Nils, when I want to avoid overspray when am targeting specific unwanted plants I cut the bottom off a 2 liter plastic soda bottle and spray through the top / cap. Shake gently before completely removing to avoid drips. Another technique is to use a disposable foam paint brush to "paint" specific weed leaves rather than merely spraying around. Now if anyone has a good technique for easily killing Ranunculus ficaria I would be delighted to learn of it. Judy, where there are some patches of blue sky appearing among the gray clouds, and the only remaining snow is from the mountain of the stuff that the plow guy heaped at the end of the driveway On 3/26/2021 6:11 AM, Nils Hasenbein via pbs wrote: > Am 26.03.2021 um 05:14 schrieb Robert Lauf via pbs: > >> Despite considering myself a master of the surgical strike > > I can't tell whether the debate about Glyphosate is as intense in your > countries as it is in Germany/the EU (As this subject quickly gets > emotional at least here in Germany: This is not a comment on > individual practices, which I am sure suit your own needs in the best > way possible). Glyphosate has a bad reputation in Germany now, > following the many hints that it may, in the long term and as a mass > application, have severe impact on insect populations, likely larvae > development and insect behaviour. The alleged (and in an increasing > number of effects, proven) sideeffects of Glyphosate are hard to > unravel, as we are near to blind to long-term effects (because no one > funds research projects that long, and no substance would ever be on > the market if we had to monitor its effects for twenty years first), > and are likely dealing with the long-term effects of very small > amounts of remnant original substance and its break-down substances on > very complex systems (which is even more expensive to study). This > also is, on this scale, something new, so naturally, research and > regulations are lagging behind application. > > Having some friends working with Bayer somewhere along the long chain > of the admission process for new substances (its bittersweet that the > increasing problems provide quite a few jobs for my fellow > ecologists...), and after hearing some talks about it, my personal > conclusion is that the main environmental problem with Glyphosate is a > problem of application. The amount of Glyphosate needed to kill a > plant is rather small, if it is applied at the meristeme/"growth tip". > In bulbs, it seems very sensible that in order to "shoot to kill" a > small amount all the way down through a hollow leaf would be enough, > but depending on depth and width I assume it would work best if you > apply it as deep as posible, e.g. with a syringe, which is a lot of > work. For invasive bulbs, I have seen every Bluebell I had to dig as > an opportunity to insert a bulb I like. Now if bindweed had hollow > stems, I would go to any length. > > There have been funny concepts for single-drop application which would > reduce usage and environmental impact dramatically, but only work on a > "lab scale" so far. Maybe in the future automatic lawnmowers are armed > to apply single droplets when their downward camera detects a plant it > has been told to kill ... RoundUp was so (relatively) cheap and > effective, that some people spray it like water - our direct neighbour > used to soak the whole driveway in spring, though there is next to > nothing growing there anyway. This kind of usage by a few in the long > term makes things worse for everyone, including those using it > responsibly. It's tiring to see that those who disregard the > regulations for application in the first place are the among the first > to complain when the substances they abused are strongly regulated or > taken off the market. If, here in Germany, the concoctions of > Glyphosate would be used according to instructions, both in gardens as > well in agriculture, problems would be less severe. . > > To conclude, thank you for the useful hints for application in general > and on specific plants that have been given on the list, and I would > be happy if you share your experiences wile refining your methods for > "surgical strikes". Usage in gardens is not what caused the major > environmental problems, but as gardens now play a large role in > preserving insect species, herbicides should be applied with > precision, as little as possible, and with maximum efficiency. > > Nils > > --- > > On a nice sunny morning in Germany > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>