Re: pesticide article

Thank you for all of your good thoughts and information. My experience is that Round-up is more effective on some kinds of plants than it is on others. A Burmese Honeysuckle near the Wisteria was killed easily with one spraying. Roses, Laurus nobilis, and of course the Wisteria have been the worst. The lawn Wisteria sprout was mowed off and hasn't persisted there, but the root system has chosen a large selection of other places. The stump is long gone, and I have mostly removed and or painted the sprouts as you suggested. I'm just hoping I live long enough--I'm 82! The Italian Bay took about six years of shoot removal before it died. In case you are wondering why I removed all of these plants, the Wisteria was lifting the large cement slabs of my patio. The Lonicera had out- grown the space and was blooming up on the roof and requiring constant pruning. The Laurus was only too happy in its unwatered situation and rapidly grew to forty feet, providing more shade than I had anticipated. 

Thanks again, Cathy


On Aug 4, 2007, at 3:22 PM, Reidfamily wrote:
Actually, round-up is somewhat limited in effectiveness to rather small plants of this type. I saw a study recently in the journal "California 
Agriculture" where it's comparative usefulness on really persistent,
root-sprouting plants was best at the 2 or 3-pairs of true leaves stage. If it is coming up in a lawn, won't you end up killing the lawn there, too? This is quite a difficult situation which will probably require "painting" the round-up on the new shoots that appear before they get much bigger than 6 or 8". Also, it should be noted that if you continue to pull it at this stage from below soil level with a good weeding implement like an asparagus knife, eventually the roots will lose their storage reserves and run out of steam. That is providing that the parent plant/root stock is completely killed, and not photosynthesizing and sending out carbos to the roots. If 
the stump won't die and is too large to dig, there is a stump-applied
herbicide whose name I can't recall, but maybe someone on the list knows it. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Catherine Ratner [t*@verizon.net]
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2007 11:16 AM
To: Reidfamily
Subject: Re: pesticide article

The roots have traveled so that shoots come up fifteen and twenty
feet away.  Digging would mean dismantling the lawn and flower and
shrub beds.  My present thought is to let some of the shoots grow up
quite tall and then use Round-up in hopes that more of it will be
taken to the roots by the greater quantity of leaves.  Cathy
On Aug 4, 2007, at 9:23 AM, Reidfamily wrote:


I LOVE this solution!  Of course, a good long soak beforehand with a
slow-dripping hose to saturate the ground would be helpful. I have
used it
more than once for chores I simply don't have the bandwidth or
strength to
do myself.  For $10/hr - much more than minimum wage, one can get A
LOT done
by a strong young man or woman.  They always get a dip in the pool
afterwards when it's hot, and lunch on the shady deck. Well worth the 
$10-$50 dollars spent for work that would take me several days and
undue
soreness!
Karrie

-----
On Aug 3, 2007, at 4:26 PM, Catherine Ratner wrote:


Thank you, thank you, thank you for your comments.  I will save
them forever to show those people who assert moral superiority
because THEY wouldn't use Round-up.  I use it as you do, sparingly
and carefully.  What would you use to kill an unwanted Wisteria
which is still sprouting after four years?


A teenager with a strong back and a sharp shovel
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