Roundup Glop

[Ted Summey]

My sprayer does have a y valve and will recirculate for mixing. I've had good luck with hot water mixed with the slimy glop of glyphosate gelling overtime and running the re circulation circuit. It will still kill weeds and grass and mamas flowers dead.

 

[Panik]

Hey that's good to know! I may yet still try to plumb in a re-circulating line. At the moment I am just glad to have the sprayer up and running. The weeds were just on the cusp of being able to take over. I gotta say the upgrade from the original 1.1ga/min pump to the 2.1ga/min pump with internal diverter makes a world of difference!!!

 

[Redbug]

I wonder if it's the surficants and not the roundup itself that is settling out?

 

[Howard92]

I've had the same problem with TSC generic "Roundup". I mix it up at 2% in my 25 gallon sprayed using tap water. Within a couple of hours it starts forming a slimy milky wispy looking stuff which collects at the strainer before the pump and stops it up. I have to clean the filter about every 8 gallons pumped through the sprayer (which is a real PITA when its full of roundup/water in the back of my jeep).

I've read quite a bit on this problem during the last couple of weeks. We have hard water here; about 20 grains/gallon. Some folks have recommended adding 5 pounds of ammonium sulfate to the 25 gallon tank if using hard water. The thinking is it chemically bonds with the minerals in the hard water before they can bond with stuff in the roundup and form the white slime. Anyone tried this?

Thanks for any help,
Howard

 

[Gary Fowler]

I guess I am lucky to have "good water" because I have never seen any of this forming in my spray tank. I have let a partial tank of roundup set for over a week and it doesn't form gel or skim or any of the things mentioned here.

 

[wngsprd]

I've only had the problem with "leftover" mixed gly/water that I drained from the tank and left in a storage container for a couple of months. I then sprinkled this small glop on some tough plants and it still worked. I wouldn't try to use a sprayer.

Sorry I can't be of help.

 

[Panik]

Sorry I can't be of help.

No worries, I've pretty much come to the conclusion the issue came from letting a tank of roundup sit through several severe freeze and thaw cycles..... so basically operator error. I've since tried not to let roundup set in a tank for more than a week and haven't had any problems since.

 

[Howard92]

Finally got hold of a bag of sprayable grade ammonium sulfate and will be doing some experimenting to see if it can stop the white slime from forming. I think someone posted that they mix about 1lb / 5 gallons of water.

Howard