Re: [gardeners] roundup/roots
penny x stamm (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 10 Jun 1998 02:23:35 -0400
Allen, I'm happy to hear about the Roundup killing the
poison ivy. For the first time in 20 or 30 years, my husband
Jim broke out in poison ivy one week ago. Now the challenge
will be to spot the area in which that poison ivy might be
growing!
Many years ago our neighbors kept a big bunch of wood and
junk under their 60 ft white pines which ran about 100 ft in a
line between us. At that time I KNOW there was poison ivy
there. We landscaped our side of the trees and kept finding
it there. One day I told the neighbor that there were rats in
the stone wall at the edge of the property, and that I had seen
one in her debris. The very next week the place was cleaned
up and she has never allowed it to get junked again!
However, two weeks ago on an inspection walk, I discovered a
bad leak in the underground watering system -- we could HEAR
it -- way outside our line of sight, behind my hollies and rhodies
and pieris japonicas (andromedas), on the neighbor's edge of
lawn. Jim had to thread his way with his arms thru the assorted
grown-up bushes to work on the repair. There were a few weeds
happily growing in there, and betcha some of them must have been
poison ivy.
I'll take my trusty paint brush and jar of Roundup out there this
weekend, and give those weeds the old one-two punch. It won't
hurt if it takes 6-8 weeks, for hopefully no more breaks will occur.
You know something strange...? We've had that Netafim soaker
system in place for perhaps 8 years now, and this spring we
have had at least 20 line breaks .... each one is associated with
very strange piercings. Our theory is that some wild animal with
mighty strong, sharp teeth has been attempting to bite thru the
plastic lines. There's no water in there over the winter, for the
system is drained under pressure. Wonder what they hope to
find..? It's a real chore to do the patching, requiring a blow
torch and strength in one's hands. We have the blow torch, but
the hands no longer cooperate...
Penny, NY zone 6
>Hi Cynthia and Penny,
> Roundup is so effective in killing unwanted plants we use it
>to kill
>poison ivy. It takes about six weeks for the poison ivy to die
>completly.
> The problem you are having with the roots on plants that
>roundup has
>killed is that the roots are usually the strongest part of plants. The
>roots are usually the last thing to break down unless affected by
>disease. I grew garlic the size of coffee cups this year. When I tried
>to pull them up I couldn't even though I have a sandy loam soil. I had
>to use a digging fork to loosen the soil so I could remove the bulbs.
> Happy Gardening,
> Allen
> Bastrop Co.,Tx.
>
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