Weedkiller recommendations please...

[AnonymousBird]

We are coming to the end of our tenancy, and although I've done some weeding there are some really stubborn buggers that need some treatment before we leave.

As we are about to be away for ten days, so no dog or children in the garden to inadvertently pick up/eat or whatever, I thought this might be a good time to put some down and let it go to work.

Please can someone recommend a good weedkiller that will see off some seriously large and strong weeds? There are around the edge of the lawn, so don't want it to see the lawn off too!!!

I've never actually used the stuff at all before - do they just wither and die basically, then you can just pick/pull them out?

Many thanks.

Roundup kiils all plants (including grass) but would do the job.

Glyphosate (the main ingredient of Roundup) is available quite cheaply as a concentrate from places like Wilkinsons (useful if you have a large area to deal with). It is systemic so it is absorbed by the leaves and is taken down to the roots so kilss the plant from the bottom up. The weeds can then either be dug in or pulled out. Glyphosate breaks down in the soil so the area can be replanted.

Don't use glysophate anywhere near any plants (including lawn) you need to keep. I wouldn't risk using it or any other weedkiller in a tenanted property - you could easily kill off the plants the LL wants to keep, and thus be in trouble with LL.

Really huge weeds are easily dug up. Far more so than the little ones. Tbh it sounds as though you haven't really kept on top of the weeding. A couple of hours digging and hand weeding will surely do the job? How big is the garden?

I have just seen that you are weeding near the edge of a lawn. For really tough weeds you can get some types of paint on weedkiller which of course wont then get onto the lawn. This can be useful for things like dock which can be very determined.

To help you hand weed you can use a weeding tool (a very narrow fork type thing) which is very useful for things like dandelion. (wilkinsons have a fairly inexpensive one which works well).

OK, I never quite managed to get to this before half term!! I now have a jungle of massive weeds all through the lawn. I mean huge. It's my fault for not doing much about it before, but I need to address it this week.

Tonight we are going to strim, at least get it down to a manageable height.

Are any of those "lawn feed and weedkiller" things any good at all???

Round up, or its equivalent sounds like it is not the stuff for the job in this case. I have no beds to weed (I know how to handle those), it is purely what has grown in the lawn.

Thanks!

Round up is made by Monsanto.
'who?' you ask?

Anonymous - weed & feed will kill the weeds but I'm not sure how effective it is at feeding - we have had little effect. DH recommends specialist lawn weeder then feed separately.

Good luck!

Rolf - ?

Thanks GdP.

Monsanto: If you're an organic gardner you may well already be aware of, and actively avoiding Monsanto products.
They are a hugely powerful agricultural biotech company. They own the patents to most GM foodstuffs and seed. Regardless of the ethical GM debate, as if patenting life iteslf is not heinous and sinister enough, if you're an organic farmer, and some GM pollen blows into your filed and crosses with your crop, Monsanto will sue you for royalties if they find out. If you save seed from previous crop, they will sue you, and they even encourage people to grass on 'seed savers' (wtf!). The inplications of their behaviour are unthinkable. A truly horrible company.

Rolf - do you have examples of where Monsanto have sued for royalties please? I am not doubting you but am interested. I work a non-organic allotment on an allotment and smallholding field. We occupy a curious ground between gardening and farming so such issues are of interest to me.

Many thanks.

The Wikipedia page on Monsanto serves as a good introduction to their shady activities. As ever though please bear in mind that wiki is not an infaliable or authorative source.

The most publicised case was that of Percy Schmeiser, a canadian farmer whose crop was contaminated with Monsanto genes and found himself on the wrong end of a lawsuit. Both parties claim victory as various suits and counter suits were awarded. Definitely worth a google.

Monsanto's own website states that they actively sue farmers who they believe to be in 'infringement of copyright', the sick thing is they make out that they are the good guys. www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/saved-seed-farmer-lawsuits.aspx

The issue of bully boy littigation is just the tip of the iceberg with these people though. In addition to that, they also dumped tons of toxic waste into landfills in the UK. They have developed 'terminator' seeds that become sterile (and possibly sterilise crops they cross pollinate with).

All the above though, that which is public domain info, pales into comparission with what goes on behind the scenes. There is a wikileaks cable exposing the true extent of their influence, intent, and activity, and it will make your blood run cold. I'll try and dig it out and post the link to the cable here...

Anyway, thats why I avoid roundup.

Thanks Rolf, I will look into this. Personally I dont use round up as the main ingredient is glyphosate which I buy unbadged from Wilkinsons.

Interestingly, as a side point, glyphosate is still recognised for organic purposes in many countries so perhaps I'm closer to organic than I think!