Roundup weedkiller

I dont really understand the reason people seem to be panicking about Glysophate beng banned, especially when there are alternatives that are friendlier to the environment. As some on here are aware, I've not used any chemicals on the garden for a few years now, and dont have weed problems.

 

Who'd want to buy Glyphosate if it didn't contain any weedkiller?

 

According to some research I've read, glyphosate is about the only really effective control for japanese knotweed. So although we can get along without it for 'normal' gardening, there are probably situations where it would be the least worst thing to use.

 

I'd be interested in the alternatives , I dont have a weed problem, but I do use glyphosate most years, sparingly, on areas where I dont actually cultivate, ie. edges of my allotment at fencing, and a bit of bramble control on the more wilder parts.

 

There is no effective alternative, pete. Several friends here fell for the sneaky hype of the replacement of Glypho in almost identical packaging. The aforementioned pelargonic acid. Absolutely and totally useless. So now gardeners are resorting to salt, vinegar, bleach and God knows what else. Good move..not! But the 'natural, bio' stuff sells for €40 a litre. You can fool some of the people enough of the time to keep the profits up.

 

I'm dubious as to whether or not I should actually reply to this, for the simple reason I know before I write it that some are going to get upset.

There are three main areas that I like to keep weed free. They are paving, gravel drive and of course, the lawn. Taking them in the same order:

Paving is easy. A battery or mains powered rotary wire brush similar to this one works a treat.




After trying both salt and vinegar previously, I now use a wheeled hoe on the gravel drive. As often as not, I attach a kind of rake to the hoe to get those nice lines in the gravel. The only important thing here is to keep the gravel to a decent thickness.

In regards to the lawn. Simply use an organic/ecological fertiliser that slightly raises the pH of the soil, and lime it in the Autumn. Not only foes the fertiliser keep the weeds at bay, raising the pH keeps moss away, so no need to use Iron Sulphate, which is a poison anyway.

 

Which is fine and admirable if you don't have a rather large garden bordered by fields and an electric fence, that has to be kept clear of vegetation. Or large borders mulched with weed-seed-riddled manure and compost. And aforementioned fields containing bindweed, mare's-tail and field thistle which don't, bizarrely, recognise boundaries. As per Pete's post, Glypho is/was the only effective, systemic product in certain situations. Bearing in mind also that many gardeners are also busy, working folk with limited time for manual control.

 

Glyphosate all the way for me - it's cheaper now the patent has expired - is effective - but slow to show results in my experience. I have no problem at all spraying it liberally on weeds - much to utter disgust of my neighbouring 'organic' plot holder .

 

I dont know anyone who uses glyphosate on their lawn, if they did it wouldn't be a lawn for long.
I also dont think I'd use glyphosate on paving, its a weedkiller.

A gravel drive, maybe, but one of the more persistent weedkillers would be better for that IMO.

 

And I'd like to hear of alternatives to weedkiller for easily getting rid of bindweed established under extensive lengths of chicken mesh rabbit proof fencing buried into the ground, with its brittle root system entangled with the buried mesh.

 

Yes, we lost the original Pathclear some time ago, which was designed to keep paths and drives (especially gravel) free of weeds for up to 6 months. As it contained an ingredient to stop further annual weed seeds from germinating, it did the job well with just one application. So now you've got people spreading salt and bleach and God knows what, which are infinitely worse for the environment.