On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:11:58 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:

On 14/09/2011 10:46, Jake wrote:
On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:47:49 +0100, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:


You can still buy Roundup Jake, and there are many others of the same
chemical action but with different trade names
and they are all very effective on green and growing bamboo

Hmmm. I went to my local place to get some on Monday and they said
they weren't allowed to sell it any more so I assumed it's on some
recent banned list that I haven't seen.

Utter rubbish. They are increasingly trying to sell you the stuff as
prediluted in some kind of sprayer. The margins for selling slightly
impure water are incredibly much higher than selling the concentrate.
(same goes for windscreen wash - are people now really too dim to follow
even the simplest of instructions of how to dilute?)

It might be that at an agricultural dealer they have asked to see your
certificate and as you didn't have one they won't sell you Roundup
professional formulation. They have tightened up a bit on checks.

But unless you really love Monsanto and GM crops you really should buy a
generic own brand glyphosate based product which is cheaper. Choose the
one with most active ingredient per unit price. May be reduced in the
garden centre clearance for Santas grotto and Halloween any time now.
Unopened the stuff will keep pretty well over winter (frost free).

Regards,
Martin Brown

Thanks Martin (and Charlie)

I made contact with the owner of the place today. Seems that the staff
are right to say they're not allowed to sell Roundup but that's merely
because the owner has decided to limit the range of chemicals for
commercial reasons - he can't compete with the big chains price-wise
and he doesn't like chemicals anyway.

I always prefer to use pure glyphosate and with only one exception
never buy those over-priced, diluted trigger things. Roundup has its
place as I find it better for certain applications, especially where I
want to paint on rather than spray. But I buy as concentrate - earlier
this week I just wanted a little bottle of that as I don't use enough
for a big one and the chains never seem to sell the little ones!

On the trigger thing - the concentrate instructions usually say that
once diluted you need to use the stuff within a few weeks. So what's
so different about the diluted stuff in the trigger things? That'll
have been on the shelf for who knows how long before its bought. So
presumably you're paying for some preservative add-in.

And I only buy windscreen wash as concentrate (and will NEVER buy that
stuff they sell to spray on the windscreen the evening before a freeze
- neighbour bought some. Didn't make any difference to his windscreen
but messed up the paintwork around it.)

Cheers
Jake
==============================================
Gardening at the less wet end of Swansea Bay
but moved on from Tolkien; now half way through
the complete Harry Potter.

www.rivendell.org.uk