In article et,
Sally Thompson wrote:

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:58:06 +0100, Cat(h) wrote
(in article .com):

snip very interesting discussion on glyphosate

Question on glyphosate.
It is very, very effective, and was a lifesaver when I started out
from scratch in teh garden.
Now, it is not an option, due to just how effective it is on
everything.
I am just wondering whether "painting" some on leaves to minimise
splashes onto surrounding plants would be an effective way of getting
rid of some difficult to pull plants?



Yes, that will work. It is best to then seal the "painted" leaves in a small
plastic bag, secured with a tie, so that there is no risk to surrounding
plants. It looks unsightly but you should only need to do it once! We don't
use sprays as a general rule but as an example have recently been given a
clump of Michaelmas Daisies with a ripe piece of bindweed in the middle,
impossible really to remove totally. Since at present we have no bindweed
here (everything else ...), I have inserted the end of the bindweed into a
small bag as above, and it is nicely withering away now.


I'm using a mixture of glyphosate, wallpaper paste and bright orange dye
with a 25mm paintbrush. (I know mixing your own is totally illegal and
I expect a visit from the relevant authorities quite soon.)
The wallpaper paste is simply a thickener - which helps reduce splash a
bit but also lets me put a thicker coat on waxy leaves, eg ivy. The dye
lets me see what I've done and is also good to identify splashes on
clothes or skin. The dye used is the orange dye used in sweet-and-sour
sauce - mainly because its probably not too harmful itself and you can
buy kilo packs of it in chinese supermarkets for a couple of quid.