[ian1]

Hi can anyone help, not been able to get up the allotment for about a month, weeds really bad does anyone know what weed killer i can use, that does not stay in the ground for ages.

[Livinhope]

I'm no expert (therefore dangerous) but I understand from the bottle that Roundup does not affect the soil.  

I stand to be corrected.

[Runwell-Steve]

Roundup is fine,

Glysophate is the active ingredient and if you buy that it is cheaper than RoundUp, you just have to dilute it yourself.

[ian1]

Thanks for the replies, someone said to me that it had to be systemic, is this correct.

[gillie]

Glyphosate is absorbed through green leaves and translocated to the roots which then start to die.  It takes a week or two before you see the leaves starting to looking ill, but once they do you can cultivate the soil.

Glyphosate does not persist in the soil.

Gillie

[Livinhope]

Steve, Where can you buy Glysophate and does it give the dilution rate?

[DD.]

There's a lot of info on this forum regarding glyphosate,  (thanks gillie for the correct spelling), if you enter it into a search.

It is found in several brands of weed killer, it will be on the label - as will the dilution and application rates. Follow the label, not what people may suggest on here as they've had it totally wrong in the past.

[smurf]

roundup is the best thing to use. will not affect the soil, already mixed and now comes with a handy sprayer that makes it so much easier

If you have brambles roundup do a weed killer for this too

[DavidT]

A litre of Glyphosate at Wilkinsons will cost you £10, a great deal cheaper than Roundup, and does the same job.

[smurf]

5ltrs of round up at focus £19.99 ready mixed and with sprayer attached even cheaper

[DD.]

I don't think so.

The Wilko stuff is undiluted and will cover up to 400 sq m.

The pump you mention isready made up stuff and covers only up to 150 sq m.

[Livinhope]

When we took our plot over about 9 months ago it was like a piece of waste ground, knee high grass, dandelions, buttercups and bindweed.  My daughter started digging and although the ground was easy the amount of uncompostible weeds was enormous.  In the end I suggested Roundup.  We treated the whole plot and went away for a week.  When we went back things had started to droop but it was fairly obvious that we hadn't got them all by any means.  A week later we treated it again.  This time everything was killed apart from the more mature bindweed and some very large buttercups the roots of which were still alive but easy to deal with.   Although we now have one small square that we haven't got round to, over three quarters is planted and doing well.  Roundup definitely does not affect the ground only greenery.  Sometimes measures have to be drastic.

[richyrich7]

Wilko's stuff is as good as Roundup   just be careful to follow the instructions

[DD.]

It would be, wouldn't it?

[mumofstig]