Weedeating With RoundUp

[pdub]

At the very start of spring this year, the flower beds in front of the house, and all of the decorative rocks (I could SURE lose those and laugh) were so overgrown, it looked like nobody lived here.

I went out there one weekend morning in April and sat down with a bag and commenced to pulling weeds. In about 20 minutes, I realized the magnitude of it. I'm too old for this stuff, and it'll take many many hours.

Pedro the Mexican, who was doing some work next door, walked up and said with a grin, "You doin' my job?" I said hell yes I am, how much? He looked it over and said 80 bucks.

So for a few hours Unit and I sat in the house and drank beer and watched Pedro and his helper sit there and pull weeds. When they got done, it was beautiful, pristine. Like a new house on the outside.

6 weeks later, same thing. Plus, there's all the stuff I can't get to with Junior the riding mower. So I'm out there with RoundUp, spraying everything I don't care about (which is in fact the whole yard if it was all about caring).

Pedro comes up again, happened to be working next door again. "You doin' my job?"

I sure am, shoulda done this the first time.

An hour after I got through it rained hard. Crap. Wasted a jug of RoundUp, or so I thought. Next day after work I come around the curve and everything I touched with that stuff was graveyard plant dead. Brown and on the ground. Amazing.

And the war goes on. It seems that a few of the weed species here have interpreted RoundUp to be fertilizer. It no longer even makes them feel bad. They laugh. I'm pissed.

Ortho doesn't do anything, the weeds laugh louder.

This whole story is about the last time I ran the ultralight battery powered weedeater that lasts ten minutes, I was just about through when the battery ran down and the last 5 inches of string in the cartridge got pulled out when it wrapped around the natural gas line.

{expletive} a weedeater, no matter what kind. It's the greatest worst invention ever. Both of those things. Greatest and worst.

[nesabo]

Send Pedro to Ohio.

[tardis454]

Cheapest weedkiller is.. 1q vinegar, 1/4c salt, 2 tsp bleach free dish detergent. Mix, spray. Voila, dead..

[Beagle]

(cough) diesel (cough)



split boom is more flexible though. I bought one but it's a few more bucks. My 10.00 McCulloch needed a 40.00 carb kit after 20 years and seals so I junked it. You can probably GET A PAIR on the same aisle at Home Depot.


Oh - and this junk, should you not like (cough) diesel (cough) will make Roundup look like fertilizer. I use it on the poison ivy / poison oak / woody crap around location X. You still have to stay after it a couple of times or something will sneak back in there.

[pdub]

[QUOTE=Beagle;785277](cough) diesel (cough)

QUOTE]

Ohhhhhhhhh I think I just heard that. Never mind the torture apparatus advertisement.

I've got 5 gallons of kerosene that's years old. I need to put it somewhere....

Oh NO I wouldn't do that and harm the environment, would I? Ohhhhh no. I'd never do that.

[Beagle]

spray it on the leafs, don't dump it on it. Get a cheap sprayer from HD or HF ... you don't want to contaminate the ground water, just kill the herbiage and make a border. The stuff that Tardis recommends might be a better idea.

I have never personally used diesel, but I know people who have and it was effective. I worried about the trees and bushes too much, so I guess that makes me a pussy. I wouldn't do it either. (ahem).

Don't fear the weedeater, just keep it away from your shins! Ah, and personal experience, wear safety glasses and long pants. Rocks in the eye suck it.

[SpiderGearsMan]

evil monsanto

[milner351]

Yup - we are totally on board especially this year with the vinegar / salt / dish soap concoction - we've been mixing it up by the gallon - it's less than $4 for a gallon compared with roundup at over $20 and it's all natural stuff - so - we don't have to worry about it messing with the lake. Of course with all the rain we've had trying to find a dry 24 hour period to get the stuff to stick has been tough - but it sucks less knowing it's cheap. We find that heating the gallon of vinegar on the stove (windows open or vent on to get rid of the smell) then adding the entire container of salt with some stirring gets the salt to disolve and stay disolved, then 5 tbsp of dawn and you're good - put it in the tank sprayer and go to town.

OF all the things I do around the house - one thing I DONT DO is weed.

[tardis454]

Trisodium Phosphate works very well, just make sure it's mixed right so you don't kill the whole yard.



The salt soap & vinegar is the least intrusive, you put it on once a month, it's cheap & 'Ken' friendly.

Another tip.. for bugs, get an industrial size container of ground red pepper & pour it around the perimeter of the house.
Bugs hate red pepper & it's funny watchin them scurry away as you're dumpin it.

[pdub]

I'm not at all chemically surprised at the vinegar solution.

Years ago, I cooked Bird Sauce Chicken for a big gathering of the folks I worked with in SC.

The host had one of those yards that you could eat off of, like carpet. He was real particular about his yard. It might have been sod to start with, it was just too perfect.

I was ending up the night and dumped out the extra sauce right there on the ground beside the grill. I found out soon (like two days later) that it killed the grass right there. The sauce is vinegar, salt, lots of red pepper, but not any dish soap.

He was mad at me me for the rest of his life for burning a hole in his yard. I sure did do that, had no idea at the time.

[Beagle]

Trisodium Phosphate works very well, just make sure it's mixed right so you don't kill the whole yard.



The salt soap & vinegar is the least intrusive, you put it on once a month, it's cheap & 'Ken' friendly.

Another tip.. for bugs, get an industrial size container of ground red pepper & pour it around the perimeter of the house.
Bugs hate red pepper & it's funny watchin them scurry away as you're dumpin it.

cats aren't real wild about getting red pepper on their paws... Ken will be pissed that you peppered his outhouse.

[pdub]

Ken's a house cat. Just like Bluebelle's a soft rock race car.

Lame. All's well. We're pussies over here, all of us. No risk, no adventure. Boring as hell in fact.

[Deaf Bob]

Cheapest weedkiller is.. 1q vinegar, 1/4c salt, 2 tsp bleach free dish detergent. Mix, spray. Voila, dead..

Areas with pets, yes.. Needs repeats..
Wife is very anti roundup (as was I untill 2 years ago..) so for out front where the dogs don't go, I spray roundup, instead of water, vinegar and Dawn dish soap ( blue ). She is none to the wiser.. I hide the round up and mixed Dawn with the vinegar so she doesnt cook with it.. Round up or vinegar mixture still needs repeats.. Got the driveway all grass free...

[Barry Donovan]

vinegar and salt makes hydrochloric eventually.

play it smart and find a dominant lawn seed.

you can do Kentucky blue grass and fancy stuff at your location.

[Karberator]

vinegar and salt makes hydrochloric eventually.

And great potato chips too!