# Best spray for fence lines?



## Silvercreek Farmer (Oct 13, 2005)

I have always mowed and weedeated in the past, but that gets pretty old, and for what gas costs, I figure I can spray my fence lines for almost the same money. I used round up a couple times this summer and it works okay, but doesn't last very long, any ideas on better sprays? I have 5 acres or so fenced. I have looked at Ortho ground clear, but wanted to see what the HTers had to say!


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

You can buy a soil sterilizer that will not let anything grow except some realy hard to kill things.


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## Stephen in SOKY (Jun 6, 2006)

Pramitol. More permanent than glyphosate, but will still need annual application for the first 3-4 years. http://www.tractorsupply.com/weed-killers/pramitol-reg-25e-1-gal--4201381


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

Matthew Lindsay said:


> I used round up a couple times this summer and it works okay, but doesn't last very long,


That is one of the nice things about glyphosate, it isn't designed to last and quickly breaks down to render it harmless although some would disagree.

There is a glyphosate product with longer lasting results, i.e. Roundup Extended Control. 

I expect you mainly need to get rid of broadleaf weeds. Ask a chemical dealer if Atrazine is sold and used in your area, the dangers of it, etc. Don't use near wells/water and simply follow directions to the letter. 

You can apply in early spring before things begin growing and have about 180 day broadleaf control. 

You would need a license to buy and apply.


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## taylorlambert (Jul 4, 2010)

I used a round up a nd Crossbow mix on a spot Im about to dig out on a small plot im building a park on. I didnt think it would last long but it it killed it to the ground. all summer.


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## Heritagefarm (Feb 21, 2010)

Why not just put battery acid all over the fence row?


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

I use 2--4--D very good one to use.
A water based formula. Controls most common broadleaf weeds. Used in pastures, rangelands, corn. Also sorghum, wheat and barley fields. Plus lawns-roadsides-drainage ditches.


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

Heritagefarm said:


> Why not just put battery acid all over the fence row?


It eats away at the posts.


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## oldmanriver (Aug 1, 2004)

agent orange 2 4 d worked well in vietnam . you need to be older to apply cause you will have a few cancers to deal with.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

oldmanriver said:


> agent orange 2 4 d worked well in vietnam . you need to be older to apply cause you will have a few cancers to deal with.


 Agent Orange was not 2---4---D.

It was 2--4--5--T Mixed with 2-4-D,
But it was the 2-4-5-T that was contaminated with other chemicals that caused the problem.
Not 2-4-D,
And that is why you can buy 2-4-D to this day.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

Any soil sterilizer you put down will tend to spread with time. After a couple of years using round up you should have the weed seed numbers knocked down and not have to treat as often.


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

Just my opinion, but few things look as ugly as a naked strip of soil along a fence. Bleah. Donno why anyone would use a soil sterilant or keep using Roundup along the fence line.

There are many good broadleaf weed killers that will take out the bad weeds, but let the grasses alone so you have a nice looking fence line. Crossbow, Milestone, dicomba-based produts like Banvel, Arrow, Sterling, and many more, 24D, Tordan, and many others.

Milestone would be a good one to look into, along with the others mentioned.

--->Paul


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## Silvercreek Farmer (Oct 13, 2005)

I forgot to mention this is an electric fence. I need to keep it clean to keep the voltage up...


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Matthew Lindsay said:


> I forgot to mention *this is an electric fence*. I need to keep it clean to keep the voltage up...


And so is mine, so I sure want to KILL the Weeds, Grass, and anything else that may like to grow up and around the fence line.


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## unioncreek (Jun 18, 2002)

I would contact the local extension agent and see what kind of ground sterilants are available. You would want one that doesn't move in the soil.


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

Round-up has a concentrate that lasts 4 months, by their claim, but on my place it lasted about 6 months. Ortho Ground Clear says 1 year so I tried it on my drive and parking areas (rock) but within 2 months I started seeing sprouting weeds again. Also, it only makes 4 gallons so the Round-up is more cost effective by my reckoning.


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## Tricky Grama (Oct 7, 2006)

Full strength 5% vinegar, on a hot day is best.


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## plowjockey (Aug 18, 2008)

Ozarks Tom said:


> Round-up has a concentrate that lasts 4 months, by their claim, but on my place it lasted about 6 months. Ortho Ground Clear says 1 year so I tried it on my drive and parking areas (rock) but within 2 months I started seeing sprouting weeds again. Also, it only makes 4 gallons so the Round-up is more cost effective by my reckoning.


They can claim what they want, but Roundup, does not "last". They must have a pre-emergence, or something else ,mixed with it.

Glyphoste (roundup) only works, by making contact with leaves and stems, of grasses and broadleaf weeds. It kills quick and then breaks down itself. It will do nothing, but dissolve, when it is in the soil.

Ortho Ground Clear contains Imazapyr, which last longer and works within the root structure.


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

Matthew Lindsay said:


> I forgot to mention this is an electric fence. I need to keep it clean to keep the voltage up...


That's okay, Matthew, those of us with electric fences understood what you were getting at. We have 42 acres fenced, mix of permanent, electronet, and 3-strand electric wire. Paul uses a heavy-duty string trimmer on the sections with wire and mows the parts with electronet. He only trims for about an hour at a time and then quits.

Fortunately the usual escape artist is his favorite ewe, Bandit, and he always changes his mind when it comes to putting her on the cull list.

Chemicals can be very corrosive to metal wire and posts.

Peg


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## Heritagefarm (Feb 21, 2010)

Windy in Kansas said:


> It eats away at the posts.


Probably, but I doubt it would be any more toxic than sprays.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

My electric fence fries the weeds....
and the grasshoppers lol!!


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## sharplady (May 20, 2011)

Salt will do the job that you are looking to do cheaper than anything else. If you put down enough of then NOTHING will grow for several years. Of course it can corrode you wires if it gets on it but then I think that anything that you use for this purpose will.


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## DaynaJ (Dec 5, 2007)

the salt? My son used some ice melt salt on our rock beds, didn't do a thing.


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

The salt, i.e. sodium chloride, needs to be in solution but I don't know the ratio of salt:water. This method was recommended to me years ago by a weed specialist at work, but I never tried it. Chester's dead now so won't be much help. I do remember he suggested using livestock mixing salt since he knew we had it already.

Peg


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## Silvercreek Farmer (Oct 13, 2005)

I am not going the salt route, but calcium chloride may be more effective than sodium choride for those who want to try it. Just ask anyone who has had a calcium cloride filled tire leak down in a field!


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## edmonds (Dec 19, 2008)

I do a combination of mowing and chemical treatment. I like to periodically mow a strip along the fence, especially along the inside, with the tractor's belly mower, and I can get under the lowest wire. I do this mowing in addition to chemical treatment.

I used Pramitol 25E, a sterilizer. It is supposed to be permanent but within several months the grass/weeds were back. Maybe it you kept applying it for a few years it might work, but its very expensive. It works thru the root system and needs a little bit of rain to be taken up by the plants.

Lately I have been using generic roundup. I apply 2-3 times a year. It works on contact with the leaves.

I have to agree with rambler above. A strip of dead yellow along the fence line looks terrible. But I do it anyway to help keep the grass off the electric. I have goats.

Would a broadleaf be sufficient to keep growth off the wires? Maybe if your animals like to graze under the fence wire (some horses/cows), but my goats don't do that.


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

Plowjockey: The Round-up I'm referring to does indeed have a pre-emergent in it, and costs more than the standard product. Worked for me for 2 years running.


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

Ozarks Tom said:


> Plowjockey: The Round-up I'm referring to does indeed have a pre-emergent in it, and costs more than the standard product. Worked for me for 2 years running.


Then it isn't "RoundUp".

The gound up has NO residual effectiveness once it touches the ground. The chemical is quickly deactivated as it chelates with metals in the ground. 

Jim


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## dbarker4322 (Aug 28, 2011)

I use Grazon P & D mixed with roundup and Dicamba. works good and last all year..


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## mrpink (Jun 29, 2008)

Lazy J said:


> Then it isn't "RoundUp".
> 
> The gound up has NO residual effectiveness once it touches the ground. The chemical is quickly deactivated as it chelates with metals in the ground.
> 
> Jim


this kind of post just irks me. knowledge is good. showing a lack of knowledge is not.

round up is a brand name.
what you are speaking of is Glyphosate, a chemical name.

what ozarks tom was speaking of is a product sold under the round up brand name called "roundup extended control". since it is a roundup product it is roundup.


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

mrpink said:


> this kind of post just irks me. knowledge is good. showing a lack of knowledge is not.
> 
> round up is a brand name.
> what you are speaking of is Glyphosate, a chemical name.
> ...


Well Mr. Know It All did yo notice the QUOTES around the phrase round up? 

I am quite aware of the facts around Glyphosate (sold as Round Up, Buccaneer Plus, Cornerstone Plus, etc.)

The fact still remains that Glyphosate has NO residual effectivenss itself regardless of the name of the product.


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## mrpink (Jun 29, 2008)

Lazy J said:


> Well Mr. Know It All did yo notice the QUOTES around the phrase round up?
> 
> I am quite aware of the facts around Glyphosate (sold as Round Up, Buccaneer Plus, Cornerstone Plus, etc.)
> 
> The fact still remains that Glyphosate has NO residual effectivenss itself regardless of the name of the product.


true phosphate does not. but the post was on roundup. sorry you feel I'm now it all( far from it .one of the reasons i'm here) simply because I like like for facts to be out there.

instead of silly come backs tell me were I as wrong. as i feel I have done


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

mrpink said:


> true *phosphate* does not. but the post was on roundup. sorry you feel I'm now it all( far from it .one of the reasons i'm here) simply because I like like for facts to be out there.
> 
> instead of silly come backs tell me were I as wrong. as i feel I have done


Phosphate? What are you talking about?

Glyphosate does not residual activity. The "Long Acting" forms of Roundup/Glyphosate sold to consumers contains a second chemicl to provide the residual week control.

The confusion foisted on the public with the various RoundUp formulations is confusing.

We in commercial agriculture use various combinations of herbicides to deal with plant pests in our operations. Typically Glyphosate is one of those tools.

Jim


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## mrpink (Jun 29, 2008)

Lazy J said:


> Phosphate? What are you talking about?
> 
> Glyphosate does not residual activity. The "Long Acting" forms of Roundup/Glyphosate sold to consumers contains a second chemicl to provide the residual week control.
> 
> ...


sorry for my misspelling please for give me.
I am not opposed to round up use. but round up extended control is is still round up. with that said I will leave this thread


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

mrpink said:


> sorry for my misspelling please for give me.
> I am not opposed to round up use. but round up extended control is is still round up. with that said I will leave this thread


We are bickering about symantics.

You are correct the product you and I are discussing is a RounUp branded product. It is not only glyphosate though.

The confusion for consumers is the naming and use. Since the product we are discussing has residual weed control the consumer now thinks that "RoundUp" (glyphosate) has residual activity when glyphosate does not have such activity.

Now I need to determine which product we will use on our farm this next crop year for residual grass control in our soybean fields.

Jim


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