Roundup For Weeds, Or... ? (what's really safe ?)

clipped

After we used broadleaf weed killer on our lawn, we had a few stubborn weeds that we could not pull out. I used to brush Roundup for spot treating tough stuff. Good lawn care is key.

Reply to
Norminn
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Check "Roundup Ready" genetically-modified crops.

The EPA says "under present and expected conditions of new use, there is no potential for Roundup herbicide to pose a health risk to humans..." and the EPA found only two instances of laboratories falsifying data.

Soybeans have been routinely treated with Roundup since 1996. Corn too.

What's on YOUR dinner table?

Reply to
HeyBub

There are weed killers that specifically (atrazine?) are taken up by roots, and should not be used in the root zone of most beneficial plants. RoundUp can drift, but it is taken up by foliage. Labels for this stuff are important. Folks in Florida think a lot of houseplants are cute outdoors, but really are nasty - wandering jew and asparagus fern are two that are very invasive.

I read recently that someone - in the Carolina's? - caught a piranha in some body of water!! Talk about trashing the environment.

Reply to
Norminn

There have been numerous studies that show pesticide residue in mother's milk. Plenty herb. and pest. have instructions to avoid skin contact, change clothes, etc., because some are absorbed through the skin. That is why contractors put out the cute little signs after they treat a lawn.

Reply to
Norminn

Go to your local supplier who has anyone knowledgeable working there and investigate pre-emergent herbicides. As with the weed and feed varieties, they will kill selective plants because at times growing and emerging plants will take in the poison, whereas later in life their root system and leaves don't act the same. I still don't understand how the weed and feed knows the difference between grass and dandelion, but it's better than kneeling all day and weeding.

Just my opinion from what I understand, and that is darn little. If you live in an area of this country where there is a "feed store", or have a county agent, or a university co-op department, those guys are a lot of help. One size really doesn't fit all, so seek LOCAL information.

Good luck.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Criminently. Everyone dies from something. And if you're lucky enough to live for a long time, you'll probably be run over by a beer truck, anyway.

Remember when they sprayed malthion from helicopters over LA county at night and told NO ONE? I bet there are people still keeling over today from that one.

Live your life like you're not afraid of dying. Unless, of course, you are.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Funny when they did studies on the "organic" and "natural" products, tests showed very little difference between them and regular products. In fact, they found poisons in them, and a lot were grown with the aid of plain old human turds.

But, I guess human waste costs more than fertilizer, hence the spike in cost.

I just wonder if the taste is different ................

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

They spray mal. in Florida for some nasty bug that kills orange trees. Orange trees are much more important to Fl. than a few delicate humans :o)

Reply to
Norminn

Crikey, mate! If you're past a certain generation, all of us are supposed to be dead. Lawn darts, lead paint, pesticides. And yet we all lived and there's nothing wrong with us wrong with us wrong with us wrong with us

(slap!)

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

It's been a while since I've used any pesticides, but I seem to recall that they tend to be neurotoxic. Also implicated in a certain kind of incurable malignant brain tumor. Try a google search on "glioma epidemiology pesticide".

Reply to
Norminn

Many years ago, the chemical industry purchased certain legislators so they could arrange for so-called "inert" ingredients to be exempt from safety testing. These ingredients are often found in "organic" garden chemicals. Matter of fact, one of them is the reason Roundup is funny stuff:

"Animal however, do not utilize such an enzyme and it is now thought that Roundup's toxicity is attributable to the surfactant component polyoxyethyleneamine (POEA) in the formulation. The toxicity profile is similar to that of other surfactant substances and is limited to cases of exposure by ingestion."

I'll leave it up to the idiots here to figure out what a surfactant is.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

You "seem to recall", and then you come up with "glioma"? I think you're being too polite and gentle here.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

What about people who aren't in a position to make that decision, like children?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

No chemical product you use is is "totally" safe. Whatever you use, its an herbiCIDE. Its intended to kill.

If you want to try something involving the least chemcals, use boiling water on the weeds. It take s a while, lots of energy o boil if you have a lot of weeds, but a pint of rapidly boiling water will kill most non woody weeds. Its not "totally" safe, you could get a bad blister / burn fro boiling water.

I like Roundup and Weed B Gone in a good hand spray bottle, mixed to mfg recommendations, for close in work.

In real tight situations near good plants, I'll use a 50 - 50 mixture of the product applied directly to the leaves of the weed with a foam paint brush.

IMHO, YMMV, my $ 0.02 only, no warranties, express or implied.

Reply to
jJim McLaughlin

OK.....I have read that gliomas may be a result of pesticide exposure. It's been a long time, and I recall the glioma part because it is what my mother died of. Glioma's are more treatable - can live up to about 5 years in some cases - but not curable. My mom was given 6 to 19 months, and she lived 6 mos. beyond diagnosis. They form in ganglia - very long nerve cells - so just one malignant cell reaches deep into the brain. Life is too complex to rely on studies to be sure that any chemical is or is not safe - we are all exposed to many different kinds. So when the label says something is toxic to fish, birds, or crustaceans, I figure it will find it's way back to me :o)

Reply to
Norminn

SNIP HAPPENS

Fabric works well if, and nly if, you se good stuff, and use a pre emergent weed killer [Casaron (sp?) or similar] under the fabric / before the fabric is installed, with a second Casaron applicatio on op of the fabric before the rock or mulch is spread.

You still need to hand weed, but there's a lot less hand weeding involved.

Reply to
jJim McLaughlin

Good idea.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

We can't take care of the children today who are beaten, neglected and abused by their parents. Are you saying we need to take care of them? Maybe by starting a new governmental agency staffed with people making $120k a year plus bennies and a golden parachute retirement package?

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

I don't have grass in back or front yard. Just a huge flower garden in both So I don't know how this would work on your lawn. But I don't use any chemicals in my yard.

Take a 1 gallon sprayer add 1 cup of table salt, 2 cups of white vinegar and fill the rest with hot water. Shake real well to melt salt. Spray on your weeds on a dry day. Soak the weeds very well.

It works for me , cheap and non toxic.

It won't last forever . you might have to do it again in a couple of months.

pat

Reply to
Pat

What about your own children and grandchildren? Can you look out for them, or are you too busy watching football and American Idol learn something new every day?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

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