Bind weed

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, nepia said:

Not having a pop; we ask farmers to grow food for us so they do.  Some laxity is therefore needed when there is collateral damage but benefit of experience now suggests that we need to rein in our use of biocides

Yes we are probably too far down the road for food production to be immediately weaned off but I see no reason many pesticides could not be withdrawn for amenity use. I'll probably include utilities in that as my experience was that  it was over used and outside of label  by contractors ticking the paperwork and ignoring the instructions.

 

The thing is farmers are cost conscious and use just the right amount to do the job with properly calibrated application. The same cannot be said of much amenity applications by knapsack spray or golf courses where cost is less of an issue.

[Gavint]

7 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Depending what one means by safe, probably none in environmental terms.

I mean safest in terms of risk to the applicator, bystanders, pets, wildlife and damage to the environment.

 

Herbicides are useful tools when used correctly according to laws and safety regulations, and when the situation warrants it.  95% of the time you don't need to fully get rid of perennial weeds like bindweed or goutweed, you can just mow them down and when they resprout, do it again.  

 

In cases where they must be controlled, like when you're planning on planting perennials or something in that spot you have two options:  Herbicides or soil replacement.  In this case, 30 mL of a targeted Round-Up application is far less damaging to the environment than the diesel fumes, CO2 emissions, nitrogen release, soil ecology damage associated with soil replacement.  

 

 

[spudulike]

Sodium chlorate, if a decent solution in water doesn't do bindweed then mix it with sugar and blow the feckers up.

Only issue is the fire suppressants and it has been banned😩

 

[openspaceman]

55 minutes ago, spudulike said:

Only issue is the fire suppressants and it has been banned😩

Plus it is highly toxic if ingested

[spudulike]

But it was a lot of fun as a schoolboy.

[Muddy42]

With glyphosate, surely there is a question of scale. For example I mix up 500ml at a time and dab it on cut stems with a paintbrush (rhodo, thistles, docks in the garden etc).  Then there are farmers that "spray off" a 5 acre field of grass with it before replanting winter crops.

[nepia]

17 hours ago, GarethM said:

Erm, shifting the goalposts there.

 

From weedkiller to insecticide then to biocide.

They were trying to rely more on seed dressings than regular spraying, that got a knocking back.

 

Even though it was short term whilst the plant was most vulnerable, so now they want you spraying more to sterilise the soil effectively.

You've lost me; sorry

[GarethM]

28 minutes ago, nepia said:

You've lost me; sorry

You were simply rolling everything into a bucket, different chemicals do specific things.

 

A weedkiller isn't a biocide, weedkiller isn't a fungicide or a insecticide. Probably with the exception of DDT, that's just liquid napalm to pretty much anything and anyone.

 

Farm weedkiller is generally used after you've ploughed or encouraged the weeds to grow. This kills them off early, in the hopes it burns them out in the longer term.

 

Pre-mergerant sprays are like a surface seal to also stop weeds whilst a crop establishes, once at a certain height they can outcompete weeds meaning less spray.

 

Arable farming is not about sterilisation and scorched earth.

Edited September 23 by GarethM

[peds]

[GarethM]

10 minutes ago, peds said:

Try asking for that down your local suppliers, I dare you, I double dare you.

 

They'll probably come out with a jar of that blue stuff from the barbers.