Roundup alternatives

[Allan]

Apart from any bulk spraying I like to have a ready-to-use sprayer handy wherever I am working in case there is a deep-rooted perennial weed that needs attention. I have almost always used Roundup RTU, now fast acting, but does it have to be Roundup, how do other brands compare, there are many at a pound or so cheaper, maybe they don't represent value for money. Actually we still haven't come to terms with the latest spray head with its 'switch' and frothing ring. I have to buy 7 sprayers to have 1 in each polytunnel plus maybe 1 for the uncovered area we call the 'allotment' so it's worth getting it right.
I have tried refilling but it never seems as good, isn't fast acting and is only reckoned to stay fully active a short time
Comments please
Allan

[vivie veg]

Hi,

I haven't used weedkillers for about 10 years now, but when I did I used to mix the chemicals into wall paper paste and then paint the offending plant, especially useful in tight areas where you don't want to splash any desirable plants. The mixture kept active for weeks. But I don't know if it will work with the chemicals today.

I would mix up the weedkiller per instructions then add a teaspoon or so dried wall paper paste into the mixture until it was thick enough. Chose a jar that is big enough to hold the paintbrush inside with the lid on and make sure you label the jar well!

[arthur e]

Is'nt the generic name for Round Up:- Glyphosate. All garden centres sell it and it is cheaper.

[Tigger]

We use Round Up (glyphosate) and we buy it at our nearest farm suppliers where it is a fraction of the price.

[Johnboy]

Arthur is correct about Glyphosate and it was originally produced by Monsanto but the patent has run out on it so that others are free to produce it.
Round-up has been as expensive as £25 per litre and is now only £27.00. for 5 litres from my suppliers.
I have bought some quite recently and I use about 1L a year so I am glad it has a long shelf life.
Used wisely it is an incredible aid. Do not spray with very fine sprays and certainly use it in close proximity of the weed you are combatting and not in windy conditions.
I use a knapsack spray with a ground hood which prevents drift of any kind. Pressures do not need to be high to get the best results. Droplet size is all important.

[Allan]

The question was specifically about the ready to use sprayers, not bulk buy. As the quantities used are relatively small, convenience is the major factor, it costs a lot of effort to get the big sprayer out for the occasional rogue weed and time is money. I'm sorry to be pedantic but bulk buying is a seperate issue.
I have a red bucket with no bottom for application in tricky places and tune the sprayer to jet, not mist. The targets are usually convolvulus minor, dock, cinquefoil, nettles, creeping thistle. Fortunately no equisetum.

[pigletwillie]

I buy mine off ebay and pay less for a litre than 250ml costs in shops. A bonus is that its 4 x stronger than the diy stuff so quickly removes dock which is my main bane. I only used 75ml last year so I hope that it keeps for a few years

[Allan]

It seems that nobody has read carefully the details of the specific question when replying. No answer has been relevant to ready-to use sprayers.

[pigletwillie]

Allan, if we dont understand, perhaps you would be better off writing in plain basic English, like we idiots can understand.

[Allan]

I smell a windup, I hope that I am wrong but there is no evidence so far of anything else in the replies.
This is your last chance, otherwise forget about it.
You must have seen in Garden outlets an array of hand sprayers of capacity 750 ml containing "fast acting" Roundup and which are ready to use, that is the contents don't have to have any water added. The price is £4plus. There are also several rival products which are somewhat cheaper. Is that plain enough?
I can get a modest price cut in Poundstretchers, maybe I will content myself with the 10% discount I get in "focus" anyway. If you don't understand this far you are missing the most effective way of conquering deep rooted weeds with the minimum of trouble. Allan

[richard p]

we have had bindweed apear in one of the tunnels so have gone to wilinsons read the lables on a lot of the bottles and got a small bottle of something with glyphosate in it, (its out in the back of the workshop so cant quote the details) . as the bindweed is amongst the strawberries i intend painting it on the leaves with an artists paintbrush.i thougtht the ready to use packs were a rip off. they did have the little hand spray bottles at 50p if you can be bothered to mix up the spray from concentrate.
as a general point bear in mind when spraying that a big nozzle and low pressure gives big drops that land quickly whereas small nozzles and high pressure gives small droplets which will blow all over the place and can easily be inhaled. a lot of sprays that are sold for gardening use have little safety guidlines whereas using the same chemicals in a work situation requires face shields, overalls and gloves etc.

[pigletwillie]

If its just the odd weed, whats wrong with a garden fork. If its in amongst other plants I can understand using an application but a stand alone weed?

[Allan]

You can use a garden fork but in most cases you will leave sufficient root to allow regrowth, probably just when you don't want it to occur right in the middle of the crop row. Some docks can be got up in total by digging but you can't do that where it would seriously disturb the crop. Creeping Thistle is virtually impossible to eradicate by digging as the horizontal roots are easily broken and very difficult to remove 100%. Glyphosate is a sure cure, I have had to wean the wife off trying to dig them out, since when anything properly sprayed has been rendered totally dead within two weeks and forever after. It's not the method that's in doubt, I'm just challenging the apparent monopolistic position of Scotts and Monsanto in supplying the necessary wherewithal in the ready-to-use form. If there is one practice that is forbidden to the commercial Organicist and in my opinion renders Big O uneconomic for me it's the use of glyphosate weedkiller, God's best gift to the struggling grower.
Allan

[pigletwillie]

You are certainly right Allan with weeds in crop rows, and whilst we mostly have small plots ,you with your 4 polytunnels and allied land would spend all day handweeding so the glysophate is a necessity. You wouldnt get anything else done otherwise thats for sure. I have never used ready mixed Allan as I generally dont spot weed but can see its merits, especially now that I have a tunnel.

[Allan]

When you take into account that I work on quite a steep hillside and the distance between things and my age then perhaps you will realise that at my age (Johnboy's+1) I don't want to have to go and fetch a sprayer every time I see a weed that somehow got missed. I keep a RTU sprayer locally in each tunnel along with other essentials like rake, trowel, dry sack etc. The 4 polytunnels are at the top, 3 mobile tunnels further down, then an area of about 40 rods open ground.
Allan