Roundup, Roundup for the greatest weedkiller on earth... (Scotts Roundup Weedkiller)

Member Name: LegendaryMrDude

Product:	Scotts Roundup Weedkiller
Date:	03/10/01 (6686 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good for tough weeds, Flexible dilution rates

Disadvantages: Slow acting, Messy

The story so far... Moved in to a flat with a nightmare garden that I needed to get back in to shape. Tried to take the easy way out and weedkiller virtually all of it but didn't know which was the best weedkiller to use so bought a few and decided to test each on a separate patch of garden. What follows is an account of my experiences with Roundup.

Having applied Weedol to one part of the garden (see op in the Weedol section), the next one on the list was Roundup. Whereas Weedol had come as soluble granules in pre-packed sachets, the Roundup came as liquid, stored in a green bottle with a graduated cap for measuring out the contents. The liquid itself is clear, straw coloured with only a slight smell to it and having the same consistency as 'cheap' washing up liquid. The bottle comes with a dilution guide which means you can be a bit more flexible when 'making it up' than with Weedol, although when in doubt, I ended up favouring a stronger solution.

Before I go any further, a quick detour... Weedol and Roundup are two fundamentally different types of weedkiller. Weedol is based on Paraquat, a powerful defoliant and so it's principal mode of action is to destroy the leaves of anything it touches. Because of this it is very fast acting and ideal for wiping out smaller weeds or plants with LOTS of leaves, but not so good at killing tougher plants which tend to replace the leaves. Roundup, on the other hand, is a systemic herbicide. Rather than destroy the leaves it comes in to contact with, it is absorbed by the plant and transported through the entire plant system, from roots to shoots. It effectively prevents the plant from producing it's own food and so kills the plant completely, roots and all, albeit over a longer period of time than Weedol.

So back to my garden, determine how much water your watering can holds and add the appropriate amount of Roundup, according to the chart on the side of the bottle. Simple
enough, apart from the fact that every time I used it, I ended up with hands covered in the stuff, prompting a quick dash to the bathroom to wash it off! Once made-up it's the same as any other weedkiller in it's application, pour it over the weeds using a watering can, preferably with a suitable 'nozzle' to maximise coverage. I tended to pour it for longer over the bigger weeds and move fairly quickly over the smaller ones. The weeds in question ranged from unnamed small green things with lots of leaves to dandelions, bindweed, brambles and wild forget-me-nots.

Did it work? It certainly did, although at one stage I started to lose faith in it. Whereas the patch of weeds treated with Weedol started to look decidedly unhealthy after 2 days, the Roundup treated weeds looked fine. After 4 days, when the Weedol area was mostly a barren wasteland, the Roundup treated area was still green and bountiful... What was going on? After a week, I was tempted to go out and give it another dose of Roundup, maybe I'd got the dilution wrong? Maybe I hadn't cleaned the watering can well enough and there was some adverse reaction with traces of Weedol that had stopped it from working? That weekend would have seen me out with the watering can again, had things not picked up. After about 9 - 10 days, the Roundup treated plants started to look a bit sickly. Wilting and generally going brown all pretty much at the same time, small weeds and 'big' weeds alike. About two weeks after application, pretty much everything that had been 'got' by the Roundup was on it's way out, including the bindweed and brambles that the Weedol hadn't managed to deal with.

In summary then, was the Roundup any good? Certainly, but after seeing the rapid effects of Weedol, the length of time it took Roundup to work caught me by surprise. It was certainly more effective on the 'tougher' weeds than Weedol, but for the smaller weeds I think W
eedol is probably the better option. Which do I prefer? I actually use them both! Weedol tends to be first, taking out the small-medium weeds followed a week or so later by Roundup to attack the more persistant ones.

Any gripes? Only that neither Weedol or Roundup managed to get rid of my biggest problem, the wild Forget-me-nots. The only way I would get rid of them was with a spade!

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