Using weed killers

[Kirk]

As it is the digging you want to avoid and I guess spraying with glyphosphate is a bit questionable you could buy one of the propane flame things and burn the weeds to the ground brfore any potato's appear.

You would not get the roots but at least get everything to ground level to give you some idea. It should weaken whatever is there.

It is about the only compromise I can think of that sort of gets somewhere.

[Bill HH]

Could you cover the whole area with cardboard or black plastic? That would really weaken the grass. You must have a month before the spuds grow, surely. Then you could lift it up once a week and see if the spuds were growing. Once they were, you could take the covering off and pull the, much weakened, grass up from around the growing points and maybe even the rest of the bed or you could put the cover back on the areas you knew weren't spuds.

Better still leave the covering and make holes for the spuds to grow through. The problem is if you dont lift last years spuds they will all shoot and you will have a right mess. I would get them dug even if you have to pay someone, then cover it with plastic and plant new ones through holes leaving the plastic to help kill the twitch (We call it squitch).

[marchogaeth]

Better still leave the covering and make holes for the spuds to grow through.

That's sort of the idea I was aiming for with suggesting you put the cover back round.

[lottie dolly]

no confusion BM,i planted last year,they grew,and died back ,so no trace of the things,just lots of the things i not want,
I have my own way of getting the fork to dig,but only manage it in small doses,plus me back hates the bending up and down to pull out the roots,i love to do it,much better than house work,
My problem is,the supraspinatus tendon is shot,caput,so left me permenently with a problem,BUT,me being me i will not give in,yes i am a blooming mad pensioner,and proud of it,where there is a will ext,
As soon as the ground dries up,i will get DH to have a dig up,and i will inspect whats there,just for the tatties,the rest will sort it's self eventually,

[lottie dolly]

Better still leave the covering and make holes for the spuds to grow through. The problem is if you dont lift last years spuds they will all shoot and you will have a right mess. I would get them dug even if you have to pay someone, then cover it with plastic and plant new ones through holes leaving the plastic to help kill the twitch (We call it squitch).

I would Bill,but,i only have a rough idea of where they are

Last year,i did do a swap with a body,they asked about something i had for sale so a deal was done,result was,the other spuds bed got relieved of the goods,

[Bigmallly]

I would Bill,but,i only have a rough idea of where they are Last year,i did do a swap with a body

I hope you didn't swap the body for the tatties.................

[Kristen]

I wouldn't like to eat tatties that have glyphosate residue on them anyway!

Unless you grow all your own food - both meat and veg, don't buy in Manure from regular, rather than fully organic, farms and so on then, in your words, you are eating food with Glyphosate residues all the time anyway.

I grow my veg in order that there is nothing on them ... new chemicals come, and are banned a few years alter, at regular intervals, but of all of them Glyphosate / Roundup is the one I fear the least. It has been in use for 50 years, is used in staggering qty around the world, and I have yet to see any proper peer reviewed science (as distinct from rant sites, of which there are many on the web of course ) that point to there being a problem worth even starting to consider worrying about ...

For me, of all the things I worry about that MIGHT be in my food, Glyphosate is definitely right down the bottom of the list it has such low toxicity

Potatoes that might have come from aboard (labelled as UK because they were repackage here <sigh>) that were treated with Gramoxone before harvest - that's the sort of thing that I worry about far more.

[Kristen]

I would Bill,but,i only have a rough idea of where they are

Wait until they come up and then apply the cardboard barrier?

Dunno what sort of state the grass would be in by then, perhaps you can chop it back until then?

[lottie dolly]

I hope you didn't swap the body for the tatties.................

on a very serious note,a body WAS found a few weeks ago in Leicester,thankfully not ours

[Martin H]

I read today that Sri Lanka are introducing a complete ban on glyphosate. Up till now I've been pretty blasé about it for the same reasons that Kristen outlined, but glancing at the linked articles in this piece I'm wondering if that was wise.

Sri Lanka Bans Monsanto Herbicide Citing Deadly Link To Kidney Disease | Collective-Evolution

Mind you I have only applied glyphosate-based herbicide on land used for edibles once and that was 25 years ago, so I personally am probably safe.

Also the ban was rescinded a few months after that article was written:

Sri Lanka Lifts Ban on Sale of Glyphosate - Sustainable Pulse

[Kristen]

Ban, then immediately lift the ban, either politically motivated (and Monsanto agreed to lower the price / grease a palm / manufacture locally etc.) or the other way round - Monsanto put pressure on the Sir Lanka government.

Or cockup in the first place and it was something else that was supposed to have been banned?!

Not sure this, collectively, amounts to anything do you think Martin?

[Alison]

I think it amounts to uncertainty and when in doubt i tend to avoid.

[Kristen]

The article made mention of possible kidney disease problem when Glyphosate is in the presence of metals such as cadmium and arsenic in the groundwater. Their presence would bother me without the issue of Glyphosate! (the ruling appears to have been overturned because the science about kidney disease has been called into question)

I saw a documentary on the Box recently which was investigating the levels of Arsenic in rice. This is a naturally occurring problem in certain parts of the world exacerbated, I believe, because of the flood-irrigation methods of rice production causing the roots to take up arsenic. Rice used in baby food could use a lot of rice, relative to a "portion", by the time it has been converted to a paste, and there was concern about arsenic levels in particular because there were no legal requirements for limits.

Basmati rice (which is the only rice we use) didn't seem to be effected (I presume it only comes from areas of the world that don't have naturally high levels in Arsenic in the ground water).

I'm a lot happier growing all our veg than buying any of it ...

[Martin H]

Not sure this, collectively, amounts to anything do you think Martin?

The evidence does all seem to be circumstantial and I expect Monsanto will have made that point strongly. Nothing in the papers I skimmed amounts to more than a somewhat plausible hypothesis.

Still, the doubts about impact on gut bacteria and long-term persistence of glyphosate-derived compounds don't encourage me to change my ways and start using the stuff.

[Sheneval]

Still, the doubts about impact on gut bacteria and long-term persistence of glyphosate-derived compounds don't encourage me to change my ways and start using the stuff.

Scientific studies into the use of glysophate in the USA led us to banning its use on our site 2 years ago - I see no need to use a herbicide to clear weeds from a plot.