[Salmo]

"Wherever there is a risk of contaminating a
watercourse, choice of herbicides is limited to
formulations of glyphosate and 2,4-D amine that are
approved for use near water."

Copied from the Environment Agency.


[/quote]

Quite right ICE. The EA will only give approval on/near water for genuine Roundup Biactive as that uses an amine solvent. Other glyphosates use cheaper solvents, which is why they are cheaper.

[arugula]

Other weedkillers such as MCPA (agritox by one manufacturer) or Doxstar may be helpful in this situation, although I am not certain of any licencing restrictions on either and these should be checked before use is considered.

Both are for professional use only.

Thanks Yorkie, I thought that was likely to be the case but I wasn't sure. Just to clarify, does that mean an individual can get a professional to use the chemical on their land or that only a farmer can use it on his own land?

[JayG]

Having just bought a packet of "Weedol 2" in powder form I thought I'd mention it in this post; the packet suggests it's only really effective against smaller weeds and although "deactivated" on soil contact there are pretty comprehensive warnings against contaminating watercourses with the product (at least it no longer contains paraquat!) 

From what I can gather glyphosate-based weedkillers are the most effective across the wide spectrum of "weeds", although the Wiki entry for Roundup makes interesting reading! 

[Yorkie]

Just to clarify, does that mean an individual can get a professional to use the chemical on their land or that only a farmer can use it on his own land?

Hmm, not sure.  If needed, I'd ring up a professional gardener and ask them!