Are there any safe alternatives to Roundup?
Asked by
Kardamom (
33525
)
April 9th, 2016
We are planning to remove what is left of our almost dead (due to drought) lawn and have succulents and other water-wise plants put in instead.
We had a landscape designer come out to the house and have a consultation with us. We all decided on the types of plants we would like. She said that before the crew came out to remove the lawn, with some type of mechanical scraping device, we needed to kill the entire lawn with Roundup.
We’ve done some Research and have come to the conclusion that Roundup, and other similar products, are not safe for the environment. We won’t use it.
Does anyone know of any safe alternatives for killing the lawn, without adding carcinogenic agents to the soil or having those chemicals leech into the groundwater?
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7 Answers
It’s going to be a pain in the ass to do it, but you can kill plant roots with boiling water. The other option is salt, but that will also affect your new plants, so don’t do that.
Roundup is safe. Don’t use a ‘roundup-like’ product because they can have additives, but the bullshit surrounding the ingredient in Roundup is blown out of proportion. It breaks down really fast and does not build up. Don’t eat it. Don’t eat it when you are pregnant. Don’t feed it to your children. When fed in high doses, it gives rats cancer.
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/glyphogen.html
I would not want to spray an entire lawn with it, depending on how big your lawn is, but the reason it is used for these purposes is that it breaks down quickly. If you use salt or other pH changing chemicals, they’ll stay in the soil and nothing will grow there for a very long long time. Just make sure they don’t over dose and that they use the absolute minimum amount of the chemical and that they avoid over spray.
I killed a small lawn with a black tarp as in @cazzie‘s link. And I have a small garden where where black cloth and mulch prevent growth where I don’t want it.
Glad to see you’re replacing the grass. It’s astounding how much time, money, and water a lawn can waste. You will feel like you lost a ball and chain.
Vinegar was going to be my suggestion, and it’s already included in @cazzie‘s link.
You can buy garden/industrial grade vinegar that has a higher concentration of acid. I have not.
If you have access to a steam jenny (you can rent them).
325 * F output temp on steam will kill anything.
I use plain white vinegar, available at any grocery store in huge bottles for very little cost.
For large areas, such as you’ve described, you can pour vinegar directly from its container. For more precision, such as on weeds in sidewalk and patio cracks, I take a funnel and pour the vinegar into old, clean dishwashing detergent bottles; that lets me control and direct the flow.
At least for me, this approach works every time.
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