Just a short off gardening (sort of) story about my darling dear son. He's so helpful to his Mama.
Well, my darling dear son borrowed some round up from me last year. He said he and the boys he roomed with were going to use it on some weeds in the back yard. I asked him a few weeks later how it worked. He said that they weren't going to do that anymore because it killed the grass around the weeds too. (?) I guess the round up didn't get the memo on exactly what it was supposed to kill.
And I guess the poor child is a slow learner because he called the other day to tell me that he had used the round up around the edges of my house. I cringed but didn't know the full extent of my concern until this morning when I was out watering and noticed that he had very kindly tried to kill the weeds in my flower bed. All of my crocosmias and walking iris look like they've been splattered with brown paint. I'm pretty sure that he got his gardening genes from his father's side. lol
my "helpful" son
Confiscate that Roundup and keep it somewhere with a padlock!
That is sort of how I feel when DH says he is going to apply weed and feed to the lawn. I cringe to think about what else it will hit.
I am with Linda...take away his weapon!!
Better yet, don't ever buy it again.
Unfortunately at my weight there are just places that I can't get to. And anything that requires that I get on my hands and knees just doesn't get done. So judicious using of Round up is the only alternative. I wouldn't have used it in that particular flower bed and certainly not on the windy days that ds was using it. In the end I gotta love him, he was trying to be helpful.
Yes, he meant well, so what can you do? I guess you do what you have to do, and that is just fine, I am just scared of that stuff.
I put it on a sponge and used it around my daylilies and irises. I had to give my daylilies a haircut, uh frond cut, but it worked out well.
I used a paint brush and paint it on each piece of grass. I get this long jointed grass that tries to take over. It's not burmuda or st. augustine, but it's PITA.
Roundup goes inert when it hits the soil.
I read on DG or in Garden Gate to use a plastic juice or half gallon milk container to direct sprays like that. They cut the bottom out and placed it over plants and sprayed through the top. It would definately help on windy days.
If it were a bed with short things or things planted at a distance apart. In a bed with tall items or clustered that would be difficult. A sponge or paint brush would have been the better idea.
AuntAnne, I purchased a long tube thing that has a sponge on the end. You fill it with round-up, then daub just the weed, so no overspray. Haven't tried it yet, but it looks like a good design as long as it doesn't drip. I'll try to find a link to it.
I put on a pair of latex gloves & on my right hand a cotton glove. I spay the cotton glove & with the right hand I rub the round up on the weeds.
That works too, but this way you don't have to bend.