Weedkillers

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Primrose
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Can anybody recommend a good weedkilleer? I am fighting a losing battle with oxalis in my garden. Until now I have tried to hand weed it to eradicate it as I prefer to grow my vegetables organically but it is spreading everywhere and I think I now need a more drastic solution. Can somebody who uses weed killers give me some advice on the least harmful one to use and how long they are effective for.
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Geoff
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Glyphosate is usually reckoned to be pretty safe. You could use one of the gel dispensers to paint each plant. I've been using it effectively for coltsfoot in herbaceous but I don't know if it kills oxalis.
Last edited by Geoff on Sat May 17, 2014 7:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Cider Boys
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Well, often in life, as I'm sure that you are aware we have to compromise and take a pragmatic course of action. I'm an unashamed weed killer user. I do not use it for the sake of it and prefer using a hoe or even a little hand weeding but sometimes to control troublesome weeds I use glyphosate. The type I use is Clinic for commercial agricultural/horticultural use and probably would not be available in a garden centre but although I have never tried it I believe Roundup is a glyphosate based weed killer that is readily available. The type I use (or used to use when I was commercially growing) you had to mix with water and it was important to use it at the recommended strength for the targeted weeds. Roundup may already be mixed I do not know Glyphosate is sprayed during dry growing conditions and is trans-located from the leaves to the roots and then kills the weed. Any that lands on the soil has no effect. I also prefer growing organically and try to whenever I can but I do reach for the aid of weed killers if they are getting out of control.

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peter
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Glyphosate based ones are the most common and are alleged to be the safest.
The active ingredient only works on healthy actively growing plants and is inactivated on contact with soil (as a dog owner I assume days rather than pack statement). Roundup and most diy-shed own label.

It works first time on everything I've used it on other than well established bindweed, which it cripples rather than kills, persistence with reapplication works.

Available, ready diluted, as concentrate for dilution and as a gel for discrete spot application.

As an alternative propane(red cylinders) and a roofers wand on a plumbers torch, (Imagine a baked bean tin sized burner on a 2' to 3' pipe.) takes no prisoners, but put the cylinder in a metsl wheelbarrow and have a hose, bucket or watering can on standby.
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FelixLeiter
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Glyphosate comes up trumps every time as a weed killer that kills everything. I hold the view that it has been around for some time and if any ill-effects as a result of its use were to show themselves, we would be aware of them by now. It is important, though, that it's given the opportunity to stick to the weeds' leaves if it is to work. Some of the more intractable perennial weeds tend to have a particularly waterproof leaf, which is often why repeated spraying with any water-based translocated herbicide (glyphosate and their like) can seem fruitless. I've taken to using the pre-mixed Roundup which is supplied in a container which has an adjustable nozzle with a foam setting. This works extremely well, to the extent that I have completely eradicated ground elder from the bottom of a hedge. Oxalis foliage repels water well, which is why I suggest you try applying as a foam. Certainly the results for me were beyond my expectations.
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Primrose
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Thanks for all your advice. As my veg patch and borders are now full of closely growing vegetables, am I right in assuming that if I delay a thorough weed killing session until the autumn when the soil is more clear but still warm a weed killing blitz will still be effective?
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peter
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In a word, no. :wink:

Glyphosate only works on healthy actively growing plants. If they are turning dormant, finished seeding, or the days are getting shorter, then it won't kill everything and you may have another batch of weed seeds. At best in those circumstances it will take weeks instead of days to work and you'll be waiting for browning off, thinking you've wasted your time and money. :?
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Geoff
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I don't have oxalis but doesn't it die off early like celandine?
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Primrose
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No really Geoff. It just seems to grow in bigger clumps. The only advantage of that is that the root globules also grow bigger and are easier to dig out in one piece. The problem with leaving the clumps to get bigger is obviously that the legitimate plants & vegetables around them then have to compete for moisture or nutrients.
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Geoff
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It's expensive but I'd definitely go for gel, at least on some of it to see how well it works.
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peter
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Geoff's advice is good, gel is discrete, no overspray. :D
It comes packaged like those "block" underarm deodorants and you wipe the holey end on the weed.
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Santa_stunt_double
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Glyphosate can be purchased more economically from farming suppliers (Countrywide or similar), or on eBay, in 5 litre cartons - one of these will last me two or three years use on two plots, at 20ml per litre.

My other option is a Sheen Flame Gun - inherited from my late father in law almost thirty years ago, and probably twenty years old at that time. You can still buy new, or get almost all the spare parts, to keep it running. As quick as spraying (although they recommend two runs, a few days apart) - you don't need to burn the weeds down, just heat enough to get the water in the cells boiling, at 2000C, that's a matter of seconds... better on smaller weed seedlings, it also has the advantage that it destroys the seeds in the soil, which contact weedkillers won't.

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I've been battling this one for several years, and found Resolva Extra Tough is the most effective. However you do have to be vigilant and zap every bit as soon as you see it. Let if flower and off it goes again.

http://www.resolva-weeds.com/products/r ... eedkiller/

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Ricard with an H
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I've used Glyphosate for 12 years, if you're careful you can be quite surgical with it. As already mentioned using a gel, you can make your own with wallpaper paste. I also use a bucket without a bottom to isolate certain areas and don't use it on a windy day.

I have also started burning around plants using a shield to protect the plants I'm growing. Using the right shield can get you up-close to your prized plants, don't use steel. Steel will radiate the heat to the plants you want to save, I use feather-edged weather-board. Yes it'll burn but then you'll know to come-away with the torch.

Two days ago I burnt 3 square metres of seedling growth in 30 minutes then another 30 minutes around salad plants. The remaining weeds that were too close to burn are then easily hand picked. I just lost one sorrel plant by getting a bit too close though mostly I was within an inch either side of the seedling-row.

Back to glyphosate, I even use it on bramble. If you hit the new green growth it'll stop that cane and though I doubt it gets to the roots I had a lot of success controlling bramble spread.

Like others I buy my Glyphosate from a farmers co-op. It's around £40 for 5 litres. Ten years ago it was £12 from the same source. 5 litres probably lasts me five years treating an acre plus the domestic area and drives.

I also have a selective herbicide for grasses though I haven't used it since I joined this forum because I'm not sure what is in it and the label fell off. I'll probably start using it on grasses where I don't pick-up, plantain is the biggest nuisance.
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