[AmyY]

We've been pulling weeds and burning them too for the last four years since the girls were born.

Now DH and FIL are again agitating for Round-up. DH's friend the landscaper swears by it, says all the schools and parks in the town use it, etc etc etc.

I put it into the EWG search function and got precisely nothing.

What do you know? I'm familiar with the arguments against using Monsanto products generally, and also fully aware that these arguments are not significant to DH and FIL (who does our yard for us most of the time, bless him). Toxicity, specific toxicity, will sway them and keep MIL on my side.

However, she (FIL's faithful assistant in the yard care of, um, our house

) is getting tired of all the weeding. I have twin four year olds so weeding means pulling up a couple things and then chasing them around.

OK, lemme have it!

 

[jessaries]

We use corn gluten on our smallish patch of lawn. (and Medina lawnstuff) The part we treat nicely is gorgeous, and weedfree.

Monsanto scares me.

 

[newbymom05]

You hve to e careful w/ corn gluten because if you miss your window and the weeds ahve already germinated you're just fertilizing them. Last year we had the healthiest dandelions in the neighborhood!

But we did get the spurge. You can pour garden-strength vinegar on weeds and that will kill them, as will boiling water. I've read that a healthy lawn won't have weeds and I've found that to be true. Last year we had a horrible drought and our lawn was really stressed and it was the worst year for weeds ever. We had more weeds than grass that year. Now the lawn isn't so stressed and it chokes out the weeds, although we have bermuda which is a weed itself!

Have you tried the GardenWeb forums? They have organic forums, one for lawns and one for food gardens and I've found them very helpful and knowledgable. I'm sure they'll also have plenty of stats/facts re: the Round-Up.

 

[AmyY]

Thanks, I appreciate the tips and I'll check out GardenWeb. We live in tropical rainforest conditions so we don't even try with the weeds in the lawn, we just mow what grows! I'm talking about the graveled part of the yard, which may sound weird unless you know where I live.

It's a popular thing here to deal with all the overgrowth but typically people just spray Round-Up all over the gravel.

I never heard of corn gluten, but we have weeds, weed flowers, weeds germinating, all year round in the tropics.

Thanks again, more ideas welcome too!

 

[jessaries]

: Oh yes the boiling water! I keep meaning to take an extension cord and my electric kettle (see, I'm lazy, no carting 20 gallons of boiling water around here!) and kill the weeds that grow between the curb and our landscaping timbers. It's somekind of evil grass that the 20% vinegar seems to encourage.

 

[shaywyn]

How about these articles for starters?

http://bestsyntheticoil.com/aggrand/roundup.htm

http://www.chem-tox.com/pesticides/#roundup

http://www.holisticmed.com/ge/roundup.html

http://www.naturescountrystore.com/roundup/page4.html

http://environmentalcommons.org/ceto...alroundup.html

http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/neu...es/JOHNSON.pdf

And this article is just plain scary in it's promotion of biotech, roundup resistant sugar beets.

http://pameladrew.newsvine.com/_news...as-us-staples-

 

[Throkmorton]

My biggest reason for not using round up is that my neighbor's dogs walk along the gravel and get violently ill for 2 days after Round Up is sprayed.
It is a toxic chemical. No, it doesn't stay in the soil for long but for 2-3 days it is extremely toxic and can seriously harm small children who play on your gravel, especially if they pick up the rocks then touch their mouth/eyes.
Interestingly, while the glyphosate seems to be relatively less toxic (as compared to, say 2,4-D) the surfactants and other additives in Roundup are showing a level of toxicity that is "unanticipated" but needs to be studied further. It has shown a very high level of eye irritation.

Easiest way to deal with weeds in gravel is a propane torch. It's fun too!

 

[OceanMomma]

I was sure the patent was up on roundup so people other than Monsanta are making it now. Other than the toxicity issues, it is I think not an emergent herbicide so it only kills what is already growing. I have heard anecdotal evidence from friends who have used it that it made the weed problem worse as I think all the weed seeds waiting in the soil were no longer suppressed in any way by the surrounding vegetation. I guess it depends how prolifically your weeds have already seeded & how long the seed is viable in the soil as to how long & how regularly you could end up having to spray if you went down that track which is a good arguement against as it is not really a one off big gun weed killer. Then you can go into one about mounting issues of toxicity around your children & they should all see your point immediately

We work on the outcompeting the weeds strategy here. We mulch as well & then live with what gets thru. You can sheet mulch an area with things like old bits of board or layers of flat cardboard boxes, even old carpet. Then you cover that with bark chips or gravel or whatever you can get to mulch with. The only thing I actively weed is Darwin's barberry out of the bush. I coppice the bigger ones before they set seed & pull/dig out anything I am able to. The bush is growing & regenerating so once the canopy closes over the top the remains of the barberry get shaded out & die.

 

[bunny's mama]

i've had incredible luck with laying that black weed blocker fabric. it takes a lot of time, and can cost a bit to buy so much of it, but i've found it to be the only thing that works. i lvie near the ocean and the salt air seems to make weeds grow like mad. before i put out the landscaping fabric, i was out there every weekend pulling and pulling weeds for hours to no avail. now i hardly see any and just pull them up one by one as they occur.

you'll have to dig out all the gravel, lay the fabric, then pile the gravel back on top, but it ought to work.

more good info here: http://www.the-landscape-design-site...apefabric.html

 

[AmyY]

Thanks again for all the ideas and links. Glad to know others feel my weed pain!

 

[astrophe27]

You could also try straight vinegar on weeds.

And here are the roundup MSDS

http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/M...-MSDS-Docs.htm

A.

 

[AmyY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrophe27 You could also try straight vinegar on weeds. And here are the roundup MSDS http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/M...-MSDS-Docs.htm A.

There - that's what I was after! Thanks!

 

[momto l&a]

Vinegar didnt work on our weeds.

We use a weed burner, not perfect but better than nothing.

 

[Twwly]

What are you weeding? Do you really need to weed it? I've reevaulated my position on garden weeds (becoming more permissive) and my life is a lot easier now. Ha.

A really good till job in the garden should do in your weeds, as will things like biodegradable landscaping cloth.

 

[AmyY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twwly What are you weeding? Do you really need to weed it? I've reevaulated my position on garden weeds (becoming more permissive) and my life is a lot easier now. Ha. A really good till job in the garden should do in your weeds, as will things like biodegradable landscaping cloth.

My ultimate solution would be to get a goat. Since our lot is small and our neighbors opinionated I think that will have to wait.

It's weeds growing through gravel...

 

[FarmerCathy]

If it's just weeds growing through gravel that makes it real easy to use the boiling water and/or the vinegar.

 

[AmyY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmerCathy If it's just weeds growing through gravel that makes it real easy to use the boiling water and/or the vinegar.

What? No support for my lobbying for a goat?

 

[FarmerCathy]

Ok, you could get a goat, but you'd need two because they best with a buddy and you would have to make sure it is in an area that doesn't have any plants you want to keep.

 

[AmyY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmerCathy Ok, you could get a goat, but you'd need two because they best with a buddy and you would have to make sure it is in an area that doesn't have any plants you want to keep.

Would I need to have a wedding for them?

That's funny. Actually I love the idea of a goat, but on my ten thousand square foot lot in the city I'm reasonably certain it would Cause Comment. Ah well...

 

[PikkuMyy]

I love the idea of a goat or two! A goat Maaaaariage!

But seriously, don't touch Round-up for anything. That stuff is so toxic and the company that makes it is so evil in so many ways.