I am sure that you have to spray the plants during some cycle of their growth depending on the chemical used.
Many people just buy something and put it out with out reading the directions and complain that it does not work. Like the preemergence weed and feed. It does no good after the seeds have sprouted and started growing. The feed part really feeds the weeds..
For some reason in the area I am in (central NC) many yards have been taken over by what many are calling chick weed. This has been a warm winter and lots of rain. I don't think we have had a full week where it has been below freezing which is unusual. Last week we were almost 70 deg F in the daytime. Seems like there has not been a full week with out rain.
Same here. I have a 2.5 gal jug of 45% Razor, lasts many years. I suppose the price of all that will be going up with the ambulance chasing lawyers rounding up people to sue. So far they've just gone after Monsanto, the big fish. Funny thing, in all the years of using it around here, I rarely get any on me at all, let alone winding up drenched in it like the janitor claims happened to him.
Yea, the ambulance chasers ruin most everything that works.
Wife likes the Chanel # 5 powder. Seems they quit makiing that due to the baby powder law suits. Can not get the cloridiene that wipes out termites and most everything else.
Try Bifen. That is my new go to insecticide. You can get the concentrate online. Just be careful, it is nasty stuff. (nitrile gloves, respirator etc). It is the only thing that seems to push back Florida ants and the palmetto bugs are history.
We have been getting a lot of fire ants in the area. I don't recall what it is called, but I get it at the Tractor Supply store. It looks sort of like saw dust. The ants carry it back to the queen and in a few days they are all dead.
I've never fully understood the surfactant thing. If you read the directions for the glyphosate products, they say to use a non-ionic surfactant. But what is dishwashing liquid? From what I could gather, it was impossible to tell, even for specific brands. What difference does non-ionic vs non make? IDK. And you'd think in the typical 2.5 gal and smaller jugs which individuals, small biz, etc would use they would just mix the surfactant in. Razor does, I think RU does too. But there are lots of other products that start talking about the damn surfactant instead of just putting it in. I can understand not putting it in for large quantities, like a farm would use, so they can use the one of their choice.
i was worried about the same thing when I killed the English ivy around my house with the evergreen foundation plantings. Did not faze any of them and all the ivy died. I had kept it off the bushes.
Baits work until the ants figure out not to eat it. You never kill them all and they have discovered orphan ants might get adopted by another colony, if they bring something valuable, like what not to eat. Evolution is an amazing thing. Amdro used to be the "go to" thing around here. Now you can pile it up in the yard and the ants won't touch it.
Any herbicide that doesn't contain a surfactant with it should have one added to the mix virtually 100% of the time. Any application without is pretty-much going to be hit-or-miss unless just soak. For hand application or spot treatment, just a little detergent will work nicely.
And, yes, "Roundup" is just the trademark name from Monsanto for their glyphosate line of products. The chemical is the same from other vendors now that patent protection is over.
As another noted somewhere else, price is partly dependent upon the fact that the leading brand can carry a premium price tag simply because of its name recognition; the other factors are concentration and whether the particular product may/may not contain additional active ingredients such as combinations of types of herbicide for multiple action mechanisms or the aforementioned surfactants, etc., etc., ...
I don't spray much so I just used what I recall as the highest on the instructions. I just wrote it on the outside of the plastic jug so I would not have to look at the instructions. A standard size jug of the stuff will last a couple of years. I don't know how long it is suppose to last in the jug once opened, so no more than I use I like to get a fresh supply every couple of years. Most of what I was trying to kill when I first bought it was the poison ivy. There was some in the woods around the house.
"There are different types of surfactants. Each herbicide product has specific adjuvant requirements that are specified on the product label. The label will provide guidance and adjuvant options; to address tank mixtures, environmental conditions, or weed species characteristics."
"Some herbicide products such as Roundup PowerMAX® II Herbicide, are formulated with sufficient adjuvants in the herbicide formulation and may not need additional adjuvants added to the spray mixture in all cases. Some products have specific recommendations for spray adjuvants that the user must add to the spray mixture. The user should pay particular attention to label instructions for each tank mix product because label recommendations may differ for each product."
"Each herbicide manufacturer may have supplemental labels or fact sheets that provide additional guidance for the use of adjuvants for specific application situations, weed species, crops, or tank mixtures. There is a diverse array of adjuvant products and brands. The user must understand the composition and function of each product to properly match the adjuvant to individual herbicides or each product in a tank mixture and application conditions. Comprehensive information on commercially available adjuvants can be found at
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" Basically, what surfactant to use depends on the chemical characteristics of the herbicide such that the two are compatible and so have the desired net effect. It's all just chemistry (physical chemistry, actually).
The fundamental difference between a detergent and soap is the inclusion of surfactants. They have the intent and effect of being able to break the surface tension between water and otherwise mostly water-insoluble substances like grease. Same idea with the surfactant on herbicides. Virtually any detergent uses a combination of ionic and nonionic surfactants to interact with the targets its intended to get to. Hence their reasonable effectiveness as herbicide surfactants for at least home use, but for larger applications they're not nearly as effective as products designed for purpose and actually comparatively much more expensive in those volumes.
Here's link to a really nice presentation, actually I just saw after clipping all the above...
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