Best brush killer that won't kill me

Doc

Doc

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I saw another report last week that Monsanto's Roundup product has an ingredient in it that is believed to be a carcinogen. Cancer causing.

question under article.
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Roundup weedkiller 'probably' causes cancer, says WHO study

The Monsanto product – the world’s most widely used herbicide – contains glyphosate, which may also be carcinogenic for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma



Roundup, the world’s most widely used weedkiller, “probably” causes cancer, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – WHO’s cancer agency – said that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide made by agriculture company Monsanto, was “classified as probably carcinogenic to humans”.

It also said there was “limited evidence” that glyphosate was carcinogenic in humans for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, said scientific data did not support the conclusions and called on WHO to hold an urgent meeting to explain the findings. “We don’t know how IARC could reach a conclusion that is such a dramatic departure from the conclusion reached by all regulatory agencies around the globe,” said Philip Miller, Monsanto’s vice-president of global regulatory affairs.

Concerns about glyphosate on food have been widely debated in the US recently, and contributed to the passage in Vermont last year of the country’s first mandatory labelling law for genetically modified food.

The US government considers the herbicide to be safe. In 2013, Monsanto requested and received approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency for increased tolerance levels for glyphosate.

It is mainly used on crops such as corn and soybeans, which are genetically modified to survive it.

The weedkiller has been detected in food, water and in the air after it has been sprayed, according to the report from WHO. However, glyphosate use is generally low in and near homes where the general public would face the greatest risk of exposure, the report said.

The evidence for WHO’s conclusion was from studies of exposure, mostly agricultural, in the US, Canada, and Sweden that were published since 2001.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/21/roundup-cancer-who-glyphosate-

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A few years ago someone at a tractor supply store sold me a product that I cannot recall the name of, and told me to mix it 50/50 with diesel fuel for killing multiflora rose. The product was some kind of weed killer but I simply cannot recall. And I wonder if other weed / brush killers use the same ingredients as Monsanto?
I'm full of questions but no answers. Any suggestions on what I might use to kill the growth around my septic tank? I'm cutting it down but prefer it not grow right back like it normally does. But, I prefer not to kill myself in the process.
 
Hi Doc, Salt will kill stuff.. We buy 50lb salt in bags for use in mineral mixes for the cows. I refuse to put these mineral troughs under tree driplines.. What leaches out will kill most growing stuff.. You might try it on a particular bush , but I doubt anything else would grow either. I use a product called pastora to control certain weeds in the pasture but it is expensive and a little 20 oz bottle is just over 300 bucks. It mixes to water like 1 1/2 oz per 25 to 30 gallons of water per acre. It is like the lawn stuff you can put on your yard but is safe to graze. Be careful of the MSA because it contains arsenic.
I think the only real safe way to control weeds is to plow up and smother the weeds with a cover crop for enough years to kill any viable weed seed.
Monte is very powerful and "they" have lots of friends high up...
 
Thomson's brush killer is what you want. I buy mine from the local Agway. I got rid of acres of multi-flora with it at the old farm.
 
Doc, I read through a couple of other articles on Roundup. What seems to be unreasonable use is applying roundup to a grainfield a few days before harvest to force simultaneous ripening, and the idea of roundup-resistant food crops that get sprayed as they mature. Seems to me this raises the risk of cancer for both the applicator and for the consumer who eats the stuff.

Home use on non-food areas or many months before harvest is a far lower risk activity.

And apparently whatever is blended with the glyposate in Roundup is higher risk than the Roundup itself.

But much of the concern over Roundup is based on Monsano publishing risk assessments that say its harmless, but don't include real-world use of the product in their test environment. There's a lot that is unknown about actual use as widely as it is used in commercial ag.
 
I tend to like a bit more data to reach conclusions than the observation of a committee that deems alcoholic beverages, solar radiation and plutonium to produce cancer equally and considers working the night shift a carcinogen on the level of Roundup.

Everyone needs to draw their own conclusions and follow their own beliefs but I still have a couple of gallons of Roundup and it will get used as recommended.

FYI - http://geneticliteracyproject.org/2...genic-independent-global-scientists-weigh-in/

Bob
 
I just have to chime in here and complement this forum and its members for tackling such diverse and important subjects. Living in a rural area allows me to see first hand how our food is harvested and in this case, roundup it applied to certain crops just prior to harvest. Didn't seem right to me, but what do I know?

We've never used any herbicides on our farm and the only fertilizers we use are made on the property by composting and utilizing generous heaps of llama and alpaca "product". Our ground isn't the best for crops but using these methods we grow an abundance of strawberries, raspberries, mixed vegetables, apples and even grapes.

Of course none of this would be possible without the RTV to haul everything around...
 
I looked up geneticliteracyproject and see they are related to conservative funding such as Koch and ExonMobile. No problem with reviewing a wide variety of sources but with that funding I don't think I would consider them equal in stature to the report they are responding to.

A couple of links down the rabbit-hole:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Statistical_Assessment_Service

The Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) touts itself as a "non-profit, non-partisan organization" but its funders are not transparent. It is an arm, or "sister organization," of the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA), and it is affiliated with the Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University. STATS in turn has two "sister organizations": the Genetic Literacy Project, which promotes GMOs; and EconoSTATS, which promotes privatization and opposes government regulation.[1]
STATS promotes itself as a disinterested, non-partisan guardian of scientific and statistical integrity to often unsuspecting media outlets. It has been surprisingly successful in this guise, with other organizations citing STATS. [2]
From its inception, however, STATS has repeatedly attacked environmentalists, civil libertarians, feminists and other "liberals."
Click to expand...
I say consider their opinion, but balance it with more information before drawing conclusions.
 
In the past, we have used "roundup" type products with the KILL EVERYTHING results........For me, I don't spray or spread anything into the wind. No, I don't wear rubber gloves, a rebreather, nor put on my motorcycle rain suit.....Having lived all these years without sprouting open sores, a third eye, or loss of sexual prowess, I feel pretty good about my safeguards with not only herbicides but even deadlier pestacides and really do feel that nowadays so many things are totally overblown.

What we have had good results with when we don't want to kill everything, is a product called Grazon. It's great for weeds or anything broadleaf. Specifially it is for pastures that can be almost immediately grazed on without side effects with the livestock...........It does hang around in the soil for a month or two, and yes, run-off downslope will KILL trees or brush you want to keep..........

The best thing I have found for weeds or brush removal is my $5 per hour hired hand....As long as I do not discuss race nor offer him watermelon and fried chicken, all is fine.........God bless......Dennis
 
I don't know about killing brush, but vinegar and salt mixture works great on broad leaf weeds. Mix 1 gallon of white vinegar, 1 cup of table salt and a tablespoon of Blue Dawn dish washing liquid in a bucket. When the salt is dissolved pour it into your sprayer. Within 2 days things will turn brown and die.
 
I use what Dennis mentioned also.( Grazon P+D). I have to spray it early in the season though . The drift will kill cotton and soybeans and also tomatoes and any plant in that family.
The P+D is restricted use.. not sure about the new Grazon Next that came out a few years ago. I pricedP+D yesterday and it is 37.75 a gallon -bought in a 2 1/2 gallon jug... don't know why they don't price it by the jug ! To kill different weeds you mix it differently .. In general though about 2 1/2 pts in 25 gallons of water per acre..
 
what works on thistles? Here we have big thistles that make purple flowers and then produce seeds like those of dandelion that fly all over the place. They are spreading everywhere on my pasture. I am willing to use anything. I'm already 66, and when I went to Montana in 1977 I worked the first two summers for the county spraying the ditches with a mixture of water, agent orange left over from the Vietnam War and 2-4-D, plus a wetting agent. I drove a big truck with a boom, and if the wind blew from the boom to the truck I was misted with and inhaled plenty of that crap. Furthermore, when the jets on the boom got plugged up and I unscrewed them to clear them, I got trickles of the stuff run down my arms to my armpits. When I went home my clothes and my hair were sticky. I undressed, took a long shower, and when I sat in the living room the house plants close to my chair began to wilt. So I'm not concerned with a few drops of Roundup now. I'm sure that the damage to my cells has already been done. So, what works well with thistles?
 
How many acres???????

I have a neighbor, the Squire, who thinks that if you kill off the thistles you are endangering the Monarch butterfly. Consequently his 10 acre pasture, upwind from me, is pretty much making thistle patrol a necessity right along side of the fire ants.......

We kill them on sight as young a plant as possible........We keep a small, Windex size, bottle behind the seat of Grazon or whatever herbicide we mix up........This method works for us; but we are all over our pastures on a pretty regular basis. Spot spraying by nuking individual plants works best for us.........God bless......Dennis
 
Y'all be careful with the salt/vinegar mix. In certain concentrations that I don't recall right now, yes, it will kill whatever it was sprayed on but be advised, nothing will grow in that dirt again for 1-2 years. (Basically, don't do it if you plan on planting anything in that area, e.g. a garden or lawn).
 
Grazon P+D will get them Herman. If you could spray when they are in the rosette stage, it is excellent. I spray a bit later and the spray needs to be stronger. A day or so after I spray the thistles, the poor little heads start to droop and by the next day, they look like they are kissing the dirt. The Grazon P+D has a good residual so they are controlled for a good while. I go around and gather thistle heads during summer on those that I missed or blew in after the residual has played out, and dispose of them.. I have had very few thistles in recent years but one plant can ruin everything.. neighbors pastures ..as Dennis says ..Milkweed is what I have a problem with and the residual has worn off by the time they sprout.. They are poisionous to cattle. I go around and pull pods and still get sackfulls. They are hard to kill even with roundup dousing. I can't spray with the big sprayer then because cotton and soybeans are right next to me. Cotton is really expensive to replace.. just ask the poor guy that sprayed my neighbor's farm right a way.. :pat: collie
 
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