Anyone use RoundUp® to kill weeds?

[lateo]

I have a friend who is wanting to use this stuff to kill off all his grass in his yard. Is this a bad idea?

[shoelace414]

1. it kills grass..

actually I think it kills anything that uses clorophyl (green)

why would he want to kill off all his grass?

[lateo]

4. It is a type of grass he doesn't like...

Rather than dig it all up he had the idea to just spray it.

[shoelace414]

7. I only use it on places I don't want things to grow, ever

but I think after a few days it may be able to be replanted.. but I have no idea if it's true or not, you may want to read the bottle.

it will kill the grass.. whether or not the ground can grow more is another question.

[sui generis]

11. what state does he live in?

no herbicide - he will not only keep new grass from growing there, but will affect everything downstream and in the runoff from his lawn.

Overseed with Rye (if you're in the north) and fertilize. In the south, just rent a rototiller (make sure he knows where pipes and lines are) and till the topsoil, grass and all. Then roll out St. Augustine sod.

[Demonaut]

36. does your "friend" have a score to settle?

and is it related to the last election?

[kick-ass-bob]

2. that would be a lot of spraying.

Roundup is used for spot areas - not intended for yard wide use.

[ret5hd]

16. unless you live in central/south america...

where we (u.s. govt) spray it indiscriminately over hundreds of acres

[Abelman]

3. Yeah

Why does he want to kill all the grass? Is he replacing it with moss or something?

[demnan]

5. Not if he wants cancer

and to kill his pets.

My mother's neighbors were obssessed with the idea of a weedless lawn so they "treated everything"

The first thing that happened is one of their cats' eyes got funny and he got really skinny, stopped eating and died. This was a young cat.

Next the lady got breast cancer, she did recover after treatments of chemo and breast removal surgery.

Then the other cat died.

If you like your neighbor, tell him this.

[DS1]

9. 2 tidbits about RoundUP

It's put out by Monsanto, aka Rummy's old biz, and the same company that rammed Aspartame through the FDA

It's really Agent Orange with a trademarked name.

[Shakespeare]

30. Well and succinctly said.

RoundUP is bad, bad stuff.

[sui generis]

6. very bad idea

why is he killing off all grass in his yard? What kind of grass does he have?

if he's going to do something like gravel, he can put down weed blocker netting (it's water permeable but won't let grass grow throw) before covering with his xeriscape surface.

Otherwise, if he's got St. Augustine he should use Scott's Weed and Feed for St. Augustine or else if Rye or Bermuda should use a broadleaf herbicide for out of control weeds, and then re-seed.

Zoysia plugs are another option although I have heard mixed reviews.

[lateo]

10. Zoysia is what he is trying to kill.

[demnan]

13. Zoysia is a handsome weed free grass

I wonder why anyone wants to kill it, my mother loves it on her lawn.

[lateo]

17. He has some abnormal dislike for it.

I questioned him about it and he didn't have a good answer.

[bleedingheart]

22. Zoysia is a great grass for the right location

here in the north it is actually quite unsightly most of the year.

My mom grows it but most of the year her lawn looks dead and brown. It only turns green in the summer when it is very hot and when it has had enough water.

So...a lot of the folks who loved it ..are getting rid of it because it isn't the right grass for our area of PA

[yardwork]

14. Instead of poisonous herbicides, smother the unwanted grass

Lay down black plastic on the plants to be removed. Cover with mulch. Let sit in the hot sun for a few weeks. This will kill the roots of the unwanted plants. Remove mulch and plastic and seed with whatever.

Herbicides are bad for everything. They poison the ground, water, insects, birds that eat the insects, animals that eat the birds, etc. Herbicides end up in the water we drink and cause cancer.

Don't buy herbicides.

[girl gone mad]

21. Do you think that would work on crabgrass?

I have huge patches of it in my lawn. I'm wondering if it's too late to replant grass seed and maybe I should wait until fall to deal with it..

[yardwork]

27. It would work, but we do something different with our crabgrass

In the spring, summer, and fall, crabgrass is great around here. It's tougher than most ornamental grasses and it stays green during droughts.

The problem with crabgrass is that it dies at the first frost, leaving brown patches in the winter. Soooooo, we seed Rye grass in the fall. It is a cool weather grass that covers the brown patches and stays green all winter.

[girl gone mad]

19. Zoysia is a great grass.

Why would anyone want to kill it? Does he know how much work it takes to establish Zoysia?

[CatWoman]

29. I used Zoysia plugs in my yard

which yeilded great results

[chelsea0011]

8. You know what is a better idea and uses no pesticides.

Get a large plastic tarp(the bigger, the better). Let the lawn bake under it for a week, then move it to another spot.

[MissB]

12. No.

Roundup is freakin evile.

[arikara]

15. My stepfather used to use poison

but he loves his little dog, and he loves having lots of birds around. I gave him a copy of Rachel Carson's Silent Springand wouldn't let my child play in his yard until he read it and stopped using poison. It worked too, but he was interested enough to read it and learn.

[notadmblnd]

18. plain housold bleach will kill grass too..

or you can just offer to let your dog use his yard as a toilet.

[lateo]

20. I'm really looking for links on the danger of Roundup.

Anyone have any?

[giant_robot]

23. Roundup is actually very safe.

I believe it contains a molecule that specifically inhibits a critical enzyme in the Calvin-Benson cycle. Since only plants that use photosynthesis are affected by this, it's relatively safe for use around pets and people. I'll do a little searching to see if I can find something.

On edit: it actually inhibits an amino acid biosynthesis pathway that exists in higher plants, but not mammals.

[amazona]

28. yes round-up (glysophate) is the safest for wildlife

I am not aware of another herbicide that is anywhere near as safe for wildlife and especially birds as glysophate. Don't remember exact numbers but if I recall correctly they actually had trouble getting an LD50 for Song Sparrows. The birds simply couldn't ingest enough to be harmed apparently. Glysophate is the only herbicide that I will use. No need to give money to Monsanto as there are generics out there now.

The cancer story is a classic "post hoc" fallacy in my view. I know of no evidence that glysophate could possibly cause cancer. I have pets, and I would not use any other herbicide.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[marions ghost]

39. I have heard that Roundup is neutralized

in roughly 2 weeks in the environment. Does anyone know if this is true? I was told that Roundup or glyphosphate was the safest. I'd be interested in anything you find out about it. I'd rather not use it if it's worse than I thought.

While I wouldnt use it to kill a whole lawn, I do use it for those really invasive grass-like weeds and poison ivy that pop up in spring. Things that you really can't pull out by hand or cover with plastic very well.

[giant_robot]

26. Here's a link to an abstract from a review

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10854122

They seem more concerned about the toxic effects of the surfactant in the formulation than the active ingredient. I wouldn't want to take a shower in the stuff, but it looks like these reviewers think it's pretty safe.

[underpants]

24. I used it when I worked on a golf course

it works like a charm.

I always suspected that it was too good to be true.

[crispini]

25. Yes. Poison in general is a bad idea.

It's bad for people, kids, pets, other living things that hang around outside, and so on. As someone suggested upthread, put down black tarps or garbage bags to smother unwanted grass. Think about the consequences of the action if you multiplied it x1000? Bad stuff. I wish I could convince every gardener to go 100% organic. I have a great yard and great veggies and have no problems with any of them -- and it's all 100% organic.

[amazona]

31. yeah well

Places that are 100 percent organic in the great state of Louisiana are completely over-run with invasive Chinese tallow and invasive water hyacinth. If you want to clear away lawn or other non-native species, and actually give the native plants a fair shot, the only practical treatment I'm aware of is glysophate. We've changed the natural world, and it can no longer survive without care because we have too many invasives that have no natural enemies and can easily out-compete our native wildflowers. Then our native birds and butterflies are looking around for some place to live.

I have no problem with the dude ripping out the stupid, sterile Zoysia grass. I hope he replaces most of it with a native grass where possible and some native "islands" of wildflowers. A lot of people are doing this. And, yeah, glysophate is the first step.

It beats a world of sterile green lawns and Chinese tallow any day of the week. Bad lawns are better for wildlife than "great" lawns when you get down where the short hairs grow and start counting diversity of species! A "good" lawn is a dead monoculture. To me that is ugly. Maybe this dude agrees.

P.S. This year my lawn has an awful lot of white clover and wild strawberry in it. A bad lawn. Boo hoo. Not a uniform green sward. But it feeds wild birds.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[crispini]

34. Your lawn sounds like my lawn.

Dotted with wildflowers and patches of clover. :thumbsup:

You might like this:
http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/

You can have an officially certified backyard wildlife habitat! Kinda fun.

[bleedingheart]

32. I once used road salt to kill weeds...and it worked

but then I was killing a patch of crabgrass and the salt was a leftover from when the roads were being salted in the winter.

I did find a link for a homemade recipe to kill stuff.

http://www.recipezaar.com/97039

There is also the old fashioned way.

Dig it up...

[amazona]

33. salt also kills soil

Never, ever, ever use salt to kill weeds. The person who comes after you trying to grow stuff on your salted lawn is always going to have grief.

Dig it up doesn't work so well either. Ever tried to dig up Chinese tallow? Good luck on that one. I don't think bull-dozing an entire environment is very organic.

There is a reason why people who do wetlands and eco-system restoration use glysophate. When I want to do something, I study what the experts have done and try to emulate them. I want a safe yard -- safe not in terms of having a dead soil that will not harbor a "weed" (the last gasp of a native wildflower) or a bug among the "golf course" lawn but safe in terms of providing some home and habitat to wild flowers, birds, butterflies, etc.

All ya'll interested in killing lawn and other noxious non-native plants, please read Sara Stein's "Noah Garden" books -- the information is all in there and it's solid.

This thread may be a very rare case of the "friend" actually knows what he's doing better than the DUer. It doesn't happen often, but maybe it's the exception that proves the rule.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[bleedingheart]

37. Actually my preferred method...one I used today is

digging them out.

I dig out all weeds, even those in the yard..great exercise and gets me outdoors.

Like I said I only tried the salt experiment once with a patch of crabgrass and after doing that I found that grass would grow their later.....not sure why but it did.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

35. Once you kill a stand of grass

you have to strip it all out down past the roots, and replace the topsoil. It basically sterilizes the soil when used over an area of any size. Most landscapers who do it that way will just replace the top layer with fresh sod. The underlying soil still needs to be tilled and prepped before the sod is put down.

[xmas74]

38. I can't use it-it gives me rashes just to be anywhere near

where it is being sprayed.