said but if ive killed it i shall have to just replant.. but takes years to reestablish..

the roundup wont be used agaiN! and yes i have learnt a very hard lesson!

thank you all.

 

Mandy

Since you've cut out the affected parts, there's nothing more you can do, as far as I'm aware, to stop the systemic action. But I very much doubt limited collateral spraying with Roundup would kill the individual trees in an eight foot high beech hedge. I recently acquired a house with a large beech hedge and I'm impressed at how tough it is. I've been digging near it and the root system is really extensive!

All you can do is wait and watch. But even if some of the individual trees in your hedge die, you could always replace them.

 

Mandy ,I think the same as Flinty, You have probably damaged the Beech, rather than killed it. Don`t be afraid to use weedkiller, just be more careful with it. :thumb:

 

ill just watch and wait. i do sooooo hope its ok!

 

Wow, biker, you just put a name to my nemesis in the new garden. Ground elder sounded like the perfect description, I googled for pics and there it was, the bloody b****r. Never saw that in Italy, though we had our share of unkillable weeds. Every place a new challenge and no mistake.

 

We've live in three houses where the gardens were heavily infected (or should that be inflicted?!) with ground elder. Each of them completely cleared using Roundup. We were as careful as we could be applying it with small hand sprays, and even paint brushes, and the few other plants we lost we considered fair game in the battle. They were big gardens, so digging out etc. would have been un-ecconomic for us, timewise.

I've had one previous garden infected with mare's tails, and out current garden (been here just two years) has a patch of it, and I'm very keen to kill that however I can before it spreads. Applied Round-Up a few weeks ago, and no impact as yet (as I expected). I'm planning to just cut everything down and "mow it" (its a patch around a pond and under some light tree cover). All ideas welcome

Good luck with the hedge.

 

If there is at least some healthy green remaining on each plant and it is a well established hedge I think it will gradually recover. Even if there is no green it will probably recover eventually.

Next time you treat bind weed in a hedge, unwind the bind weed, and lay the growth on the ground before treating it. I've also seen the suggestion that you gather the growth in to a plastic sack, and then spray it inside the sack, so nothing else it affected.

 

Now i know why i leave the spraying to my certificate bearing gardener to do the weeds. As yet he has been true to his word but we too are struggling with horsetail and have found, what i think are 6 japanese knotweed plants. .Monsanto man in Anglsea was very helpful and we will do the business when they are bigger.Looks like you have received lots of advice. Good luck.