Best weedkiller?

AshleyC

AshleyC

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I need a good weedkiller. My garden is a mess and needs sorting out. It's pretty much overgrown with weeds now. Previously I used Roundup and it appeared to work, wiping everything out including the grass, but at least I was left with a clear, if Brown, surface. However all the weeds have now grown back again, the grass is still dead but the weeds are back.

So, anything better than Roundup that will really kill the roots off?
 
AshleyC said:
I need a good weedkiller. My garden is a mess and needs sorting out. It's pretty much overgrown with weeds now. Previously I used Roundup and it appeared to work, wiping everything out including the grass, but at least I was left with a clear, if Brown, surface. However all the weeds have now grown back again, the grass is still dead but the weeds are back.

So, anything better than Roundup that will really kill the roots off?
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I think the problem now is that stronger weed killers are not available to the public. Even Sodium Chlorate became weakened (if you can still get it) and only kills weeds for a few weeks.

You could try repeated applications of Roundup in an attempt to exhaust the weeds. Maybe a stronger than directed solution would work, but I don't know if that would produce any unwanted or toxic long term effects.

The weeds that have appeared again maybe from seeds that were in the soil, but had not germinated until recently (they would be unaffected by any weedkiller that needs to make contact with leaves).
 
I must admit that I am a fan of Resolva
It even took out a couple of ragworts that appeared for the first time this year, and it really does "rot" to the root.
 
Tesco used to do their own high concentrate weedkiller which was in a small red container but I've not seen it again for the last two months. It was something like 90 g/L Glyphosate compared to the usual 7g/L of the usual brands.

I've just got Gallup 360 from Amazon but yet to use it. Although I've read that it's actually not better to use a huge concentrate as it can burn the leaves before reaching the roots? But then i did use a high concentrate mix with the Tesco stuff (using a knapsack delivery system) and it annihilated all the nettles in our back lane within days.
 
AshleyC said:
I need a good weedkiller. My garden is a mess and needs sorting out. It's pretty much overgrown with weeds now. Previously I used Roundup and it appeared to work, wiping everything out including the grass, but at least I was left with a clear, if Brown, surface. However all the weeds have now grown back again, the grass is still dead but the weeds are back.
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That's a good definition of a weed - a plant that out competes the stuff you want to grow.

The roundup (probably) killed the roots. But it didn't kill the seeds that were sitting in the soil or the ones that were blown in to the fertile, empty area you created.

Get rid of the weeds and then plant something that grows faster than them. Then see the definition of weed above ;)
 
Roundup is Monsanto's name for glyphosate, a 'translocated' (taken down to the roots from the leaves) herbicide and is the only one considered 'safe' in that its effect on other living species is limited. It works well. Interestingly it's sale has very recently been restricted/banned in France and I should have thought the UK might follow suit, but with Brexit, DDT will probably reappear!

I like Jonathan's suggestion above in that you replace the weeds with ground cover or other plants that you find acceptable, the best long term solution. A weed is just a plant in the wrong place.
 
Cobra said:
I must admit that I am a fan of Resolva
It even took out a couple of ragworts that appeared for the first time this year, and it really does "rot" to the root.
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Indeed, I've used Resolva and Roundup at our new house over the last few years and the Resolva was certainly quicker to work on the weeds in that they visibly died off quite quickly.

Roundup has had the desired effect, but it took much longer to become visible and I did think it hadn't worked at all for a week or two. The acid test will really be how quickly the little buggers come back!
 
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When I did my horticulture course some years back, Roundup was the weed killer of choice but back then it was available at a decent concentration - much tamed now! Even then, we were taught that you treat the visible weeds, turn the soil over and wait for the next batch to sprout, kill those then repeat. After 3 treatments, it was reckoned that new sproutings would be recent invaders rather than residents reemerging, although things like brambles were pretty much immortal!
 
Maybe just hire one of those mini excavators, dig down and rip the whole lot out? Start with a fresh canvas so to speak?
 
Petrol :)

Trouble is, nothing grows for ages afterwards.

If you spill petrol when you fill a petrol mower you discover that it is not a good idea to do so on the lawn...
 
JonathanRyan said:
Topsoil's really quite pricey....
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yeah that was an option i was thinking about but id probably need someone to come in and do it which adds up the cost. I still might! The end purpose will just be somewhere to sit in in the sun. I want a corner put aside for the step daughter to grow some veggies in so i dont want to nuke to soil past the point of usefulness.

But thanks all for the suggestions.
 
AshleyC said:
The end purpose will just be somewhere to sit in in the sun.
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Pick the sunniest bit of the garden and pave a 2-3 metre square of it to plonk the lounger on!
 
Nod said:
Pick the sunniest bit of the garden and pave a 2-3 metre square of it to plonk the lounger on!
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OK, to rephrase. Somewhere nice to sit rather than somewhere that looks like the set of the next mad max movie :)
 
Artificial grass has come a long way ..... not cheap though!
 
Boiling water. Kills most things round about the weed too though so depends if you want to do large areas or not. I try to avoid weedkillers but have round-up gel for stubborn weeds.
 
White vinegar. Not the stuff you put with cooking you can get from co-op.
But you can get stuff off Amazon, I can't remember the correct mix, but get the right stuff, spray it on the weeds on a hot day and watch them brown up and die.
 
pompey306mark said:
White vinegar. Not the stuff you put with cooking you can get from co-op.
But you can get stuff off Amazon, I can't remember the correct mix, but get the right stuff, spray it on the weeds on a hot day and watch them brown up and die.
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The 37p / 500ml Tesco white vinegar straight from the plastic bottle (that has it's own nozzle) kills weeds in a few hours on a sunny day. So does cheap thin bleach (25p / 2 litres). Don't use bleach or vinegar near to plants that you want to keep and apply enough to soak down to the roots. Bleach also rapidly kills moss and algae (I apply it with a pump-up pressure sprayer which is much more economical than a watering can).
 
Orangecroc said:
Mix about 10% diesel into the weed killer.
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Worst possible advice ever. Contaminating soils with petrochemicals may be a criminal offence, bare minimum civil offence punishable with heavy fines. This stuff may leak into groudwaters, contaminate rivers, lakes, etc.

Best stick with the likes of vinegar and manual weeding out.
 
Another alternative is to hire a powerful strimmer. The one I use has a 2.4 mm line and will tackle some tough stuff. If you have small saplings or well established brambles than you'd probably need a brushwood cutter blade, but for most weeds a 2.4 mm line will do the job. You will have to rake up the cut weeds and dig out the roots but then you'd probably have to do that with the dead weeds and roots after using weed killer.

Dave
 
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