Growing Daffodils, Soil, Weed Control

Confession Time – Roundup

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Two stories
I was in the garden section of a warehouse when another customer asked what concentration of Roundup to use when spraying. The directions for spraying with Roundup are folded under the product label. I was able to tell him from experience that the mixture should be 10mls Roundup per litre of water. He happily bought his Roundup at $34.95 per litre. I then looked along the shelf to find the next product named ‘Weedkiller’ who’s main ingredient was also glysophate but selling at $14 per litre. I no longer buy Roundup but rather buy other glysophate products. The last lot I bought was 20ltrs concentrate for $140. That is about $7 per litre. As the mixture is 2mls per litre the real cost is $1.40 per litre of glysophate. Who wants to use Roundup and add to Monsanto’s millions.
Don’t try this at home.
The last couple of years I have sprayed the weeds when the daffodil foliage was 6 – 8″ high. There was no bulb loss. Alf Chappell always said that when the daffodil sap was going up it was safe to use Roundup. I suspect that the waxy nature of the daffodil foliage does not allow penetration of the spray. If I used a fixing agent then perhaps the result would be different. I also understand that Roundup contains a fixing agent so the use of straight glysophate maybe less dangerous to the daffodils.
Dave

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1 comment for “Confession Time – Roundup”

  1.   Dear daffodil members
    Roundup as we all know is trans-located from the foliage down to the roots of the plant in order to be effective and kill the plant that is being sprayed. However any roots that come into contact with the weed roots can absorb the active chemical caliphate and cause damage to the plant (daffodil bulbs). This has been proven  time and again by the University of California Extension Dept , Your best bet to ensure perfectly healthy daffodil bulbs year after year is to remove the weeds by hand before they set seed and then mulch and then  mulch some more.Roundup has been on the market for a long time and has lost its patent. Its now being picked up by anybody who wants to. yes of course you can find some great deals on it especially if it is being used as a lost leader by a store. The thing to remember is how much product does it take to make a gallon of spray and the price per ounce of active ingredient. it does not matter which product you use as the finished dilution rate will be the same for all products that have glysophate in it, otherwise it will not work properly.
      Bob

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