A safer alternative to Roundup

[Redneck in training]

Resistant weeds is the fault of the farmer, not that of the chemical. Monsanto has preached for years to mix and rotate modes of action to prevent the development of resistant weeds. But it's too easy cheap for some farmers to just use glyphosate and they ruin it for everybody else.

As i understand some of the strains of the pig weeds were naturally resistant to roundup. When farmers switched to no till farming they started to use round up to kill weeds. Doing so they killed all the non resistant pig weed and what was left was the resistant strain. Each plant produces several million of tiny seeds so it is easy to contaminate quickly large area. If the seed is buried more than 1" it will not produce a plant. Therefore I was advised to disk it in attempt to bury the seeds but by doing so I "woke" up other weed seeds laying dormant in the soil.

 

[sd455dan]

The best maintained pastures I have seen are almost always the result in multi-species grazing. If she would get a few goats to graze with the horses, they would eat most of the weeds the horses won't touch. Cheap, easy weed eradication and maintenance.

Of course, not everybody wants to bother with goats, but they really do a great job on broad-leafs!

That's a part of what we have done. let the goats graze-
Wife and Mom won't hear of round up on the fields ( due to the horses) and what can i say- Monsanto is not my favorite company.

We had to do something because nothing had been done with the fields for 20+ years other than the horses running on them and we had more knapp weed growing than grass.

So.... the fields have been turned ,disced and or tilled and re planted.
We have limed, triple sixteen-ed and re-seeded the fields.

Probably bush hog the fields more often than necessary to.

At least the knapp weed has been eradicated .

There are still some weeds and the ones the horses can't deal with- like night shade , Its hand picking time for the ladies...

 

[sd455dan]

Classic example of how the executives of this charitable organizations live a very comfortable lifestyle. By scaring donations from middle aged, middle class women .

gee- and i thought it was the televangelists- including some of which ended up in prison.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Option 1: Spray with roundup. Plow and disc level, then re-seed. (Approximately zero weed regrowth.) Est $$$$

Option 2: Burn. Plow and disc level, then re-seed. (Requires fire department assistance. Approx 30% weed regrowth.) Est $$$$

Option 3: Plow and disc level. Rinse and repeat. (Approx 50% weed regrowth per plowing.) Est $$$$

Option 4: Cover with plastic weed barrier for 12 months. Est $$$$$

 

[mx1alex]

As i understand some of the strains of the pig weeds were naturally resistant to roundup. When farmers switched to no till farming they started to use round up to kill weeds. Doing so they killed all the non resistant pig weed and what was left was the resistant strain. Each plant produces several million of tiny seeds so it is easy to contaminate quickly large area. If the seed is buried more than 1" it will not produce a plant. Therefore I was advised to disk it in attempt to bury the seeds but by doing so I "woke" up other weed seeds laying dormant in the soil.

Pretty much any weed that has developed resistance to a herbicide has done it naturally. By mixing in another mode of action you any weeds that might have been resistant to the glyphosate would have been knocked out by the other mode of action... thus stopping resistance.

 

[paulharvey]

Pretty much any weed that has developed resistance to a herbicide has done it naturally. By mixing in another mode of action you any weeds that might have been resistant to the glyphosate would have been knocked out by the other mode of action... thus stopping resistance.

My understanding is that 90% of the resistant weeds actually will be killed by a maximum label rate, while growing, during warm weather. People try to save money by not going max rate; and for most weeds you don't need too, but some you do.

Anyways, the talk about long kill of broadleaf as a bad thing with 2-4D seems misplaced. You are building a pasture and you want all the broadleaf plants dead, forever if possible.

 

[Creamer]

My understanding is that 90% of the resistant weeds actually will be killed by a maximum label rate, while growing, during warm weather. People try to save money by not going max rate; and for most weeds you don't need too, but some you do.

Anyways, the talk about long kill of broadleaf as a bad thing with 2-4D seems misplaced. You are building a pasture and you want all the broadleaf plants dead, forever if possible.

Why the hatred for clovers? Legumes add nitrogen naturally and reduces the fertilizer required. I prefer having a little clover but I keep it under control.

 

[Redneck in training]

Agreed - but - that type of thinking didn't help save DDT. The world has paid a massive price for that ban.

World paid big price for using DDT. When I was a kid we used to catch lobsters and trouts in several creeks near our village. After DDT was banned in western countries somebody in high position in Czechoslovakian government owned import/export agency got substantial kickback and bought all DDT (or a lot of it) what was left. Then they distributed it to every collective farm with instruction to use it. Some time later there were no trouts, no lobsters, no quail, few pheasants, lot of sick jack rabbits with tumors etc. There are still ticking time bombs scattered around the country. Years later I met a guy who was an agronomist for collective farm. When they got several tons of DDT they built a concrete in ground "swimming pool" fill that with DDT and poured few ft of concrete on top of it. He risked jail for destroying government property by refusing actually use it.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Pick your favorite site:

• DDT kills robins. Bad choice. The United States used DDT liberally beginning in the late 1940s, with peak usage in 1959. According to the Audubon Society, robin populations increased by a factor of 12, and birds in general increased fourfold during that time. Ironically, the only logical reason for this boon was the destruction of mites and mosquitoes that spread disease among birds, particularly in swampy areas.

• DDT is both toxic to humans and a human carcinogen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies various agents based on carcinogenicity. The highest ranking agents include such common items as birth control pills, tanning beds, chimney soot, and smoking. DDT is classed with pickled vegetables and coconut oil. The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry issued a Toxicological Profile for DDT in 2002 which concluded: “Relative risk of death, and specifically of death due to any cancer, was not significantly elevated in the high serum DDT tertile groups. No consistent positive trend in risk of cancer mortality relative to serum DDT was observed.”

• DDT persists in the environment for years and accumulates and concentrates in the food chain. DDT actually breaks down more rapidly than other insecticides, many of which are proven toxins to humans and the environment. The crude instruments used to measure pesticide stability in Carson’s day lumped all these together, resulting in guilt by association. By 1969, the FWS could report that DDT breaks down more quickly than some insecticides, based on tests conducted at its Pesticide Field Station in Gulf Breeze, Florida.

More here:

DDT Ban Breeds Death

 

[rswyan]

Pick your favorite site:

Did you mean "cite" (as in citation) ?

More here:

DDT Ban Breeds Death

Um, yeah ... them Birchers come up with some interesting stuff ...

John Birch Society

Not sure if I'd rely on 'em as an unbiased source for scientific info tho' ...