Ammonium Sulphamate Weed Killer Banned!

We have that same problem here in the U.S. Do-good politicians who have no clue are influenced by big-money lobbyist. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Round-Up people had something to do with it.
Today it has less to do with what is right and more to do with how much money and influence you have.

Ammonium Sulfamate can still be bought and used as a compost accelerator. Its Nitrogen is good at breaking down tough and woody compostable matter. It is also sold as a flame retardant.

Dax Products did supply a data pack to the authorities. However the Regulators decided to declare it incomplete because it did not have the results of animal testing on Dogs and the authorities were not prepared to review the data that had been provided and which independent experts felt was sufficient for an evaluation. Dax felt that UK Ministers demands on animal testing having to be justified and necessary were being ignored by the Regulators to suit their own ends and that too much suffering and too many deaths would be pointlessly caused by the Regulators intransigence.

The banning of ammonium sulphamate is a terrible blow to the environment! The best way of combating the ongoing alien plant introduction disasters, gone.
People, please make a fuss about this – write to papers, email BBC etc en mass.
M A

Just seen some on Ebay. Would I be breaking the law if I bought this ?

It will be illegal for you to use any product containing ammonium sulphamate after 22 May 2008.

It will NOT be illegal for you to use ammonium sulphamate after 22nd May 2008. It is just that you will not be allowed to use it as a pesticide. You can still buy Ammonium Sulphamate / Root-Out and use it as a compost accelerator – just DO NOT spill any on the weeds, brambles, Japanese Knotweed, Marestail, tree stumps etc. on the way down to the compost heap.

Having spent the spring searching for Ivy Killer I now know why I can not find any. The Irish are so right in saying No, pity wee do not have a chance aswell

The ‘old’ SBK recommended mixing with water and Parafin, the new SBK has no mention of parafin on the container! I have tried SBK with and without parafin and the use of the parafin certainly increases its ‘killing’ power

Growing Success Deep Root Weedkiller Gel has been a godsend this year as the neighbour has a mini forest of horsetails that he refuses to remove.

The fusewire roots are now getting into my garden and throwing up herbage, and the ammonium sulphamate gel is the only cure I have found.

Damn the EU!

Oh thank god I have found some like minded sensible people – just a pity there are none in the EU that make and implement these silly rules.

Very interesting information from Nigel Roberts about Dax applying. Last year I did email Growing Success – makers of “Ivy Killer” and asked them why they had not applied to keep the product. I got no answer – suppose I was daft to have expected one. All they do is re-formulate it – stick the words “New Improved” on it and use glyphosphate instead.

I bought up the very last of our local Scats stock of Ivy Killer last November when I heard it was going off market.

I love the explaination “sulphate of ammonia the nitrogen fertiliser but made crooked” and agree with the worries about glyphosate. As said by others its the commercial pressure of genetically modified crops (Monsanto maybe) that keeps that going and good old simple weedkillers die.

How about Sodium Chlorate – will that be next?

Cheers,
Andy..

I came accross this site while looking for a supplier of sulphate of amonia. I feel I MUST SAY .

Sodium Chlorate is an entirely different weedkiller to Sulphate of amonia Sodium chlorate is highly volitile when exposed to heat, stays in the soil for anything up to a year and when it rains may travel far more than sulphate of amonia thereby causing a hazard to other plants,. including maybe those of your neighbours, that you would not wish to be rid off, where-as Suphate of amonia degrades over a period of six to eight weeks. Therefore Sulphate is safer on this count alone. Glyphosate being a weedkiller supplied in liquid form is dangerous to have around especially where there are children who cannot read labels and so a safety cap has to be used this can cause imense problems for people who have difficulty with their hands and wrists eg Arthritis and makes it more likely that the product will be transferred to an unlabled container for ease of use. Unfortunately this is where it becomes even more dangerous most weed killer deaths have occurred when the fluid is mistaken for a soft drink. Sulphate of amonia on the other hand is supplied as a chrystal and is less likely to be ingested, on this count alone the chemical is safer than any other garden weedkiller.

I feel totally exasperated having only just found this and a few other informative websites.I have had horsetail for 30 years in my back garden which is prone to flooding and occasional bogging.I raised half of it 3 feet to grow veg and have worked hard to make the soil productive.I now have a merry growth of horsetail which invades especially from the edges every spring and ruins any low growing strawberry patch etc.I can`t believe I could have bought an effective killer of this appalling weed just last year .Damn the EU beaurocrats.

I do everything I can not to use weedkillers or pesticides but having had this product in my garage for a year or two I sprayed it on a thriving patch of mares-tail in the early summer. There was no poisonous smell and felt that the resume on the product told to me by the nurseryman in the garden nursery about the product being rather harmless was true.
It worked perfectly.
I’m looking to see if there are any signs of regrowth but it seems to have done the trick in one go. Now I see it’s no longer available and having read the comments on here believe it’s a pretty sad state of affairs.

I’m very interested in getting hold of some ammonium sulphamate, as “old” Root Out managed to eradicate a 10+yr old “patch” (600 sq ft) of ivy, ‘though now I am obviously interested in improving my composte heap! Any idea of trade name of composter product, UK retail supplier + of course what dilution I should avoid to ensureI don’t inadvertantly kill any ivy/bramble/ground elder?

Dear Jane,
Ammonium sulphamate is available on ebay from a supplier in Nottingham. Tt’s a bit expensive but so effective! It comes with instructions and a label declaring that it is not to be used as a herbicide or pesticide. Take care not to spill it on your best weeds!
Barry.

I think the EU process is basically well-intentioned. I’d rather have an occasional inconvenience than more disasters like DDT or dioxins. Good information here too. I’ve got a big patch of annoying brambles that I will have to try and sort out with glyphosate. On the other hand, I am building a compost heap down there so I hope I don’t spill any of that accelerator. Incidentally, the concentrations and distribution methods you need to avoid, if you want to protect your brambles from inadvertent harm, are covered on the relevant Wikipedia page.

For those that live outside the EU, ammonium sulfamate is best diluted at the rate of 2 pounds per gallon of water and mixed with a dash of non-european washing up liquid. Spray over foliage at 1 gallon per 200 sq.feet (20 x 10 feet. If treating Japanese (not European) Knotweed then put crystals down cut stalk or on fresh cut crown head.

Now lets us over regulated Europeans give you lucky non-europeans a tip. Spray any mixture that you have left on your compost heap – just as we do over here!

Looking through the above I have the following comment- Dax did support Ammonium Sulfamate through the review. The authorities refused to review the dossier on Ammonium Sulfamate, not because it was incomplete – it did have plenty of toxicity data showung the chemical to be safe. The Regulators were not prepared to read this and then consider if further testing was necessary, they just wanted to see the testing done on dogs! This was outrageous! However they got away with banning the product because Dax was to small to be able to fight them. Now watch how much animal suffering will be caused to generate the data demanded by the European chemical evaluation ‘REACH’ program. The latest estimate was over 250,000 lives per year. There is no independent, arbitration body to which the Regulators and the businesses can turn to for a decision on what tests should be done.

I had been wondering why one spray on weed killer for deep rooted weeds in my paths was so much more effective than any other. Then I looked at the ingredients and, yes, the good one was ammonium sulphamate.

I’ll get some more if I can.

Thanks for the information.

Having tried everything known to mankind to try and destroy a horrific infestation of horse tail I thought my prayers had been answered when I heard about ammonium sulphamate. But now it would appear, thanks to the EU, I am thwarted – argh!

I may now have to consider glyphosate but I’m a bit in the dark about it. Can anyone supply info on the safety implications as I have young children?

I have finally found a supplier of this ammonium sulphamate compost accelerator in its crystal form.

I would like some advice tho on the best way to prepare and apply it for 2 plots around 150 square foot each containing lots of horsetail that I want to compost in situ

I also have bits of horsetail in most of my flower beds can I compost this too without affecting the other plants ?

I do have 1/2 a dozen chickens and a small dog, the chickens eat all weeds quite effectively with the exception of horsetail. would this composter be safe to use with them roaming around or should they be kept enclosed for any period of time?

Hi an agromonist recomendid grazon 90 to spray my abundant horsetail in my paddocks i did this a couple of weeks ago and it has killed all the horsetail foliage on the suface which is fantastic! My only concern is does grazon get down to the roots like deep root (ammonium sulphamate).Has anyone else used it to treat horsetail.

Does anyone happen to know that the effects of this on an established privet hedge, should any be accidentally spilt on the ground adjacent? Or should I move my ‘compost heap’?

Could MIKE C (7th July) let me have the name of his supplier of ammonium sulphamate in crystal form? I understand one can put it on gravel and it will not kill trees around. Is this correct?

And for good measure, I also blast the EU….

Virginia – You should look at http://www.daxproducts.co.uk and look at the Root Out section. (It will actually appear as http://www.garden-products.info, but it’s the correct site.) I don’t know why you would want to compost your gravel, but each to her or his own ….

Just got a new allotment… a wilderness. Going to try sulphamic acid on a small patch rather than ammonium sulphamate. No idea of the dose! Sulphamic acid = Fernox for descaling or stuff for kettles (check the ingredients) Nuts to the E.U.

No wonder our country has gone to dirt! I loved this product – ace! and safe with kids and pets – why did no one vote for referendum? oh probably because the british public are always taken for a ride and our vote would have been fixed anyway (i should have been an MP at least I could have kept ducks instead of growing food; a 1600 pound duck house comes to mind- the world has gone mad!)

As a tree surgeon ammonium sulphamate is the perfect stump killer, it is biodegradable and leaves nitrogen as a byproduct thus assisting wind driven fungal spores to colonise the stump, thus excluding Honey Fungus from infesting the stump (confirmed by RHS).This product I believe was credited as being a safe stump killer by Friends of The Earth.As we all know the excess consumption of salt or water have killed people, maybe our eu bureaucrats should request full dossiers from suppliers of both these products so we know the amounts of each that will kill our domestic pets.

Help please. I have a plot about 15mtrs by 5mtrs that I want to use for veg but it is over run with mares tail, what can I do?

I was just using my old stock of Root Out last night for stump treatment, being so glad of its availability ( I hadn’t read about the hand of the EU till now), especially since I have become really concerned about the long-term effects of glyphosate.
This is a time bomb, especially when it is being used repeatedly on soil growing commercial round-up resistant crops. Glyphosate blocks the shikimate pathway common to many micro-organisms essential for soil health; bacteria and fungi. it also had a much longer half-life than most of the other weekillers!
I’d recommend some websites for more details. I always thought glyphosate was too good to be true.
htpp://rag.org.au/modifiedfoods/roundup1.htm
htpp://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Roundup-Glyphosate-Factsheet-Cox2.htm
htpp://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports.impacts_glyphosate.pdf

This is the ultimate irony of some regulation indeed.
But perhaps we’ve not heard the end of this yet.

For anyone looking for ammonium sulphamate, I bought 20 Kg on http://www.ebay.co.uk to keep me going for a while. Although someone already mentioned that you could buy Root Out from Dax Products by going to http://www.garden-products.info/rootout.htm, I wanted to clarify that even if it is now sold as a compost accelerator, it is still the exact same product (pure ammonium sulphamate).

I’m grateful for all the info that people have shared on this site. It was here that I first learned the story behind the ironic banning of the safest, most non-toxic herbicide. I feel sad that new gardeners will be much less likely to come to know of this earth-friendly herbicide (as people assume it was banned because it was deemed unsafe, or never hear about it at all). And at the same time, I admire Dax for refusing to test on animals, especially when data was already available to prove its non-toxicity.

And thanks John for your info on the effects of glyphosate on microbial activity. Sounds like an excellent way to kill your soil.

Hi Cheryl, if you either live outside the EU or have an empowered, discerning mind, you will find a very safe answer to your question by going to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_sulfamate Follow the instruction for general application. Hope this helps.

Use ammonium sulfamate at 2lbs per gallon of water with a squirt of fairy liquid. Go around at least 2 x a week until clear. Naturally, I assume you are living outside the socialist single state of the EU

Bought some ammonium sulphamate on ebay and after cutting down an infestation of japanese knotweed,I was on the way down to my compost heap and I tripped and went flying spilling all the sulphamte over and into the stalks of the knotweed, and it almost killed all of the weed. My trouble is now is that when I go down the path I haven’t tripped up since,which is very sad as I am sure if I did it would eradicate this major problem of this weed.

Shame about ammonium sulphamate. From my experience as an occasional gardener, chemist and ex-bureaucrat in the UK and EU, that John’s comments (March 2009)sum the situation up. We’re damned if we do,or don’t. Most of this type of regulation requires a lot of information, and EU and UK policy is to refuse to pay for this out of tax payers money. Which leaves industry, or the users…you and me. This wasn’t my professional area, but it does seem that not enough money was being made out of ammonium sulphamate to justify the Monsantos paying for data. Besides, ammonium sulphamate would kill GM modified crops and obviate their whole global strategy for using Roundup with trade-marked GM crops. This isn’t the only chemical or pharmaceutical to lose its registration because nof low profits. E.g. 5% boric acid with talc and zinc oxide is great for athlete’s foot, and cheap(try it in your wellies!). Can’t buy it in the UK, though

By the way, the number of EU bureaucrats is about the same as those in Cambridge County Council:-) Really.

What sort of penalty is imposed on those who fall victim to this rather foolish EU regulation?

We have read all comments regarding horsetail – what do you use to destroy the plant since ammonidum sulphamate is no longer available? If you have something available, who can be contacted for more information so this product can be purchased?

We sell ammonium sulphamate at present and you can order via my e/mail address nickgillett@amenity.co.uk or 01423 887409. It is £120 for 25kg bag plus £10 del. Buy 4 bags or more and the bag price drops to £111.00 each. We have an uptodate datasheet available. Use it as a compost accelerator but don’t spill it on the weeds…!

Hi, In Australia (at least in my state) we can still buy ammonium sulphamate although it is extremely expensive. I have no doubt we will follow the misguided EU so I plan to stock up soon. Could anyone offer any advise/opinions on how much to use on the stump of a 10 metre bay tree and if drilling holes in the stump aids it effectiveness. Thanks in advance.

For use outside the EU only.

60 grams of Ammonium Sulfamate crystals per 10cm. of fresh felled tree stump diameter.

Drill holes vertically down into a fresh felled tree stump. The holes must be drilled around the edge of the stump, do not break through the bark, then fill with the crystals.

You are aiming to get the crystals to be taken in by the tress sap, this flows where the next ‘ring’ will be forming. It is a waste of time putting it into the middle of the stump!

Sometimes people cut notches into the tree stump sides and place the crystals onto the cut ledges.

We used to suggest that Ammonium Sulfamate was mixed with wall paper paste, but too many came back to us saying it reduced the efficacy!

Thanks for the information Nigel, much appreciated. Pity Ammonium Sulphamate is so frightfully expensive here in Australia as I HATE using glyphosate.

hiya, been trying for five year to eradicate my horsetail, not knowing what it was at first etc i decided to rotavate my garden, then the problem escalated, now know that digging actually helps the weed thrive. have tried many different weedkillers reluctantly on it, nowt happened, then i read that if i teamped it down first it would absorb the weedkiller, (glyphosphate any many others)tried that now happened, tried burning it grew back arrgh theni learnt about ammonium suplhamate, I danced an pranced liek an idiot with sheer happiness and joy, at last i will get a lovely garden. then off i headed to local garden centres etc, sorry we dont sell it etc, so boote dup comp and first place i looked was ebay as i figured i might get it cheap, well its there and its not exactly cheap lol, but then tonight i thought befor ei biuy i will scour the internet to see if i can buy it cheaper then happened upon this site and discover the stuff is nowbanned, whoa says i if all ihave read about this wonderous stuff is true why is it banned? well i dont care cos as long as i can buy it and fall over in my garden on route to the compst heap which happenes to be full of cutttings of horsetail then i will be a happy bunny, oh yeah that is another way of getitng rid of horsetail is to keep chopping it down till it commitys suicide in roughly 3 years time lol. not waitn 3 more years, fed up of getitng so far in my garden then standing still cos of horsetail and not being able to dig it up etc. sorry i have rambled but well after reading ammonium sulphamte was banned i lost my head and had to vent my spleen, was wondering if it was due to the fact it turned into fertilizer though cos know some stuff was banned cos of that cos of terrorists etc, just a thought.

I have ivy growing near a hawthorn hedge.If this were treated with ammonium sulphamate would the hedge die even if none actually touched the hedge.Would ammonium sulphamatesoak through the ground to reach the hedge roots

Thanks John.I thought that might be the answer after a previous question about a privet hedge.
Why do you suggest painting rather than spraying?Also,what strength glyphosate do you suggest?I have previously sprayed ivy with glyphosatediluted as directed but the ivy just laughed at it.Hence my search for a more powerful weed killer.

Hi,
I’ve just found a site that supplies it and it’s half the price of the ebay site company DAX, and the postage is included in the price. 5Kg for £23.66 pp included.
http://www.mistralni.co.uk

Careful George, I think you have found AMMONIUM SULPHATE

Perhaps this method for bindweed could be used for ivy?

I took up Mr Gillett’s really good offer of compost accelerator last week, It arrived today and I am looking forward to accelerating the composting rate of my ivy :>)

And at what time of year would you recommend that I don’t trip on my way to the compost in the treatment of symphaticum vulgare (the blue comfrey overtaking my garden)??? Have used roundup to no avail!

Last December we read in our local newspaper in France that Monsanto had been fined for fouling the French water-table with its non biodegradeable glysophate Roundup weedkiller. Why have we in the UK not been told that this product does not break down on contact with the soil, as claimed, and is getting into the domestic water supply? The long term affects on the build up of the affects of this chemical in humans is neither understood nor fully researched.

I can still obtain sulphate of Ammonia in France as a stump remover.

Many thanks John – off to Ebay now!

Think about it people how many weeds do you see on a decent golf course ???? woody weeds we spray with Timbrel & for your general weeds round up is useless, so we use a product called cabadex. for a good effective weed killer look for dicambra 2.4d in the product; as well as a penetrant to get it in the plant for quicker uptake.

Was just wondering how much damage would be done if you ‘accidentally’ spilt some on the way to the compost heap, as in what sort of area around the spill would be effected. I ask as there a hedge next to the (let say) uneven ground where some might get spilt on the way to the compost heap. I’m really looking to avoid damaging the hedge, but as im quite clumsy, what kind of precautions (how far away should I walk from it) should I take

The mistralni site referred to in a previous post by George does appear to be selling the Compost Accelerator Ammonium Sulphamate (other names know as = Round Up) http://mistralni.co.uk/details.php?id=154&gclid=COSy9c-5nqgCFQOGDgod5DR8HQ

Just an observation, no connection to them and not a reference for them

Right chaps, I’ve got two houses to look after. My Welsh cottage is set in 66 acres so I can buy neat ‘Roundup’ from the farm-shop. It is very effective at killing Ivy stone dead when diluted 50ccs in 4 litres water (no additional wetting agent required). In Stockport the nextdoor neighbour isn’t totally mobile and her horsetails, though small in area, are pushing up through our paviors. Crying out for ammonium sulphamate and after falling across this blog-site, I have discovered a very old packet of ‘Deep Root’ containing the banned herbicide, before it was replaced with the same stuff as in ‘Roundup’. Only last night she asked me if I could get rid of her weeds. Well love, yes I can. It’s Ok people, she has a cat not a dog(!). So, if you can’t get the neat ‘Roundup’ like me, then it seems reasonable to purchase the new ‘Deep Root’ with its glyphosphate constituent and mix it accordingly (perhaps a stronger concentration than ‘ready-mixed)to kill ivy.

Coming in a bit late Jo but I used it effectively on several trees; hazel, a big privet, lilac and something I couldn’t determine. Using an ordinary wood chizel and mallet, I teased back the bark all the way around the cut and rubbed solid crystal into the gap left. Worked first time with aboslutely no re-growth.

This has been interesting reading. I am a chemist, and a hobby gardener. Having been struck down by a brutal infestation of horsetail, I am starting to tear my hair out at the constant nipping of the stalks to try and exhaust the rhizomes, the hand crushing of them to allow them to absorb the glyphosphate, and the repeated application of said glyphosphate.

From what I can gather ammonium sulfamate was banned under red tape when all pesticides were reviewed, under the wider scope of REACH. This was a noble effort, and the aim was to establish whether some chemicals that had been in use for year were in fact harmful. Most substances were immediately passed as there was sufficient data to allow them to meet new standards. Ammonium sulfamate was by REACH as there is a great deal of data thereon, but not as a pesticide. There was an objection from the Irish Rapporteur that there was insufficient safety data regarding exposure for dogs, presumably from the dog-lover lobby in much the same way as there is much fear about the use of slug pellets around dogs. The EU committee felt that there was no need to carry out dog testing, since the normal LD50 (lethal dose 50%) was available for rats and mammals have pretty much the same reaction to most poisons, scaled for their size. And so a stalemate was reached. This isn’t really the fault of the EU, rather a daft situation between 2 individuals. This happens all the time in British politics why would the EU be any different, especialy given that we are signatories.

Is there Ammonium Sulphamate in Wilkinsons ‘compost maker’?

I have used “Sulphate of Ammonia” as a fertiliser with great success and I have used “Ammonium Sulphamate” to wipe out a garden full of horsetail – a huge relief. Is there someone (a chemist) who can explain the completely different properties of these seemingly very similar chemicals – they even look similar!

I just came across this thread,trying to buy root-out and read it all. I have had a vague notion about a lot of this stuff but hadn’t put it all together like this, it’s shocking! I ran out of root out last year anyway and since not seeing it in the shops any more decided to try on line. I don’t compost much any more, these days I tip all my green waste at a private tree processing centre for a tenner. However I may now start composting it all again! x

Talking of Roundup, As i understand from what i heard on a Farming Today programme on Radio 4, Roundup is highly valued by wheat growers. They spray it onto the crop as soon as the grain is mature in order to accelerate ‘ripening’ and thus bring forward the harvest and subsequent recropping processes!!