How about Roundup?

[SWMOgardens]

Can I broadcast spray roundup over large hosta beds to kill weeds? Will it harm hostas? How about early spring? Anyone have success using roundup to control weeds?

[Linda P]

I use it in early spring before the hostas come up, and have found no problems.
If you can do a tank mix spray of Round-up and Surflan (a pre-emergent herbicide)
you can slow down the growth of new weeds. I managed to get most of my seedling
area covered last spring, and did notice a reduction in the amount of weeds. I've not
been able to get any Roundup on this fall to kill whatever remained, because the hostas
just went down for the final count last week.
I also have been known to paint roundup on particularly stubborn weeds with a foam brush,
but it's not a real viable option for me with my two acres of garden.
I have accidentally sprayed a hosta with it, and then immediately washed it off with copious
amounts of water, and had no damage.

Linda P

[JaneG]

I use Roundup frequently. I've never sprayed an entire bed. I use a pump sprayer and spray the weeds directly. Don't get it on hostas or any other desirables because it WILL harm them. Like Linda said, if you get it on them, wash it off well.

I have wild grape and garlic mustard that creep into my bed from the woods in back. I use a strong concentration of Roundup on those. I'll never win that battle, but Roundup helps me keep them at bay. I'm not a fan of a lot of chemicals, but I couldn't live without Roundup.

[Chris_W]

Yes it works good, just don't get roundup directly on the hosta leaves or emerging crowns. Spot spraying just the weeds themselves is fine as long as you avoid any drift, ie, don't spray when it is windy and use a coarse spray to prevent too much misting.

[kHT]

We are a strong believer in the round up and if one turns a pot upside down over the hosta before spraying it really makes it easier, no hitting the hosta!!

[thy]

For 10 years I have used less than nothing from a bottle the size of a wine glass- just a bit to brush a unwanted tree in the middle of a garden plant.
But in my new garden it have been needed so I have used it
We do find rests of it, in the drinking water and it for sure is not a "Go, just use it" thing...

In Germany I found a sort of crave to place on the spayer head, preventing it from spraying on the garden plants, it do help a lot. ut I do feel ashamed for using close to a half gallon poison the last 2 years

[jgh]

Interesting, Pia... I don't think you should be feeling any guilt.

I know there was the report back in the early 2000s of Roundup leaching into the groundwater in Denmark, leading to a ban on its use. Though lots of organic advocates have tried to find similar results in the US and around the world, I still can't find any additional reports supporting that kind of contamination.

The understanding in the American agricultural establishment is that Roundup becomes inert when it hits the soil. I know the bacteria are supposed to eat it up or something, but it doesn't even seem to stay active as in goes down into the soil - otherwise the roots of plants nearby would absorb it and we'd see resulting damage. Lots of us use it on dandelions that are growing right in the heart of another plant by "painting" it on the dandelion leaves. Just doesn't make sense that it would stay in its original form in the soil if its not affecting the roots of the plants nearby.

So I really wonder - if those tests were accurate, why haven't they been replicated. The amounts are so tiny... the Danish report said 0.54 micrograms per liter. A liter is 1000 grams, so if my math is right that is .00000054 grams per 1000 grams water... or .00000000054g/1g H2O... or .0000000000054% . That is some mighty precise measurement. If the reading is accurate, it is possible that some kind of direct liquid contamination was involved rather than percolating through the soil.

I've used some nasty chemicals in my life - ddt, malathion, diazinon - and I feel bad about my ignorance now... but since 2003 I've not been able to find any more evidence that Roundup does any lasting harm in the environment. They have fed it by the pound to rats and dogs with little effect. What we do know is that MISUSE of Roundup can have some pretty harmful effects. Amphibians, for example, are more sensitive to chemical pollutants, so if roundup is used incorrectly and large amounts get into water sources, it may have some short-term negative affects on local population.

This is a chemical that every anti-chemical group has tried to find bad stuff about - and so far they've been pretty unsuccessful.

So I use Roundup - though I've never had the guts to spray whole areas of the hosta garden in early spring before the hostas emerge. I wonder if that might be the only way to kill back the lamiastrum that has moved from its designated spot into an old established hosta bed where handweeding can only seem to partially hold it back...