Pre-treat weeds with soapy water before spraying weed killer?

HomeGuy · 2014-07-14T02:52:16+00:00

I mix concentrated Ortho Weed B Gon (Plus Grabgrass Control) with water according to the label and use a 1-gallon handpump sprayer. I suppose that it works, but I don't exactly see the spray "wetting" the leaves and stems of the stuff I'm spraying. Looks more like most of it beads up on the leaves and runs off. I'm thinking that this stuff would be more effective if it "stuck" to the leaves, and I think that's only going to happen if the surface tension is reduced, possibly by pre-spraying the weeds with soapy water, or alternatively maybe adding soap in with the weed killer and water. Does anyone have a clue regarding if the effectiveness of water-soluble weed killer is increased if a surface-tension reducing agent is used? And just for clarity, Ortho Weed B Gon contains: 2,4-D (Dimethylamine salt) Quinclorac Dicamba (dimethlamine salt)

Jul 14, 2014 Last reply: 3 years ago 30 Replies

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Jon Danniken 12 years ago

On 07/14/2014 02:15 AM, philo wrote:>

Yep. A number of years ago I used some of the Weed-B-Gon on my yard to get rid of a dandelion infestation. While it worked well, I noticed that the local squirrels were acting a bit strange for a few weeks afterwards. In the following years, I noticed a similar behavior pattern near other neighbors who used the products.

Now I just go out and pull the weeds every once in awhile. You can pick a lot of weeds in a half an hour (literally hundreds of them), and it's more satisfying to get the chance to kill them up close and personal anyway. Like any "dirty job", I just put on some working clothes and gloves and have at it.

Jon

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HomeGuy 12 years ago

I don't use enough roundup to make it a real concern. I don't have a lot of area (on a sq. footage basis) to nuke of all plant life. Due to political retardation, concentrated roundup is not available at the retail level where I am.

You can buy concentrated roundup that comes in a pump sprayer?

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HomeGuy 12 years ago

I reformat ALL of the text that I quote so that it remains properly formatted.

AND - for those dumb-ass full-quoters, you shouldn't be dragging the same text through multiple chain-replies anyways. These are not email conversations were having. This is usenet, where the entire thread is ALWAYS AVAILABLE and there is NO NEED TO DRAG OLD TEXT INTO SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF REPLIES.

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Pico Rico 12 years ago

the squirrels were acting squirrelly? How so?

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Dan Espen 12 years ago

Squirrels acting strange?

Is there a punch line or was that it?

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Stormin Mormon 12 years ago

So, why is there not a foot of rock salt along the side of the road?

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Pico Rico 12 years ago

That probably runs down the gutter to the lake. But when the Romans were putting an end to their enemies' foolishness, they salted their fields. If they can't grow, they can't eat, and if they can't eat, they can't be a nuisance to the Romans.

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Stormin Mormon 12 years ago

How does a squirrel act strange?

Did you spray your neighbor?

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Stormin Mormon 12 years ago

Aw, nuts. You asked before me.

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Terry Coombs 12 years ago

HomeGuy"

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CarlAlan 3 years ago

I add liquid soap (dish soap) to the weed killer.

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