Roundup under flower beds

[RSKY]

Yes another project before the last two are finished.

We bought the grandkids a swing set for their birthdays because the older, smaller one was destroyed by moving it every time my daughter and son-In-law mowed. So we are building a play area for the set using landscape timbers. My question is can I spray Roundup to kill grass, then put dirt over the sprayed area and plant flowers there? Or should I till up the grass and try to rake it out?

I know Roundup has to be sprayed on the leaves to kill but I don't know what it will do if roots come in contact with it.

Thanks for any info.

RSKY

 

[Gary Fowler]

If you spray it, you need to let the Roundup migrate from the leaves to the roots. It will kill it in about a week. I don't know about covering it up after spraying but I don't see that it would do any thing to the kill. It should still migrate to the roots that way (maybe).
I wouldn't plant flowers there for at least 4 months to give the Roundup time to go away.

 

[s219]

Roundup is inert by the time it hits the soil, so there shouldn't be a long term threat. It really only works when absorbed through leaves and shoots of the plant, by inhibiting some natural processes (enzymes) inside the plant.

I'd spray the grass, give it time to die, then do what you want with the area afterwards. If you need to work immediately, I'd suggest just digging out the sod instead, and not bother with roundup.

 

[forgeblast]

I would just put in landscape fabric and put the dirt on top, or mulch. Thats what we did, the mulch stays a bit better not much but it kills the weeds under it.

 

[garry]

I will probably get push back on this, but roundup is poison. I would not spray poison where children are going to play. At one time Agent Orange was thought to be safe.

 

[TheMan419]

I agree with garry about spraying where people are going to play. There are several suits against Monsanto for farmers getting non-hodgkins lymphoma.

To answer your question though.... it depends on which formulation of roundup. The straight glyphosate with no other active ingredients the plant back restrictions are zero (meaning you could roundup the area and plant corn or other row crops immediately). There are other formulations that have ingredients meant to stop plants from germinating for a period of time. Of course then you could not plant anything back there for at least that period of time.

 

[RalphVa]

I don't agree with the last 2 posters. Roundup is safe when used correctly.

However, an even safer alternative is to cover the area/vegetation with newspapers or cardboard and then put mulch over the top, a couple inches.

Ralph