roundup: To use or not to use

[camilleathome]

Hey guys. Gardening season is upon us and this will be our first year gardening at our farm. Im very excited. My landlords father in law has a tiller and is a retired farmer/cattleman and said he would till our garden for us. He said if we wanted he could treat the ground with roundup which he prefered to do only for the first year and he didnt have any issues with weeds ever again. Now Im debating doing this because it is a chemical and we would like to try to be as organic as we can(Even though we are not using any organic seeds this year). I was reading that using a mix of mulching, letting the chickens into the garden on short trips and Carefully spraying vinegar on the weeds and just pulling some can be a more natural way of weeding. Suggestions and insight would be most welcome. This is our first fullblown garden .

 

[Keltara]

Hi Camille

I have been gardening my entire adult life. Last year, I watched a movie that transformed the way that I garden for the rest of my life. I had the most amazing year gardening last summer and will continue with the method this year. Paul Gautchi is the man who developed the method. He has a website and on the website you can watch the movie for free! Go Here, and scroll to the bottom of the page and click play on the movie. I can tell you that everything he speaks of in this amazing movie is 100% true!! And in answer to your question...NO to the round up. It will kill every beneficial organism that lives in your soil. Watch the movie and you will be amazed!

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Kelly

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Our Country Chronicles

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[mindylee]

Its safe, but if going with "as humanly possible natural' or ur terms "organic"... then ur gonna have to pick weeds. Personally, i would use it just the help with weeds if ya hate picking them.


Also as a person who sells weed killers at TSC, Round Up will eventually wear off and some plants/weeds do/will grow back after 2 weeks. And then fully after the yr you spray. Its not permament, only temp use of weed control. The main ingreadent goes nutral soon as water hits it and is unefective then. So dont use right before it rains.
Hope this helps

 

[Peaches Lee]

Well, if you are trying to go as close to organic or natural as possible, Roundup is a major no-no LOL! My recommendation would be to have your garden tilled and place horse manure on/in it. That will give you excellent organic matter that will break down, and the soil will be very soft, which makes weeds very easy to eliminate and your soil will compost into beautiful black soil that your plants will love. This is how we garden. Horse farms are always looking to have their manure taken away too, so that should not be a problem getting that. This is just my suggestion however, if you feel you'd like to try the Roundup, by all means go ahead. Gardening is always a learning process, and a fun one at that too!

 

[camilleathome]

Well, if you are trying to go as close to organic or natural as possible, Roundup is a major no-no LOL! My recommendation would be to have your garden tilled and place horse manure on/in it. That will give you excellent organic matter that will break down, and the soil will be very soft, which makes weeds very easy to eliminate and your soil will compost into beautiful black soil that your plants will love. This is how we garden. Horse farms are always looking to have their manure taken away too, so that should not be a problem getting that. This is just my suggestion however, if you feel you'd like to try the Roundup, by all means go ahead. Gardening is always a learning process, and a fun one at that too!

Oh I have a HUGE manure pile that has been sitting for a year in the back of our barn. We plan on tilling it into our gardens .

 

[FlySammyJ]

The best way that I've found to avoid weeding is mulch. A thick enough layer will smother weeds while retaining moisture. My favorite kind of mulch is free and biodegradable. I've used dead leaves, pine needles, straw, sawdust - they all work fine. Then you can just till it all under when you clean up at the end of the season, and as it decomposes it will slowly contribute to the available organic matter in your soil.

 

[HandsomeRyan]

Roundup is generally fine to use assuming you follow the label directions. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in roundup, is not very stable in the presence of sunlight and fresh air and it actually breaks down pretty quickly into inert substances (2-3 days usually). Anyone who says "It will kill every microorganism in your soil" is factually wrong. If used according to the label directions it won't even touch most of the soil as it should be applied primarily to the green leafy parts of the weeds and not as a soil drench in the root zone.While some overspray may contact the soil surface, it will break down quickly.

I'm not saying you should use it or you shouldn't as that is for you to decide but anyone who is using fear to try to talk you out of it is someone you should be skeptical of. I am a greenhouse manager and professional plant scientist as well as a licensed pesticide applicator and I occasionally use glyphosate to knock down the weeds in my garden before tilling it.

Rather than getting too wrapped up in "organic" vs. "chemical/traditional" I suggest you do some googling about "integrated pest management". To simplify the concept it basically means that rather than subscribing to one philosophy such as "organic" you look at all available options from cultural and physical controls to chemical or even biological. Then after looking at all your options you figure out what is best for your particular situation. What works great for one person may not be the best for everyone else. For example I use the chemical glyphosate to knock down weeds prior to planting because it is simply better than my other options but when it comes to pest control I find that an organic spray gives me better results than even some of the restricted use pesticides I have access to.

Good luck and happy growing whatever you decide.

 

[cstronks]

I would not go with roundup. It is a pretty nasty pesticide that isn't really environmentally friendly. There are many methods to solving weeds, and to me, the most effective and cheapest is getting on your hands and knees and pulling them out. I also like getting my hands dirty in the garden. Spraying a pesticide out of a container just doesn't do it for me.

 

[Keltara]

I would not go with roundup. It is a pretty nasty pesticide that isn't really environmentally friendly. There are many methods to solving weeds, and to me, the most effective and cheapest is getting on your hands and knees and pulling them out. I also like getting my hands dirty in the garden. Spraying a pesticide out of a container just doesn't do it for me.

It is not environmentally friendly AT ALL. It completely depletes the soil of all good nutrients thus requiring the need for fertilizer. It's vicious circle.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Oh I have a HUGE manure pile that has been sitting for a year in the back of our barn. We plan on tilling it into our gardens .

Ooo, that sounds perfect!