Tony - some simple rules for using herbicides:

1. Follow the directions. If it calls for 6 ounces in one gallon, don't use 7 or 5. The recommended mixture is the one that will work correctly.
2. Only use the stuff when the weeds/grass/whatever are growing.
3. Apply first thing in the morning for best results.

I only use RoundUp and have never had it fail.

Hi Ricky,

I only change the mix because it hasnt worked at all, zilch, NOT because I think I know better.

I buy what's on sale, including roundup, and its such a hit or miss situation with me.

I know the mechanics has to do with moisture uptake and if it hasnt rained or been watered it may not work till that time.

I sprayed a lot of areas before the last road trip and NOTHING has been killed at all. I thought I would be out cleaning the dead stuff up this week. I guess I will buy some new stuff and try again.

I will say though, the stuff I have bought pre-mixed always seems to work but its costly. I DO KNOW how to measure (I think) and yet I am having troubles.

Guess I will buy some premixed stuff in the morning!

Tony,
Felix does not use chemicals! No herbicide nor insecticide.
Too dangerous for health. Science today may say it is safe to use such and such then tomorrow we find out that we are poisoning ourselves. I already digest and inhale too much
toxins that I have no control over it. Weeds I pull by hand.
Insects a manual thing also or a jet of water and such.
I know,I'm eccentric but that's from my Hippie subculture
days!LOL
Felix

I'm with you Felix, 100 percent!

Just my humble opinion but I've always used RoundUp and it has always worked for me; depending on what type you use it may take a while to get complete kill. The highly concentrated ones take a lot longer, sometimes up to two weeks. We killed a half acre of invasive bamboo with two applications of the super concentrate, about three weeks apart. I think if you use it as indicated it's safe, I suppose "they" could come out tomorrow with studies saying organic compost is bad for you, you just can't win there it seems. ;O) RoundUp has a new R-T-U product in a bronze colored container that I am EXTREMELY pleased with, it's the "Extended Control" one.

The dish soap does help break the surface tension, I've always used the kind with lemon. One technique I have used is to water everything the evening before with the lemon soap mixed in a hose end sprayer, then use the RoundUp the next morning, the earlier in the am the better. Good luck Tony, I hope you get better results because I appreciate the frustration there.

Tony - Just a thought, but did it rain after you sprayed the last time? Regardless of what it says on the label, these products need six hours to be fully absorbed in order to work. If you get rain prior to that, the chances of success are greatly reduced.

I buy the QuikPro powder from Lescos and I've also seen it on ebay. It's 5 or 6(can't remember) individual packets in a box and you add them to one gallon of water.

One packet is almost 3 and a half times more strength than the most powerful Round Up from HD, so personally I mix the one packet into a 3 gallon pressure sprayer and have great success. Makes it pretty economical as the box is around $15.

I do agree timing is everything and it's most effective early in the morning or evening.

Hey, Tony,

A lot depends on what it is you're trying to kill. Some weeds have tuberous or extensive root systems and repeated (and repeated) applications may be necessary. For example, oxallis has little bulbs and is very difficult to kill.

A bit of dish washing liquid does help the round up to stick.

According to Sara Stein, Rufino Osorio, and other native/natural gardeners, glyphosate (the active ingredient in Round Up) is supposed to be safe. It's basically a salt, the way I understand it. I use "Hi-Yield" and other knock off brands that contain glyphosate. Glyphosate is glyphosate.

Increasing the concentration of glyphosate will help. If you look at a glyphosate based weed killer versus a glyphosate based brush killer, you will see the only difference is the concentration of gyphosate. The higher the concentration, the more deadly.

When I was on my prairie/wildflower gardening kick, some prairie gardeners suggested dabbing a high concentrate gyphosate (40% or stronger) directly onto the leaves of the plant you want to kill with a paint brush. This is a good technique when you need precision, and it is pretty deadly, but again if the plant you're trying to kill has a tuber or bulb it may need repeated applications.

Also remember there are other methods. I finally gave up trying to kill oxalis with herbicide. Now I use an oscillating hoe in that bed and I've just about eradicated it.

Bill

I am Felix on the issue...While I understand some people want to use pesticide on mites and such that are hard to get rid of otherwise, with weeds, I have only used one measure: pulling them out.
No chemicals for me and all the wildlife to inhale! :)
Olya

Ricky, it has not rained nor have the sprinklers come on.

As Bill mentioned in his reply, the label did state more can be used for stubborn weeds.

I was only trying to kill st Augustine and a few dandelions here and there and to knock out the crap growing in the driveway cracks.

I watered last nite and went out and got name brand round up concentrate. I used their included measuring device and poured 6oz to a gal of water.

If this works, it will be amazing because the concentration of another herbicide is double this product and hasnt worked.

I am wondering if the product ages OR is temp sensitive. I do leave it in a cabinet out on the porch that does get warm.

Now watch everything in site fall over dead.

Tony, I think it's just your bad luck or dry plants. I don't believe weedkiller sprays are affected by extreme temperatures. I store mine in my garage, where it gets quite warm, and they still work for me. I also left a bottle of storebrand weedkiller outside, sitting along side my house, for the better part of a year, and it still worked nicely when I got around to using it.

Tony, how long are you waiting to see results, until you notice it hasn't worked? I thought the stuff I used was useless too, until 3 weeks later, when suddenly everything I had sprayed turned crispy.

It sure does not work quickly, at least on my weeds! I've tried RoundUp, generic versions, and one used by the county nicknamed "Agent Orange." The county one showed no results for 3-4 weeks, then a band of dead weeds showed up, and it stayed clear for nearly a year.

A flamethrower would be more satisfying to me, so I could watch the weeds wither and combust, right away!! "Aha, take that, and that! Feeling warm you ##@@*&& weeds??"

Lisa

Hi Lisa,

I have waited approx two weeks this last time. Not even a hint yet. Other times I have sprayed and nothing ever happened.

Other times I have sprayed and everything was starting to show signs of dieing in a day!

And its the same type of weeds over and over..... so it must be something I am doing or something I am using.

I havent bought name brand in a long time, I did this morning though as I really want to clean an area out.

Hope it works this time so I can get started!

YES ! A massive flame thrower, TWO of em might could do the trick and be more fun too

Well, I'm with Tony, I've often experienced the same uneven results. I've thought it might have something to do with using a bit of old solution in my spray bottle. Sometimes I'll just try to top it off by adding more concentrate and more water. But a couple of spray sessions ago I had dollar weed turn to a brown crisp after two days and this last spray session after 7 days the dollar weed is happy, healthy and green. And the last spray session was a complete fresh mix. It is really frustrating because you don't know if you're wasting money and using unnecessary chemicals if the weeds are eventually going to die. Or else you lose two more weeks waiting for the weeds to die and they just keep going strong.

I'm going to try the dish soap additive idea. It does seem like the spray just rolls off a lot of the time.

Thanks,
Julie

Do you want some of my extra hot barbecue sauce? I'm told that in sufficient quantities it can heal the sick and raise the dead. Perhaps on plant material it will have an opposite effect.

When my husband uses Roundup in the yard, weeds are dead. When I use it, sometimes the weeds double or triple in size. He says he really drenches the plants so maybe that's the secret. He uses whatever the ratio calls for.

I don't like poisosns either.I recently read a grass killer's directions and it said.
DO NOT use on sandy soil
Do not use where the water table is high
Why the heck are they selling it here?

Here's a video on Roundup and more...more than you probably wanted to know. This is long, but very educational and hey there's nothing on tv anyway.

Here is a link that might be useful: Roundup and Monsanto

atreelady

Thanks for the link, now I know u and me are going to be dead soon or pulling spider web like fibers from our skin, however, my weeds and grass are still thriving.

Maybe I will fertilize the stuff, that usually kills most everything here.

Tony, when you use glyphosate, what concentration, etc. are you using? I use a generic glyphosate plus surfactant that comes in 41% concentration. To kill most grass and weeds I use 2 ounces per gallon to give about a 2% mix. To kill everything, and I mean everything, including most shrubs, and trees, including hard to kill maple, I use a 4 to 5% mix. For plants with extremely waxy leaves I use extra surfactant. The label tells how much to use for different concentrations. Most of the Roundup sold in box stores is fairly weak compared to the 41%. The label calls for a non-ionic surfactant, not detergent. I get better results spraying when plants are wet from rain or dew. For some applications sprayhing does not have to be done in spring. Last summer I sprayed as late as August and September and got about 99% kill in pine understory I've been trying to clean up. Glyphosate also works extremely well in hack-and-squirt applications to kill large trees.

Ichabod

HI all - FWIW, I understand that Roundup is supposed to be applied directly to the leaves/cut surfaces of targeted plants - & that spraying is actually 'off-label'.Rather, it should be 'painted' or dabbed on for optimal results.

That said, I won't use that junk or anything else like it - too much environmental damage has been done already by products touted by their makers as 'perfectly safe' = P

Not to mention the carcinogenic 'side effects'.

I'll join the chorus of those advocating hand-pulling - it is, after all, the most effective & safest way to remove weeds.& it also depends on what you consider a weed, doesn't it?

A sharp-bladed knife works pretty well for getting pesky weeds out of cracks in pavement - & even if you don't get all the roots, continued removal of the tops will eventually starve a plant to death.

& then, there are safer weed killers on the market....

Here is a link that might be useful: a few alternatives

I will admit I have a container of Round-Up in the shed, however, it has been in there for four years and is still half full, so you can see we don't use it often. In my beds, I pull the weeds. I have a Cape Cod weeder that is very effective, and I sometimes use a scuffle hoe. In the cracks of the bricks, I use my FLAME THROWER! Yippeeeee! I do love that little device. The weeds die and do not come back any time soon. EXCEPT!! FOR!! NUT SEDGE!!! That stuff is back an inch tall the very next morning! ARRRGGGHHH. So I use a paint brush and apply Round Up ONLY to the blades of that stupid stuff. That way, I can really control where the application and what it kills. And it seems to work fine on the nut grass. It takes about two days and then it starts to wither away. And it is usually some months before I see any peeking out again. It does come back eventually, because the amount I use is probably not getting all the way down to the roots/tubers underground. But I'm okay with doing it about twice a year to keep it under control.

In the meantime, if you haven't tried a weed burner, I say give it a whirl. I LOVE mine! Very effective, if I don't get it too close to the edge of the flower bed.

Marcia

One product had dimethylamine salt of 2,4 dichlorophenoxyzcetic acid 46.4%

RoundUP has 18% Glyphosate

Neither seems to be any better at killing weeds or grass at my place.

I think my dogs urine does a better job

RoundUp comes in many different concentrations. Buying it from HD is not only the most expensive way, it's also the weakest available. The stuff I buy is 72% Glyphosate.

To the naysayers---- stuff like arsenic, e. coli, salmonella is nice and natural too. .....and it's all sitting out there in your garden right now.

So where do we buy this higher concentration glyphosate? I have attempted murder in mind for a golden rain tree...

I pretty much killed off a Japanese yew, last year, trying to kill weeds. Didn't realize the stuff I was using was going to go that deep into the soil. Now I want to replant another yew in the same spot but wonder how much dirt do I need to dig out of the area? Would a really strong weed killer still be in the soil? Is there an alternative to digging, like filling the hole everyday with water and leaching out the killer?
Carol L.