Herbicide and weeds

[Mike4]

With the recent rain along with the about average temperature , the weeds are leaping out of the ground.

I normally spray the yard with a Glyphosphate based herbicide, but I am attempting to find something a little more effective .

Before the enviromentalists got control there were numerous preemergence as well as persistent herbicides available .

Short of applying 150mm of concrete, with that there does not seem to be any locally available effective herbicides available .

Does anyone know of an effective herbicide ?

Which can be purchased and used in an industrial area.

Michael

[Burner]

Herbicides can be tricky to get right. The type of plants, stage of growth and weather conditions can make a huge difference in the success. Stores that sell agricultural chemicals should be able to help you find the right chemical and application rate and timing for your needs. It is impossible to recommend something without more detail. I hope that helps.

[steamingbill]

Mike,

I used some stuff from Bunnings advertised as being for pathways "Once a year weed killer and preventer". They carried a couple of different brands.

On the packet it says you have to be careful and mindful of runoff carrying the weedkiller into places you didn't intend and also lomg term use might slowly seep through the ground to adjacent garden beds.

Seemed to work quite well but didn't get the full advertised 12 months prevention.

Bill

[Mike4]

I can remember being able to purchase pre emergent herbicides quite a number of years ago .
They have dissapeared since the green groups started to dictate how everything is to be done.
I am currently looking at the types of industrial steam cleaners which can be purchased .
That will allow the weeds to be quickly destroyed while they are still small , and it can be used to clean other equipment as well.

Michael

[franco]

Michael,

FWIW I used to work at sugar mills in the steam locomotive days, and the weeds along the railway tracks were controlled by steaming. A locomotive towed a wagon with a big auxillary water tank for the loco. The wagon was surrounded by flexible skirts which confined the steam to an area about 5 x 2.5 metres, and live steam from the locomotive boiler was blown into this space. The "scorcher" travelled at about 3 kph. This was extremely effective in killing all vegetation, but there was absolutely no residual effect at all. Each section of railway line usually had to be treated at least twice during each wet season (mid January to end of April) to ensure the track would be usable when the cane crushing season started in early June.

After the steam locomotives were phased out a lot of trials were done to find a herbicide or combination of herbicides which would provide a long term kill along the track formation without migrating away from the line and unintentionally damaging adjacent crops. I can't remember what the final result was, but I would bet that the herbicides used would not be generally available now.

Frank.

[Oldneweng]

They have dissapeared since the green groups started to dictate how everything is to be done.

You don't think there should be any control over what chemicals we dispense? I think science might have more to do with this. DDT has been removed for sale in the Western world along with many others. Is this a bad thing?

Dean

[.RC.]

Atrazine is usually the most commonly used pre-emergant herbicide. I assume it is still available. If you wanted to control weedy sporabolus grasses I would recommend a Fluproponate based chemical. But if you apply too much it will nuke the ground for years.

[steamingbill]

Try this (currently selling at Masters)

https://www.masters.com.au/product/900002132/yates-once-a-year-path-weeder-concentrate-1l

or alternately have a wander through this google search

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=one+year+weedkiller&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&ei=JXu-V5qEMaPM8gfJ14XwDg#q=one+year+weed+killer

Bill

[Mike4]

RC's suggestion has merit.

Oldneweng, some chemicals are dangerous and DDT is one that has very long term detrimental effects, however with the advances in science over the last few decades it should be possible to have something that will assist to control weeds .
I dont want to spend my time physically removing them one at a time, even though the exercise would probably be good for me .

I have priced a decent steam cleaner , will be checking one out at a local transport depot , so should be able to keep machinery clean and weeds cooked .

Michael

[Oldneweng]

My comment was that blaming the unavailability of dangerous chemicals on "the green groups" is less than useful. When profits are concerned it takes a lot of effort to ban chemicals. This effort involves facts about what these chemicals do to the environment as a whole. A lot more people than "the green groups" were involved in the process.


however with the advances in science over the last few decades it should be possible to have something that will assist to control weeds .

True, but the important word here is "should". Whether that is the case or not I have no idea. I also have no idea how this relates to my post.

Removing the weeds individually? Not sure where that came from either. I suspect you have misinterpreted my words. I don't have a problem with using poisons. I just believe that we have a responsibility to try to use chemicals that will not cause problems in the future.

I also have a similar issue to you. I use Roundup. I bought 20 litres many years ago and still have most of it. I was planning on using it more extensively to control weeds and grass, but found it did a strange thing. I sprayed an area for a shelter belt. The grass died off, but rank weeds grew up in place of the grass. To continue spraying was difficult as the trees were randomly placed.

Down the track many hundreds of redgum seedlings popped up. There are a couple of redgum trees nearby. I don't know whether the spraying was related to this or not.

I still use Roundup for fencelines, ditches, paths etc. We have a lot of onion grass which is not affected much by Roundup. I am going to have a load of roadbase spread on my driveway soon. I would prefer to kill all the weeds growing on it first. These are mostly onion grass now. The driveway that need building up is probably about 300m in length all up.

I have heard good reports about using steam, but I was under the impression it involved low pressure steam. Can steam cleaners be adjusted to a low pressure? I have never used a steam cleaner so I am only going on what I remember from the distant past. Any sort of pressure aimed at the ground around here would dig a big hole real quick.

Dean