Owie,
I have applied Round up for around 15 years at least if not longer. I will give you the facts as I've learned them from research and also my experience during this time. This isn't an attempt to sway you one way or the other. If applied right it is one of the safest chemicals you can use in my opinion and that of many applicators I know. It don't vaporize and only kills what the mist comes in direct contact with. You can also use a brush or sponge to apply it with. Have even seen some use a rag. You can control what you kill this way. It has no drift from vapors. If it is windy and spraying it the mist can drift. I have experimented during the years and I've applied within a few inches of sensitive plants like tomatoes and never any sign of damage to the plant. I only done this as an experiment. It is one of the few chemicals I'll use on lawns and fence rows in town. Have never had one claim filed against me using it. I only use it in my veggie garden if absolutely necessary and that was mainly to kill out bindweed. Which I did over a few years. I would leave an area about one foot on each side of it and then treat it. I had only a small amount in the garden when I bought this place. The first summer I treated it I just got it ready for the next year so didn't grow anything in it.
Is it safe to use if applied right? I would say yes. On perimeter fences I would have no concern at all. If I had any real concerns I would never have used it in my garden. I felt it was the safest way at the time for me to rid myself of the bindweed. I would leave a small area around the spot you apply it too. I would suggest using rubber gloves and if in the garden brushing or wiping it on. If you do it this way only the plant you apply it too will get the Roundup. Do this on a dry day when it will be dry for a few days and you will be as safe as you could possibly be. In my opinion of the chemicals I have used it is one of the most environmentally safe ones to use especially if wiped or brushed on. If pregnant I would suggest having someone else do the handling. Nothing I've ever read just I tend to err on the side of caution. There are those who claim it too be very harmful. All chemicals whether manmade or natural can cause harm. Look at arsenic a natural occurring substance.
Will leave the decision to you. This is what my opinion from my experience. Jay

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your Roundup experience with me, Jay! I'm really leaning toward forging ahead with it and your info confirms my own thoughts.

Diane

Diane,

Whenever I describe the type of gardener I am, I say that I am mostly organic, and the reason for the "mostly" is because I sometimes use Round-up and I also use "Come and Get It" (but never near the veggie garden) once every two or three years to keep the fire ants down to a manageable level.

I second everything Jay said. On the scale of toxic things I'd worry about, Round-Up doesn't make the list. I would be careful using it in areas where it can contaminate ponds and streams because there is some concern that it causes genetic mutations in some aquatic life.

Since you are not experienced at using Round-up, I have only one small smidgen of advice....be very, very, very, very careful about the drift of the "mist" as it can travel quite a ways and tomato plants (I know how you love your maters!) are very susceptible to it. If I have to use it near the veggie garden, I generally brush it onto the offending weed with a foam paint brush. I have sprayed it within 3 or 4 feet of a tomato plant without damaging it, but getting that close makes me nervous.

I've never damaged my own plants, but I have had damage to the veggie garden from drift caused by large commercial applicators who were spraying a herbicide in nearby cow pastures.

Go for it, Owie! It will make your life so much easier....and, as the mother of six, you need all the "easy" you can get.

Dawn

I will add that Dawn brought up the veggie garden being damaged by drift. There are several chemicals that are bad about vapor drift. 2,4-D Eshter is one. If sprayed on a hot day it will vaporize and can kill things for someways. My property borders a milo field. Have had the drift from aerial sprayer kill part of my garden before. And also a neighbor who used the 2,4-D Eshter. I won't use it. I only use 2,4-D Amine if I feel I need a 2,4-D spray. Eshter is supposedly better on some weeds but not worth the risk. If it is highly volatile I try to stay away from it. Jay

Thanks, guys! Yep, I'd planned on using the paintbrush technique around the veggies and propping up some sheet metal around the perimeter fence for avoiding drift there.

I've got actively growing Johnson coming up in my salad and allium garden right now so I guess I'd better get it started there before it takes over completely.

Happy rain day!

Diane

I am using it on sweet autumn clematis that is taking over my shrubs. I am putting it in bottles and putting the vine tip down in the bottle. I want to fight it early because it is hard to get in among the shrubs later and a snakey place to get into.

And, I forgot to add that I try to prevent drift-type herbicide damage (from nearby ranches) to my veggie garden by planting a 6' to 8' border of tall cottage garden plants, including sunflowers, castor beans, amaranth, lion's tail, hollyhocks, cleome, malva, etc. on three sides of the garden. (The fourth side has a woodland just outside its fence.) I'd rather lose the border plants than the veggies and some years I do lose some of them, but I've never lost them all. I also generally plant vining annuals like morning glories, moonflower vine, purple hyacinth beans, black-eyed susan vine, etc. on the fence that surrounds the garden for the same purpose.