BAC wrote:

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...

In article , Mike Lyle
writes

I don't know of any ill-effect on plants of glyphosate residue at
root level. Not even the URL above claims any such effects.

Negligible effect in soil unless you vastly overdose it. You pretty much
have to hit green plant material with glyphosate for it to be effective.

As one who is currently suffering from an overload of caustic remarks
after recommending, in innocence, a Roundup container, (I was
recommending the container which allows you to fill a small plastic
gun/nozzle via a plunger and then spray rather than the chemical
therein) I can sympathise!

I don't like paying for fancy packaging. But there is nothing wrong with
glyphosate - considering how deadly it is to green plants it is
astonishingly benign in animals. The wetting agents used in the
commercial formulations are worse.

However I used a flame gun to go along the bottom of hedges, especially
in the damp or in the winter when my hawthorn doesn't have leaves.
The gun is not intended to burn up the foliage but rather to heat treat
it and it will die, then you go along a couple of weeks later and redo
it and the foliage will burn up easily,.

Hmm. This isn't such a good idea with a conifer hedge. The pine resin
makes them very inclined to catch fire. ISTR Bob Flowerdew has a tale
about burning down a large conifer hedge he was supposed to be weeding
with a flamethrower.

Is it a 'parosene' butane fuelled 'gun'? If so, there have been opinions
voiced here that it is next to useless. Personally, I disagree, but anyone
thinking of buying one might like to be aware of the negative feedback on
this group before shelling out.

I still reckon spot weeding with glyphosate is easy enough under hedges.
You just have to be careful. And the odd spec on a big tree sized plant
won't easily kill it. Cut off any parts accidentally exposed.

Amazingly waxy holly seedlings seem to be able to tolerate a direct hit.
But don't rely on this! Buttercup is also somewhat tolerant.

Regards,
Martin Brown