Kitchen Garden Forum

Some advice, please. Can weed killer that goes to the roots kill or damage other roots that they come into contact with under the ground? Thanks.

Depends on the weedkIller, glyphosate is absorbed by leave, kills plant and is inactivated in soil.

Hi Peter. Yes, glyphosate. I want to spray deep rooted grass and weeds round my raspberry canes, which have been pruned back to 18in shoots. The roots are so entangled with the cane's roots that it's impossible to just dig them up, but I don't want to kill the canes!

Hmmmm, I killed off my entire raspberry plot as it got infested with bindweed.
I tried the - train the bindweed up a bamboo cane with slack to uproot the cane, lay it on an empty compost bag use roundup gel and replant the cane - method.
It works if you dont have much bindweed, i missed some in the raspberries and over a couple of year the bindweed won by spreading under cover, I lost.

Spraying it means any green leaves the spray lands on will absorb the killer, so you're likely to catch your sift fruit as well as the bindweed.

Glyphosate only works on actively growing plants by absorbtion through the leaves.

Hi JohnN, I can't see you killing the grass separately from the raspberry canes.

Peter, I have succeeded against bindweed amongst the raspberries by putting the growth into a plastic bag, spraying into the bag and sealing the open end (rubber band, string, wire tie). I'll not claim to have won the war, only a series of battles and a campaign or two. No war on weeds is ever truly won.

Further to the above cut the bottom off a milk carton or similar. Place it over the bindweed and spray the bindweed through the neck of the bottle.

I stopped using chemicals, I pull up the bulk of the wild plants I don't want, my biggest pain is ground elder that a previous owner of the house introduced, apparently you can eat it, but I don't like it.

Hi,

I’ve only had my allotment for three years and usually hoe and dig weeds away. I’m considering chemicals to control them due to my back suffering.

What are your motivations to not use chemicals now. You probably have more experience than I.

I have to many weeds on the ground I cleared two years ago it’s unruly. So I thought, wait until they die back in November and December and hoe the ground then. Would I be better off doing that or using glyphosate that was only recommended yesterday.?

Hi MR SORRELL & welcome to the site btw!

From what you said about the state of your plot when you got it 3yrs is not much time, as some weed seeds stay dormant in the soil to activate & grow when conditions suit them & if they like it warm this year they got it! I did not use chemicals before the changes in the make up of the weed killers as I did not like the idea of it leeching into the water ways & eventually into the sea. I'm very near the beach (& 2 rivers) down here & value them too much as sometimes little fish swim around you while paddling & we have dolphins - shame the water companies don't!

It's a dilemma isn't it as you never win the battle of the weeds. However, I'm increasingly becoming anti weedkillers because the more you use them, the more tempting it is to continue using them to try and win the weed battle and I'm sure over the years some of the residue just remains in the soil and builds up to an unacceptable level. probably covering the ground with some kind of material to smother the weeds longterm would be better for the health of your plot. I'd let them die off naturally in the colder weather and then just hoe if your back will stand it

Weed killers work in the short term...have neighbor that has drive with mares tail, he has sprayed it and it still comes back, seen other on plot who spray weed killer all goes brown the comes back again.

"I have to many weeds on the ground I cleared two years ago it’s unruly. So I thought, wait until they die back in November and December and hoe the ground then"

Surly the time to hoe them is now when they are small? The longer you leave them the chance they go to seed ready for next year.

Have you looked at Charles Dowding "no dig way"?