Yes, if you are talking about hitting it up with glyphosate, then spray first. Spray, then water, then spray again 2 weeds later. Make sure you get gly that is just straight glyphosate - not persistant. Otherwise nothing will grow. If it were me, I wouldn't bother pulling it out at all. 2nd week of Sep. is fine. If it were me, I wouldn't mix the grass types like that unless the areas are divided cleanly by landscaping. It has good potential to look really odd and get clumpy etc. overtime. In fact, I strongly recommend seeding with just one straight mix - whatever it is. Fescue slowly fills in when it is established but KBG does better. However, KGB doesn't fill in as fast as it's cracked up to. Look up recommended seed cultivars for your area and find a blend that has one or even two of those that are on the list.

I didn't try to change your words or significantly twist what you had to say, and I don't see why you felt the need to do that to my post. I'm not at all clear on how I am twisting your words. It was not clear that you were suggesting glyphosate/RoundUp in place of the Spectracide....sorry if I mistook your intent, but I assumed we were all taking about the OP's product. That WAS the question, afterall..... Apparently, you didn't even really read what I wrote, because, if you did, you are intentionally trying to confuse the nature of what I wrote to support your position. Oh, I read it! And you very clearly stated that the stuff is "100% safe" and "is not known to translocate between different kinds of plants". I merely pointed out that this position is not supported by a significant amount of scientific evidence. And in refutation you said you have seen no "credible" evidence to support this and "famous people in the know" say it can't/doesn't happen. But you gave no cites to support this statement, whereas I provided several to support mine. How "famous" the authors of these articles are, I have no idea, but they are qualified and trained scientists and they do support and document their theses with various other, equally well-qualified sources. What I wrote wasn't just my opinion. It's the conclusions drawn by many (the vast majority, that I've run into) professionals and educators that study herbicides. But you neglected to provide ANY cites or documentation to support that it was anything more than just your opinion. And what exactly constitutes the 'vast majority'? Five? Twenty-five? Fifty? You provided none. What's more, you clearly stated that in your "opinion most of the material is not relevant to this situation". Yet you don't bother providing anything other than your 'opinion' to support this statement nor do you give us any reason why your 'opinion' should necessarily be held in greater value than those scientists whose work I reported. Maybe you have some detailed scientific background that we are not aware of? BTW, the emoticons that you, specifically, seem to always use to "disguise" obnoxious and rude comments, don't really do the job. For me, they kinda did at first, but the pattern in which they repeatedly show up in many of your posts (after rude comment, after rude comment, after rude comment), has made their real meaning evident and even seem to amplify and call attention to the cheap shots. I was attempting to keep the tone rather light. Apparently I failed. I am well aware of your propensity to refute or argue against everything I say and was trying quite hard not to become unnecessarily adversarial. As to cheap shots and rude comments, you dish out your share, fella! I'd offer the above as ample evidence. It is almost as though you cannot tolerate someone else offering another differing, yet perhaps just as valid, viewpoint. And if I were a little less secure of my experience and knowledge base, I might even go so far as to say that the possibility of a mere female having the temerity to question your apparently sacrosanct opinions/viewpoints pisses the heck out of you. Been there, done that......doesn't bother me a bit. But all of this is really immaterial to the OP's initial question and not furthering the discussion in any positive way. I've said everything I need to say and I stand by it, so if you feel you need to run me down any further, have at it.

If the material you applied contains glyphosate as the active ingredient, as most Roundup formulations do, and you followed label directions, it should not be affecting your tree in this way. Once it hits soil, glyphosate is not herbicidally active. Of course if it drifted off target or you applied it to the leaves, or green bark or branches, or sprouts of the Bauhinia it will be taken up and cause problems. I'm not familiar with the other herbicide you mentioned. Other herbicides can definitely move up in rootzones, even those used for selective weed control in turf such as dicamba.

@ kimmq “I have numerous times made new planting beds simply by covering the grass and unwanted plant growth (weeds) with newspaper and then a mulch to hold the paper in place and hide it.” Yes, I too made new planting beds in similar way, using simple cardboard and mulch, I don't use newspapers. But you are talking about planting beds here, not about a 1350 sq. ft. plot. And it makes a big difference! @ Tiffany: It looks like, Tiffany, you are talking about completely abstract situation here. Breaking it down to the circumstances described by OP: - I don't believe it is always so easy to find a furniture or appliance store reasonably close to where one lives (what distance seems reasonable to you?), where they have on hand at any given time 1350 (30 x 45) sq ft. (without overlapping, and much more than that when "overlapped at the seams generously") of thick corrugated cardboard. - Supposing that yes, one has overcome the first obstacle successfully, now you have to bring all that stuff home. Not everybody has a truck necessary for transporting such amount of cardboard. I, for example, don't. So, what is your advice how to get it to your place? Let's forget for now all those chemicals used to make corrugated cardboard boxes, although not everyone would want to have them in the garden! - As for the leaves to use as mulch on top of the cardboard, who bag leaves at this time of year??? I will venture to say that getting any in April is practically impossible, not to mention 17 + + cubic yards of them! - As for that other mulch and compost that “one can buy by the bag or the truckload”, it is in most cases far from being organic. Even if it is called as such, I would never put the stuff in my garden. Anyhow, in OP's circumstances one would need, by easy calculation, 450 cubic feet (roughly 17 cubic yards) of it, even without that '+' you are talking about in your first post. An average commercial dump truck holds something between 10 to 14 cubic yards. So two trucks would be necessary to bring all that stuff to OP's place! - Now, having all that thick corrugated cardboard and mulch successfully dumped at one's place, how much time and effort is needed to remove all that plastic tape and, as you propose, the staples from the 1350 + + sq ft. of cardboard, spread it “overlapping generously at the seams” (for overlapping you would need much more than 1350 sq.ft. of it) in the garden and cover it on top with 4” (or as you propose 4” +) of mulch? - And what to do with all that cardboard and mulch after it fulfilled (?) its purpose of smothering the grass and weeds? Turn it over into the soil? Would not decomposition of such amount of OM take too much nitrogen from the soil? Plant in the mulch left on the surface? As far as my knowledge goes it is not always possible, it depends on what you want to grow, and not every gardener is experienced enough to do that successfully, anyhow. When proposing all the above very time and effort consuming tasks you are clearly forgetting, Tiffany, what OP says about not having time for anything more than taking care of the relatively small garden plot! Even biondanomina in the post above is talking about only 500 sq ft area (about 1/3 of the size of the area OP is talking about), and doesn't mention any manpower or time limitations!