Kitchen Garden Forum

I see the EU is proposing to ban Glyphosate weedkiller
I don't use it personally but know that many people do as a line of last resort.
Seems to me that we're having too many agricultural chemicals banned without the general public first having an alternative viable substitute.

In Spain you can not buy more than half a litre of weed killer unless you have a farm registration number, you can buy as many half litre bottles as you want but the price of half a litre is nearly the same as what we used to pay for five litres

I believe parts of the EU have already banned it. I did post something on this subject a few months back last year.
Then the proposals which would have affected us seemed to go quiet.

Hope this thread stays on the subject of glyphosate rather then provoking comments on Brexit.

I think the missing gardening chemical which concerns me most is being unable to buy Dilthane for spraying my tomatoes against blight. I have a few very old carefully hoarded packets which may nit be very effective now. I am growing more blight resistant Ferline this year and tumbling cherry varieties which crop earlier and do seem to have a better chance of at least producing some crops before blight strikes.

Nobody round here seems to grow tomatoes in their gardens which does sometimes delay any disease spreading but if you have an allotment you don't really stand a chance, do you?

In a word reply to your last point about not standing a chance...................

NO.

Friend of mine swears by Ferline, says he has never had blight on it as badly as other toms.
Hate to say that when I travelled over and looked at his plot back in 2014 the Ferline were black from top to bottom
Just as badly as any other tom.

There are very real issues with weedkiller.

Glyphosate is made by Monsanto, a company which I wouldn't trust with a barge pole.

However, I do think we need a more joined up policy in respect of amateur gardeners at EU level. So many products have been withdrawn for all the right reasons, but without genuine alternatives being out there to replace them.

Farmers have been allowed to continue using these chemicals - sometimes nasty chemicals - that the rest of us can no longer get access to.

What that means is that we have to buy stuff from the supermarket that has probably been dosed up significantly more than would have been the case had we grown it!!!

But, no, even if they ban glyphosate - which is now thought to be "probably" a carcinogen - that's not a good reason in itself for Brexit, although I am often left pondering the phrase: the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

Can I just point out that it is

Glyphosate.

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Re: Weedkiller on Allotments?

Post by Pa Snip » Thu Nov 12, 2015 7:19 pm

As a point of interest, seeing as Glyphosate has been mentioned. Mrs Snip and I were reading one of the 'Smallholder' type magazines earlier this year in which there was an article saying Monsanto brand, and probably others, Glyphosate had been banned in France because it was/is carcinogenic

Monsanto is a well known company and I can't see them standing for it if it is inaccurate.

Well, no. I don't use any herbicides or pesticides anywhere near fruit and veg anyway, and we live in hope that bought food isn't toxic.

Ive not read whether it is the method of application, or the effect on the plants grown in treated soil which is carcinogenic, but it is reassuring to know they are taking notice of results.

There are a lot of things that I don't like about the EU, that have come about since we joined, but overall, I like being part of Europe and the freedom of travel, our students studying abroad and the ease of working abroad plus security and food safety standards. It was better when it was smaller, but does provide us with a huge market for our goods, and we really are safer as part of a large bloc of countries. We are a tiny country and are no longer the all conquering beast we were in the past.

Thought we were avoiding politics

You should see the gardening supply shops in Thailand, they are floor to ceiling with every imaginable herbicide and pesticide and the equipment to apply it, with a little stand of seed packets in one corner.

PLUMPUDDING wrote:
Thought we were avoiding politics

You should see the gardening supply shops in Thailand, they are floor to ceiling with every imaginable herbicide and pesticide and the equipment to apply it, with a little stand of seed packets in one corner.

Taking bets on how much was counterfeit ??? especially the seeds, weeeeeee high as a kite lol

Glyphosate is under the spotlight worldwide and the issue is really nothing to do with Europe and if Brexit happens (which I hope it doesn't, the world is too dangerous to increase isolation in any way) Britain would almost certainly take the same action.
I do you Glyphosate away from growing areas but it is seeming to be proving the old saying if it is too good to be true it probably is.