Help with roundup mixing.

[dodge man]

I’ve noticed glyphosate works quicker and better on grasses than it does weeds.

 

[California]

I've read that mixing well water with Roundup concentrate makes a solution with shelf life of just hours before the chemicals in the water neutralize it.

What about mixing it with distilled water? Will this give weeks to use it up? Anybody have experience with this?

 

[Torvy]

No experience, but I would expect that since different well water has different compounds dissolved in it, this is not likely to be universally true either way.

 

[ponytug]

I've read that mixing well water with Roundup concentrate makes a solution with shelf life of just hours before the chemicals in the water neutralize it.

What about mixing it with distilled water? Will this give weeks to use it up? Anybody have experience with this?

Ok. Going to get technical here.

Glyphosate gets complexed by divalent cations such as calcium and magnesium that are present in hard water. Being complexed by the cations prevents absorption by plants, rendering glyphosate ineffective. The reason that ammonium sulfate (AMS) gets added to glyphosate solutions is that the AMS competes off the divalent cations and allows glyphosate to work. Fringe benefit is that AMS stimulates leaf growth (as a source of N), enhancing the effect of glyphosate that inhibits water uptake by roots, causing the plant to die as the leaves evaporate water.

So, yes some well water (hard well water) can inactivate glyphosate, and the effect is quick as in seconds.

Does that help?

All the best,

Peter

 

[5030]

I use 2-4d in my yard so it doesn’t kill the grass. I realize it does take time for Roundup to work. I expect to see results in a week and in two weeks good results. I have figured out poison ivy and honeysuckle are tougher to kill. I’ve sprayed honeysuckle a couple of times over a summer and it took several weeks to really kill it. It seems like the roundup works well on grasses but less so on weeds. I also notice the results farmers get on there crops is better, for example roundup soybeans.

24D for me is a big no no as it kills alfalfa and that kills my hay business. I use 24D (B) which is a chemically altered 24D that don't impact alfalfa.