GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

Dan.Espen · 25-03-2014, 02:50 AM posted to rec.gardens

lid (Drew Lawson) writes:

In article
(Dan.Espen) writes:

Yeah, I hesitated to mention Roundup.
We have some posters here that get irrational.
Nothing at all wrong with it when used for the right way.
When a pro comes in to give you a new lawn, they kill the old lawn/weeds
with Roundup. A little later they put in seeds, and new then nice new lawn.
New grass grows, right after the terrible Roundup.
Go figure.

Roundup is taken up by green leaves and (as I recall) no longer
works once dry. So by the time the old lawn is dead, so is the
Killer Power. I mostly reserve it for poison ivy.

I use it on my brick path ways, and patio.
I'll hand pull, but the Roundup makes most weeds go away for
a longer time.
I tried painting it on poison ivy with no obvious effect.

Todd's suggestion to use vinegar (acetic acid), gets some endorsement
online. I'm not 100% convinced, it's an acid, wouldn't that mess with
the soil PH?

I have roof moss and Roundup just doesn't seem right, maybe I'll
try the vinegar there. I tried dilute bleach and got a subdued
reaction from the moss.

Is there always something in the soil to break it down to neutral?
It is CH3COOH which seems pretty innocuous, just carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen.

The safety information for vinegar should have the Roundup naysayers
running for cover:

Concentrated acetic acid is corrosive to skin and must, therefore, be
handled with appropriate care, since it can cause skin burns,
permanent eye damage, and irritation to the mucous membranes.[57][58]
These burns or blisters may not appear until hours after
exposure. Latex gloves offer no protection, so specially resistant
gloves, such as those made of nitrile rubber, are worn when handling
the compound. Concentrated acetic acid can be ignited with difficulty
in the laboratory. It becomes a flammable risk if the ambient
temperature exceeds 39 °C (102 °F), and can form explosive mixtures
with air above this temperature (explosive limits: 5.4–16%). Acetic
acid is a strong eye, skin, and mucous membrane irritant. Prolonged
skin contact with glacial acetic acid may result in tissue
destruction. Inhalation exposure (8 hours) to acetic acid vapours at
10 ppm could produce some irritation of eyes, nose, and throat; at 100
ppm marked lung irritation and possible damage to lungs, eyes, and
skin might result. Vapour concentrations of 1,000 ppm cause marked
irritation of eyes, nose and upper respiratory tract and cannot be
tolerated. These predictions were based on animal experiments and
industrial exposure. Skin sensitization to acetic acid is rare, but
has occurred. It has been reported that, 12 workers exposed for two or
more years to an estimated mean acetic acid airborne concentration of
51 ppm, there were symptoms of conjunctive irritation, upper
respiratory tract irritation, and hyperkeratotic dermatitis. Exposure
to 50 ppm or more is intolerable to most persons and results in
intensive lacrimation and irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat,
with pharyngeal oedema and chronic bronchitis. Un acclimatized humans
experience extreme eye and nasal irritation at concentrations in
excess of 25 ppm, and conjunctivitis from concentrations below 10 ppm
has been reported. In a study of 5 workers exposed for 7 to 12 years
to concentrations of 80 to 200 ppm at peaks, the principal findings
were blackening and hyperkeratosis of the skin of the hands,
conjunctivitis (but no corneal damage), bronchitis and pharyngitis,
and erosion of the exposed teeth (incisors and canines).[59]

Nasty stuff.

(Yeah I know, diluted, you can eat it.)

Just a little satire.

--
Dan Espen