weed killer

[kenbutts]

The person before me used industrial weed killer undiluted on the end of my plot
has anyone any ideas how long this lasts
kenbutts

[kenbutts]

[Baccy Man]

Do you know what type of weedkiller it was? Industrial covers an awful lot of things.

[kenbutts]

all I know is that he got it off the motorway contractors.
thanks for looking
ken

[OllieC]

BM as usual is right - I'm afraid you'll have to do a bit of trial & error... Personally I'd start by raking over the top & throwing around a few cheap flower seeds to see if anything comes up... and given that it could be just about anything, I wouldn't eat from it for a year. Assuming stuff grows, I would probably do decorative gourds (with plenty of compost) next year and then edible stuff the year after that.

[Unwashed]

Can you still get sodium chlorate?  Oh happy memories.

[Baccy Man]

Can you still get sodium chlorate?

Only until the 30^th of September, all stocks must be used up/disposed of by the 10^th of May 2010.

[kt.]

I bet there wil  be no replacement for Sodium Chlorate once it is gone.  I have used it once in 5 years.  It did the job.

[Unwashed]

I bet there wil  be no replacement for Sodium Chlorate once it is gone.  I have used it once in 5 years.  It did the job.

Try ANFO.

[davyw1]

I bet there wil  be no replacement for Sodium Chlorate once it is gone.  I have used it once in 5 years.  It did the job.

Try ANFO.

Don,t you think that  ANFO tends to leave a rather large hole though

[landimad]

Some industrial weedkillers can remain in the soil for up to ten yes 10 years.
There is a patch not far from here which the council did and they still cannot plant or develop the site.
God only knows what they put down but it certainly did the job and also the wildlife has been severly affected.

[kenbutts]

many thanks to all for help and suggestions
ken

[daxzen]

I may have a solution

my pop used to clear rough pastureland with a fire that was covered with soil - it excluded the air - much like when making charcoal - the heap gets really hot - hardly any smoke and certainly no flames. he had one of these going most of the time.

when I had a similar problem with polluted land I set up on of these fires and rolled it.

The idea is that the fire is rolled - a couple of feet every couple of days remembering to cover the outside with the "infected " soil - the heat drives of any volatile excressences and the ash sweetens the land.

The heat goes quite a way down too esp in summer!

Worked for me and it allowed me to clean all the pernicious weed roots in the rest of the plot at the same time

you will need some lumber to burn (to keep the fire going)

take it steady

dax

[Hettyb]

daxzen, would that plan of yours sterilise my plot which had the dreaded farmyard manure applied with the herbicide, which ruined my spuds?
      Happy gardening

[OllieC]

daxzen, would that plan of yours sterilise my plot which had the dreaded farmyard manure applied with the herbicide, which ruined my spuds?
      Happy gardening

Probably not, and tbh I can't see how you could make it work on a normal plot. To dig up all the contamination you'd need to dig down a spit and a half, get it on top of a fire... that's a helluva lot of digging & it would put the fire out. Mind you, by the time you've finished, the Aminopyralid will probably have washed out!

Maybe I'm not visualising it properly?

[ourdai]

We had some bright spark do the same thing with hormonal motorway weedkiller. He tried to grow spuds and tomatoes there 2 years later and the results were horrendous. The plants looked like the were in agony, all twisted and produced absolutely nothing. I agree with landimad, I have heard 10 years mentioned on more than one occasion, particularly if used neat.

[kenbutts]

Hi Thanks to all
I have decided to give up the plot, I am fortunate in having another available,
the results with this one have been horrendous, toms,cucumber,beans,pots and onions. Nothing grew as it should.
will keep trying

[amphibian]

Sounds like the plot is seriously contaminated and should not be rented to anyone. The council should seek top discover what the previous chem-happy dullard put on the plot.