Good product for murdering grass/weeds?

[Perd Hapley]

I have a couple of "flower beds" that I need to napalm and mulch over.  What is a good product for killing and mutilating the corpses of all grass and weeds in an area?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

how long you want it barren and is it inside the drip line of anything you want to keep alive?

[sanman]

how long you want it barren and is it inside the drip line of anything you want to keep alive?

When it absolutley, possitively must be defoliated overnight....

call c&sdaddy

edited for accuracy

[charby]

Round-up or a generic equivalent

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

ground clear gives the carthage effect for a year

[roo_ster]

I like the old-school Roundup concentrate or the generic concentrate.  Takes a week to do its work, but when its dead, it ain't coming back this side of an act from God.

I mix as directed, but include a healthy amount of surfactant, meaning, I buy a bottle of cheap pink dish soap or laundry detergent and add some into the mix.  Usually 1 cup/gallon of mix.  Much, much more effective than than just herbicide concentrate & water.

Woody stuff will take a very high concentration or you'll have to use something else that would outrage the enviros(0).  Also, some vines & ground cover are resistant.  My neighbor's asian jasmine requires similarly high concentrations.


(0) Diesel fuel

[Perd Hapley]

Thanks for the suggestions. 

These are some areas up against the front of the house, separated from the rest of the lawn by a two-high wall of landscaping blocks.  Right now, they only have grass and weeds. I will probably never try to plant anything there, but in the near term, I want the house to look less crappy for an appraisal.

[Northwoods]

(0) Diesel fuel

With or without a match?

[Northwoods]

With or without a match?

And within that vein, I cannot believe that no-one has mentioned the most obvious and effective solution: detcord.

[RoadKingLarry]

41% Glyphosate concentrate. 2 oz to the gallon for general weed and grass killing.  Double it for hard to kill stuff. Full strength works for a stump killer. It isn't quick but it will do the job.

[roo_ster]

41% Glyphosate concentrate. 2 oz to the gallon for general weed and grass killing.  Double it for hard to kill stuff. Full strength works for a stump killer. It isn't quick but it will do the job.

Thank you for remembering the active ingredient.

[Waitone]

Only thing better than Roundup is a hungry goat.

Second the dish soap.

[S. Williamson]

 

and detcord.

[Harold Tuttle]

My back lot is being overrun with Crown vetch

2-4D is the first test

[HankB]

And within that vein, I cannot believe that no-one has mentioned the most obvious and effective solution: detcord.

Nuke it from orbit . . . it's the only way to be sure.

Round-Up is the "name" brand for the most popular glyphosate-based vegetation killer, which means it's usually quite a bit more expensive than other brands with the same active ingredient.

As others have mentioned, buy the concentrate (read the label to find the concentration) and mix your own - the pre-mixed stuff is diluted, and much of what you pay for there is simply water. (And if you mix your own, you can increase the concentration AND add a surfactant, as already mentioned.)

[charby]

My back lot is being overrun with Crown vetch

2-4D is the first test

2-4D works for broad leaves, not so much on grasses.

[Larry Ashcraft]

I use a mix of Landmaster (6 oz/gallon) and Trimec Plus (2 oz/gal) and a surfactant ( 1/2 cup soap per 4 gallons).  Kills everything in a couple of weeks.  Landmaster is a mix of generic Roundup and 2,4-D.  the 2,4-D gives a quick kill on the broadleaf stuff and the Roudup kills everything in about two weeks.  Trimec Plus is made for wild grass, but it works great on broadleaf plants too.

Trouble with LandMaster is, I've never seen it in smaller quantities than 2.5 gallons.  It's about $60 at farm supply stores.  Trimec Plus runs about $50/gal.

[Fly320s]

High strength vinegar and sunlight works well, if you feel like going organic.

[zxcvbob]

Nuke it from orbit . . . it's the only way to be sure.

Is that from one of the Alien movies, or from South Park?  I can visualize it either way.

Anyway, Walmart sells an of-brand of 40% glyphosate that's a lot cheaper than Round-Up.  Works great but a little slow.  (If you could mix it with something containing a contact herbicide like diquat, it would work a *lot* faster.)

If there are a lot of brambles, poison ivy, honeysuckle, etc, you might look for an old product called Ammate X (ammonium sulfamate)  One good think about sulfamate is its breakdown products are actually *good* for the soil.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Agent orange.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

we used to use "tri ox"  it was banned and is back now as groundclear slightly diluted  the old formula we'd spray the weeds in the driveway and sidewalks and then cut the grass they would be turning black before we left

[Unisaw]

rooster, what is the purpose of adding the surfactant?

[Scout26]

rooster, what is the purpose of adding the surfactant?

Makes it stick to the leaves, so it doesn't drip/get washed off.

[charby]

Makes it stick to the leaves, so it doesn't drip/get washed off.

and it cuts the surface tension of water. (which plants are composed a lot of)

[roo_ster]

rooster, what is the purpose of adding the surfactant?

What they said.