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

Grazon 90 (MAFF Approval No:05456) can only be applied by someone who holds the appropriate certificate of competence through tractor mounted or knapsack lance sprayers. Grazon 90 is not approved for use on food crops.

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?

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’ll get some more if I can.

Thanks for the information.

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.

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.

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..

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!

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.