Roundup on Roundup

In the not-so-distant past, I was adamently organic. Growing all the vegetables for my family meant protecting them from the evils of herbicides and pesticides, especially Roundup. Back then, organic produce was difficult to find, and when found, prohibitively expensive. Hence, my organic garden.

Fast forward to the present day, when I no longer grow food except here and there. Instead, I have a large yard with large beds that provide room for weeds to grow. I now resort to Roundup to keep those weeds under control, especially the perennial and/or prolific ones like Canada thistle, pokeweed, trumpet vine, mulberry seedlings, etc.

Glyphosate is a systemic, non-selective herbicide that is absorbed by the plant and moves throughout the vascular system, ultimately killing the plant. Roundup used to be synomymous with glyphosate, but that is changing. Recently, Bayer announced that glyphosate would be phased out of consumer Roundup products.

So, what do I have? The product that I have been using on weeds in the mulched beds is Roundup Concentrate Plus. I dilute it with water at the heavier concentration, as I'm dealing with perennial weeds, vines, tree stubs, etc. The main ingredient is glyphosate, isopropylamine salt, with diquat dibromide added for quick burndown of the weeds. It works well. I just finished off a container of it. Should I buy more this season or wait? The formula may be different next year.

For the lawn, I use Roundup for Lawns. It targets primarily broadleaf weeds, plus crabgrass and yellow nutsedge. I posted about my nutsedge woes several weeks ago, thinking there was nothing I could do for where it grows in the lawn. Now I will have to try treating it with this product, even if it requires multiple applications. It pays to read the freakin' label! (The label does not mention mulberry seedlings, but the product works on them as well.)

One more product I use, straight from the bottle, is Ortho Groundclear Poison Ivy and Tough Brush Killer. Its main ingredients are triclopyr, triethylamine salt and diquat dibromide. Triclopyr is a systemic herbicide that affects actively growing plants by mimicking a specific type of plant growth hormone. Plants rapidly take in triclopyr through leaves and roots, which causes uncontrolled plant growth and plant death. When trying to eliminate something like yucca which keeps popping up in the middle of my 'October Skies' aster, I trim back the yucca and brush on this product so it touches only the yucca. Ditto mulberry and sumac seedlings that get beyond the seedling stage.

It may sound like I'm just covering my property with poisons, but that is not the case. Periodically, I patrol the yard, sprayer in hand, on a search-and-destroy mission. I spot treat the specific invaders. I'm careful about exposure to both myself and the pets. These products are tools that are effective and relatively safe when used in their intended manner. However, I would still not use them around food plants.

On a completely different topic, I visited Arbor Farms Nursery the other day, as their pottery was on sale for 50% off. I was looking for some new pots for some houseplants. I also checked out the ginkgo trees for future reference. The pottery was on tables near the butterfly bushes. And there were butterflies! It was all I could do to keep myself from adding a butterfly bush (or two or three) to my shopping, but I held myself in check. I admit I'm thinking of adding some to the landscape, to see if I have better luck attracting butterflies, but that can wait until next year.


I repotted two houseplants today.

Aphids have legs?

My common milkweed plants, Asclepias syriaca, have aphids. They usually do, but this year it seems worse than usual. Should I be worried?

Common milkweed with a sooty mold outbreak

According to a recent essay in the Purdue Landscape Report, it depends. Oleander aphids (Aphis nerii), which is what I think my plants have, actually benefit monarchs by impairing the plant's defenses; larva will grow bigger faster. Oleander aphids are a bright yellow color and the hind legs are completely black.

Oleander aphids

In the past, I think I have also seen Aphis asclepiadis, Dogwood-milkweed aphid. They are slightly duller yellow than Oleander aphids, and the hind legs are not completely black. They are often attended by ants, which is what I have observed.

Oleander aphids, up close and personal

The good news for us lazy gardeners is no treatment is necessary. In fact, using chemicals will harm the monarch caterpillars more than the aphids. However, you can try to reduce the population by spraying with a stream of water. Or, like me, let the natural predators like ladybugs and wasps have their way with the aphids.

Some surprises

It's August, and one doesn't expect miracles, but there have been a few surprises in the yard.

You know the adage for perennials: First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap. So I rarely expect newly planted perennials to do much the first year. The Joe Pye is not very tall, but it has surprised me by blooming. And it looks like one that the rabbits ate is recovering.

Another first year surprise is the Rattlesnake Master. Several of them are "blooming". The spherical flower heads actually are many tiny white flowers that are attractive to insects. I'm pleased.

Two exceptions to the sleep-creep-leap adage are Rudbeckia and Coneflower. I planted them last year, and they are doing exceptionally well. Unfortunately, the coneflower and penstemon hide the rudbeckia. I didn't expect them to get so tall, and the 'Goldstrum' rudbeckia is a shorter variety.

Other surprises are: the Virginia creeper has recovered from the infestation of Japanese beetles; the common milkweed the rabbits ate has resprouted, plus more is coming up here and there in the "meadow"; and today I saw a monarch butterfly!

In the spending-my-children's-inheritance department, I had a whole house backup generator installed this past week. It doubles as insurance against the Trumpocalypse in case you-know-who is re-elected and rolls back climate change legislation (although I feel hopeful that won't happen now). We've lost power twice this summer, and I worry about an outage that could last days or even weeks.

As a gardener, I see evidence of climate change almost everyday, but it is difficult to complain when the weather is as nice as it has been yesterday and today. I've turned off the AC and opened the windows for some fresh air. And I'm sitting on the deck while I type this. Of course, it won't last, but I'm going to enjoy it while it does.

Dog daze

The light has changed and the humidity won't stop, so it must be August. My granddaughter goes back to school August 8(!) It just doesn't seem right to not wait until after Labor Day.

The Profusion zinnias are doing their thing, along with the nodding onion, so the front of the house doesn't look so plain now. I love zinnias, but I'm going to try something else next year.

Almost everytime I sit and gaze at the backyard, I see hummingbirds, mostly at the penstemon (which is just about done). Goldfinch are enjoying the coneflower and sunflower seeds.

I'm disturbed by the lack of butterflies this year. Perhaps it is just an anomaly. Fingers crossed.