I am a firm believer that chemical use for aesthetic purposes is wanton and environmentally harmful. If you want your lawn to be a monocrop, bend over and pull. So do not interpret this as an advertisement for chemical use.
I am a believer in using chemicals to control invasive, non-native weeds. The word invasive necessarily means non-native to the scientific community, so I use that definition too. Invasive = non-native and aggressive.
Having said that, this is something like a public service announcement, although it’s been announced. You just have to read the tiny print. RoundUp is no longer the RoundUp you’ve known since the 1970s.
Last year, 2023, RoundUp removed glyphosate from RoundUp to mitigate their litigation risks. In other words, people getting non-Hodgkin lymphoma were suing and Monsanto was paying.
They’ve got a 10-billion-dollar fund to pay these suits, but they’re worried it may not be enough.
Now, what you will find in RoundUp (same label, same colors, same marketing) is Triclopyr (triethylamine salt), Fluazifop-P-butyl, and Diquat dibrominde – all mixed together in toxic soup. There’s very little active ingredient in the lawn mix. When it was glyphosate, it was 41% glyphostate. Now, combined 6% is active ingredient. As a result, all those homeowners who didn’t read the label and were dousing things in glyphosate (incorrectly), can now spray away. You have to wet the plant to kill the plant.
Glyphosate blocks a needed plant enzyme and the plant eventually dies. It can take up to 3 weeks, so homeowners who didn’t read the label were spraying and spraying thinking it wasn’t working. Ugh. Stupid. Monsanto and the EPA were concerned about all the water and soil pollution that was resulting from over spraying the chemical. If customers want to spray a lot of stuff, they're going to make that happen with this new formula. It's mostly water.
Triclopyr mimics a growth hormone, so the plant grows itself to death. Yep. Should be in a Marvel movie. It only works on broadleaf plants, like the host plant for the Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, Common Violet. It will not kill your Bermuda grass. And, like glyphosate, it takes time. I apply it at a 25% rate to tree of heaven and it can take up to a year to kill a tree. No, more would not be faster. It’s in RoundUp in a salt form, meaning it will cause blindness in humans. Thus, the label says to wear eye protection.
Triclopyr stays in the soil for at least 30 days and longer if you overapply or apply incorrectly. That means that if you plant your green beans or your big leaf hydrangeas a week later, they will die.
Fluazifop-P-Butyl kills grasses by inhibiting metabolic pathways. Inhale too much and you have respiratory problems, like lung congestion that leads to pneumonia. Ingest some and you’ll get dizzy and lose coordination. Again, this one takes time, and it stays in the soil. So, you can’t start planting again until it’s broken down. If you overspray, it will take longer.
The last ingredient is just for the stupid chemical users: Diquat dibrominde. It’s used for aquatic plants, like rice. But it kills top growth within hours, so there’s just enough in there to convince you that you’ve done something. The plant won’t be dead for 1 to 3 weeks (depending on what it is), but you’ll think it is. If you absorb this stuff through your skin, the result will be something between a little rash to a big and serious burning rash.
These chemicals only work if a plant is actively growing. You being able to see a green plant doesn’t mean that green plant is actively growing. Spray a boxwood in February (Kentucky) and you’re just adding toxins to the environment.
Last PDA, the year glyphosate was released is the same year institutional review boards (IRB) were created: 1974. IRB’s control research and they typically don’t allow controlled experimental studies with humans. Didn’t like MTG’s picture of dogs in respiratory tents? Imagine 3-year-olds. It’s not allowed. Therefore, none of these chemicals have been tested on humans in controlled experimental trials.
It is well-understood though that these chemicals are especially harmful to children and your pets.
Happy spraying. Not.
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