I have read here a few times the recommendatioon to apply weed killer
with a sponge. For grass and weeds around the shrubs around my
foundation is it OK to use this method? If so, where on the week do you
apply it and to how much?

Thx in advance.

Gary

On Sat, 02 Aug 2003 13:58:52 -0000, GaryM wrote:

I have read here a few times the recommendatioon to apply weed killer
with a sponge. For grass and weeds around the shrubs around my
foundation is it OK to use this method? If so, where on the week do you
apply it and to how much?

Thx in advance.

Gary


It's okay. Wet a sponge (per the package dilution) and fold it around
the grass and gently pull it through the sponge. It think it is much
easier to pull the weeds by hand after the soil is soaked. I had a
mean and thorny 5-foot thistle plant that I wrapped with a garbage bag
then sprayed it with RoundUp--it took three applications spaced two
weeks apart to finally kill it.

On Sat, 02 Aug 2003 13:58:52 -0000, GaryM wrote:

I have read here a few times the recommendatioon to apply weed killer
with a sponge. For grass and weeds around the shrubs around my
foundation is it OK to use this method? If so, where on the week do you
apply it and to how much?

RoundUp is a powerful herbicide spray that's absorbed through plant
foliage. It'll kill everything except ivy and vinca. Suggestions to
apply with a brush or sponge-tipped tongs are meant for places where
one wants, for example, to eliminate specific weeds in a flowerbed of
desirable plants. That is, where wholesale spraying is not practical.
You can probably (carefully) spray the weeds and grass around your
shubs with good effect. RoundUp doesn't poison the ground or kill
through the ground or roots.

For application directions, read the label. RoundUp is sold in both
ready-to-use spray bottles and containers of concentrate designed to
be diluted before spraying (or painting or sponging). It is applied to
living foliage (won't do a thing for eliminating dried grass) on the
morning of a preferably sunny day when rain isn't expected. Day of the
week is not pertinent.

Instead of using a sponge why not use gloves?

You put on light surgical rubber gloves then woollen or cotton glove over,
then just dip your hand into the Weed killer mix, close your hand to get rid
of excess liquid, and then draw your hand over the weeds you want to kill.

Also it is better if you can treat the weeds in the evening rather than the
morning. The weed killer doesn't evaporate so fast so more is absorbed into
the weeds.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

If that method of application is not on the label, I strongly recommend it not
be used in that way. Round up is a systemic pesticide and I wouldn't use it for
anything, certainly not with my latex covered hand. Who knows if it would break
down the latex? I may be alarmist, but if you have the glove on and all, how
bout watering the night before and pulling weeds out?


On Sun, 3 Aug 2003 21:04:40 +0100, "David Hill"
wrote:

Instead of using a sponge why not use gloves?

You put on light surgical rubber gloves then woollen or cotton glove over,
then just dip your hand into the Weed killer mix, close your hand to get rid
of excess liquid, and then draw your hand over the weeds you want to kill.

Also it is better if you can treat the weeds in the evening rather than the
morning. The weed killer doesn't evaporate so fast so more is absorbed into
the weeds.

". If that method of application is not on the label, I strongly recommend
it not be used in that way. Round up is a systemic pesticide and I wouldn't
use it for
anything, certainly not with my latex covered hand. Who knows if it would
break down the latex? I may be alarmist, but if you have the glove on and
all, how
bout watering the night before and pulling weeds out? ."

Even undiluted it wont break the gloves down in a day, and if you are really
worried you could always industrial or heavy duty Kitchen gloves under the
woollen or cotton one.

I don't think it mentions using a watering can to apply either.

I have used the glove method with various weed killers over around 40 years
with no problems.



--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

It would be wise to use heavy duty gloves made for handling chemicals. Can
be found at garden centers.

karen

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
". If that method of application is not on the label, I strongly recommend
it not be used in that way. Round up is a systemic pesticide and I
wouldn't
use it for
anything, certainly not with my latex covered hand. Who knows if it would
break down the latex? I may be alarmist, but if you have the glove on and
all, how
bout watering the night before and pulling weeds out? ."

Even undiluted it wont break the gloves down in a day, and if you are
really
worried you could always industrial or heavy duty Kitchen gloves under the
woollen or cotton one.

I don't think it mentions using a watering can to apply either.

I have used the glove method with various weed killers over around 40
years
with no problems.



--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

wrote:
Instead of using a sponge why not use gloves?
You put on light surgical rubber gloves then woollen or cotton glove over,
then just dip your hand into the Weed killer mix, close your hand to get rid
of excess liquid, and then draw your hand over the weeds you want to kill.

animaux wrote:
If that method of application is not on the label, I recommend it not
be used.

The label for Roundup specifies rates and mixes but not the equipment.
The technique of applying with a cotton glove over a rubber glove is a
standard technique that has been recommended to me by our county agents
and horticulturists at Longwood Gardens. One very successful use of
this method was to eliminate bindweed from an asparagus patch. If you
pull bindweed, each piece of root forms a new plant. The Roundup
applied with a cotton glove over a latex glove worked great.

--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
Visit my Rhododendron and Azalea web pages at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/rhody.html
Also visit the Rhododendron and Azalea Bookstore at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/rhodybooks.html
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman

On Mon, 4 Aug 2003 15:29:42 +0100, "David Hill"
wrote:

I have used the glove method with various weed killers over around 40 years
with no problems.

other than that constant twitch we've been meaning to mention?

On Mon, 4 Aug 2003 08:07:53 -0700, "NewsUser"
wrote:

It would be wise to use heavy duty gloves made for handling chemicals. Can
be found at garden centers.


or even wiser to learn to garden and develop soils without weeds?

On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 16:22:51 GMT, "Stephen M. Henning"
wrote:


The label for Roundup specifies rates and mixes but not the equipment.
The technique of applying with a cotton glove over a rubber glove is a
standard technique that has been recommended to me by our county agents
and horticulturists at Longwood Gardens.
LOL , not that they' would have a continued interest in chemical
use...." Longwood Gardens was created by industrialist Pierre S. du
Pont "(and is sometimes referred to as the DuPont Gardens)

On Mon, 4 Aug 2003 15:29:42 +0100, "David Hill"
wrote:

". If that method of application is not on the label, I strongly recommend
it not be used in that way. Round up is a systemic pesticide and I wouldn't
use it for
anything, certainly not with my latex covered hand. Who knows if it would
break down the latex? I may be alarmist, but if you have the glove on and
all, how
bout watering the night before and pulling weeds out? ."

Even undiluted it wont break the gloves down in a day, and if you are really
worried you could always industrial or heavy duty Kitchen gloves under the
woollen or cotton one.

I don't think it mentions using a watering can to apply either.

I have used the glove method with various weed killers over around 40 years
with no problems.

And I have been gardening organically for over 30 years (gee, that seems so old)
and I've never used Round Up for anything. However, if I ever did use it, I
would not make up my own ways of using it. It is labeled for use and it is best
to use it the way it is instructed on the label.

They do sell Round Up Foam now. It's a bit easier to handle, but if it gets on
anything else near it, it will cause damage to it or kill the plant you don't
want to kill. It also kills micro organisms and flora in the soil.

It's not as innocuous as you make it sound.

Victoria

On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 16:24:15 -0700, Tom Jaszewski
wrote:

or even wiser to learn to garden and develop soils without weeds?

I wish people would believe this. I have been in this house now since 1999.
This is the fourth spring my garden has been worked on. I am noticing a great
deal of highly successional plants which indicate good soil, not poor soil.
Many weeds do indicate poor soil. I'm glad you brought that up, because it is a
valid fact, one which I am experiencing in my own garden.

We were riddled with Johnson grass when we moved here. Each spring we'd water
out back and sink a nice long fork, loosen the soil and pull gently till we got
the whole rhizome. Each year, less and less. This year I think I've pulled
about 20 pieces of it on a half acre. I also use mulch, lots of it. Always
free every year after Christmas trees get shredded. Next year I'm going to rent
a giant trailer and get as many tons of it as my body allows me to hoist onto
the trailer.

Then again, many people are not gardeners. They want a garden, but not the
gardening. For me, gardening is an activity I can't live without.

Anyway, off on a tangent, but I'm glad you brought up the fact that if we build
healthy soils, we don't have the trouble with weeds that people who feed plants,
instead of soils, have.

v

"...... It's not as innocuous as you make it sound........."

I for one have never said that any chemical is innocuous.......They should
ALL be treated with care.

But......... if you can just apply to the individual weed and not dose the
surrounding plants and the ground around then it makes sense.

To me chemicals are a way of last resort.


--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

On Tue, 5 Aug 2003 08:06:25 +0100, "David Hill"
wrote:

"...... It's not as innocuous as you make it sound........."

I for one have never said that any chemical is innocuous.......They should
ALL be treated with care.

But......... if you can just apply to the individual weed and not dose the
surrounding plants and the ground around then it makes sense.

To me chemicals are a way of last resort.

I understand that. What we need to be more aware of is that at one time I was
and currently you are in the industry. People who know about the grave dangers
of pesticides have superior knowledge than the average homeowner who thinks more
is better.

I'm not trying to put anyone down. But inform people who are novice or hobby
gardeners who hear these unbelievable commercials from Round Up and Bug B Gone
and how great they are...etc. At one time, Monsanto had such a huge set of
balls to go as far and say, on a television commercial, "Round Up, save as table
salt..." The EPA jumped on that and in a weeks time a judge deemed it false or
misleading and they had to can all their silly commercials...including the one
where the weeds talked and were acting like they were mobsters, and such. I
doubt you have those commercials in the UK.

I think you can see where I'm going with this. Not meant to offend, rather to
inform.

Victoria