The Lemon Fool

I have some really vigorous and healthy patches of stinging nettles growing through my densely planted and well-estabished rockeries in several parts of the garden. A bit of goggling suggests digging nettles out is a fool's errand as even the tiniest bits of root left in will just re-grow, and that is without considering the damage digging will cause to the surrounding plants.

So my thoughts turned to a systemic weed killer but glyphosate seems to be banned now. A bit more goggling suggests a product called "SBK Tough Weedkiller" might do the trick. Has anybody tried this and is it any good? Or is there a better product/method for getting shot of stinging nettles please?

Much obliged....

Mike4 wrote:I have some really vigorous and healthy patches of stinging nettles growing through my densely planted and well-estabished rockeries in several parts of the garden. A bit of goggling suggests digging nettles out is a fool's errand as even the tiniest bits of root left in will just re-grow, and that is without considering the damage digging will cause to the surrounding plants.

So my thoughts turned to a systemic weed killer but glyphosate seems to be banned now. A bit more goggling suggests a product called "SBK Tough Weedkiller" might do the trick. Has anybody tried this and is it any good? Or is there a better product/method for getting shot of stinging nettles please?

Much obliged....

Imho leave some if you can, they are good for insects. I have used WeedolRootkiller+ on gorse bush that decided to grow on my lawn after i stopped mowing.

Tough garden gloves and regular pulling out of new shoots works for me.

After about 10 years the roots weaken and the growth lessens!

regards

Howard

I bought a bottle of Roundup not long ago. Mine was made in August 2019. I see that it is still available:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roundup-Action ... M3EG&psc=1

TJH

Glyphosate isn't banned and you can buy it easily
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Agrigem-HERBIC ... 165&sr=8-6

There is some absurdity about the regulations in that if you buy a small quantity anyone can use it but if you buy a larger quantity you are meant to have been trained in using it. I still use it (but wear a carbon filter mask just on case). It is effective as it goes down to the roots of plant and kills it.

Many years ago, while walking in the northern scottish hills, I was looking at some caves halfway up a hill. Another walker arrived, and pointed out the nettles outside the cave. He said that was a sure sign of human habitation in the caves. That was news to me, though I had noted that nettles were very rare in the hills. I also then noticed that just about every bothy I visited did have nettles.

So, the solution..... stop peeing on your rockery

--kiloran

tjh290633 wrote:I bought a bottle of Roundup not long ago. Mine was made in August 2019. I see that it is still available:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roundup-Action ... M3EG&psc=1

TJH

All very confusing. I went to the garden centre here and all the Roundup on the shelves was labelled "No Glyphosate", so I didn't buy any!

scrumpyjack wrote:Glyphosate isn't banned and you can buy it easily
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Agrigem-HERBIC ... 165&sr=8-6

There is some absurdity about the regulations in that if you buy a small quantity anyone can use it but if you buy a larger quantity you are meant to have been trained in using it. I still use it (but wear a carbon filter mask just on case). It is effective as it goes down to the roots of plant and kills it.

Thanks for the link. The reviews are curious. In amongst the glowing praise there are lots of angry people saying they applied it according to the instructions and it had no effect.

Mike4 wrote:

scrumpyjack wrote:Glyphosate isn't banned and you can buy it easily
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Agrigem-HERBIC ... 165&sr=8-6

There is some absurdity about the regulations in that if you buy a small quantity anyone can use it but if you buy a larger quantity you are meant to have been trained in using it. I still use it (but wear a carbon filter mask just on case). It is effective as it goes down to the roots of plant and kills it.

Thanks for the link. The reviews are curious. In amongst the glowing praise there are lots of angry people saying they applied it according to the instructions and it had no effect.

I find it effective though it is quite slow acting so it takes a week or two before the plants die. It seems that it remains legal in the EU (and I presume here also) until Dec 2022 when it has to be reevaluated. Some councils in the UK have banned it but I don't know whether that is mandatory in the area or simply that the Council won't use it. You only need a very weak solution (of the stuff I get) to be effective.

I often wonder whether all the people who post one star reviews have actually read the instructions properly? Apply on a dry day, do not apply if rain is expected within four hours, do not compost lawn clippings from a first cut, etc.

Sorcery wrote: I have used WeedolRootkiller+ on gorse bush that decided to grow on my lawn after i stopped mowing.

I've certainly had good results with Weedol Rootkill Plus - It contains glyphosate and pyraflufen-ethyl, according to the blurb, and I've found that it's better than Roundup on the ivy that infests our stone garden walls.

SBK is magic stuff, but it's better on woody weeds and bushes/trees. Good for killing old stumps if you drill plenty of holes into the sawn edges and then dribble a 50-50 mix of SBK and paraffin into them. (The paraffin speeds up the absorption.)

Glyphosate is still the only thing that controls Japanese knotweed, so I can't see it ever going completely off the shelves**. It also kills speedwell, which is resistant to pretty well everything else. On the whole, though, I'm trying to use less weedkiller these days. And at weaker concentrations where possible.

BJ

**Come to think of it, I think 2-4-5-T, aka Agent Orange, is still legal for use by Network Rail and the Forestry Commission.

suggest you try ''Barclay Gallup' weedkiller...works very well
and look around at prices on Amazon...many suppliers and many prices

no connection, but have garden..= have weeds !

Or Doc' leaves...
Gets rid of the sting pretty quickly if I remember correctly

-sd

If weeds are established, I tend to start by cutting back what I can and tresting regrowth.

For 'spot weeding' in confined spaces or in the lawn I use Glyphosate and a paintbrush.

I generally buy 90g/l concentrate (usually made by Doff but often rebranded to the store - Wilko used to sell it, also B&M, Home Bargains, etc at about £7-8 for 1L, buying branded stuff in 'ready to use' dilution is a massively expensive way of doing it).

Make it to the sprayer concentration (1 in 10 dilution) and tip a bit into a yoghurt tub or similar (we always seem to have loads of washing liquid dispensers) and dab it on the underside of leaves on things you don't want. Not sure if the underside of the leaf actually helps, but that is where the waxy coatings are thinner and there are more stoma so it might help with uptake. The label says that when diluted for use it should be used immediately, now personally I think this is not true. After all you can buy it ready diluted at 9g/L, and at 90 and 360 g/l.

For bindweed stick a cane in so it grows up the cane, then unravel it, put it in a poly bag and spray into the bag, then tie it off and leave it.

Paul

Treat the nettles as a vegetable crop - they 'make good eating' !

DrFfybes wrote:The label says that when diluted for use it should be used immediately

Maybe that's a H&S thing, to avoid you having unlabelled containers of poisonous stuff lying around.

Scott.

bungeejumper wrote:I often wonder whether all the people who post one star reviews have actually read the instructions properly? Apply on a dry day, do not apply if rain is expected within four hours, do not compost lawn clippings from a first cut, etc.

I wondered this too but reading the reviews, quite a few of them head off this point by saying specifically they were careful to follow the instructions, but the stuff has no effect. One reviewer even questions the honesty of the seller, implying that what comes in the container is cannot be glyphosate. Other reviewers just say the usual stuff, about how brilliant it is....

Perplexing.

Stinging nettles, in a rockery. Not so good. SBK Brushkiller perhaps.

Now, we have ground elder. A lot of it, inherited and spreading. In amongst shrubs, densely planted perennials.
Yes, one can eat it. That's why it's here... what the Romans did for us... but I'd love to know how to make it disappear

V8

tjh290633 wrote:I bought a bottle of Roundup not long ago. Mine was made in August 2019. I see that it is still available:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roundup-Action ... M3EG&psc=1

TJH

Doesn't Round UP contain glysophate?

tjh290633 wrote:I bought a bottle of Roundup not long ago. Mine was made in August 2019. I see that it is still available:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roundup-Action ... M3EG&psc=1

TJH

Here is the Roundup in my local garden centre:





The small print on the back says it contains diluted acetic acid.

Mike4 wrote:

tjh290633 wrote:I bought a bottle of Roundup not long ago. Mine was made in August 2019. I see that it is still available:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roundup-Action ... M3EG&psc=1

TJH

Here is the Roundup in my local garden centre:


The small print on the back says it contains diluted acetic acid.

Does that mean it's for squirting on chips