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Roundup is safe to rotavate into the ground almost immediately - it acts by being absorbed into the plant leaves and isn't active in the soil. If you're spraying onto waste ground to kill the weeds before you rotavate, you'll need to leave it for long enough to have an effect on the weeds. I would say that in the growing season this should be between 2 & 4 weeks. Stubborn weeds may need a couple of applications.
You can use it when the weeds are actively growing so from March / April until about October / November. It's more effective when the plants are growing strongly but will work (albeit less effectively) when the plants are slowing down.
In that time, Monsanto have taken over twenty five thousand telephone calls from the general public who have been concerned about health - Monsanto have not had to deal with a single serious case where public health has been endangered by exposure to Roundup.
Roundup is one of the most widely used products in the world and has been approved for use in over one hundred applications - no other chemical has received the same approval rate.
When Roundup settles onto the soil, it holds tightly to the soil surface making it unavailable to the plants around it.
One of the key factors for it's safe use around humans and animals is because Glyphosate disrupts the enzyme that is responsible for the production of Amino Acid which in turn, is responsible for plant growth.
The Enzyme - EPSP Synthase - is not present in humans or animals.
For an extensive look at Roundup (active ingredient Glyphosate) visit the Monsanto Website and study this section on human health.
Although Roundup works fastest during the growing season, as long as there are green leves to absorb it, it will work - we've sprayed succesfully in the depths of winter.
Safety:- I agree with the comments about humans and animals but you might want to check out the toxicity for aquatic life if you're spraying near ponds etc.
Useage:- I may be wrong here but as far as I understand it, when you buy some Roundup products, they're sold "Ready to Use" i.e. already diluted. Obviously this would be a ridiculously expensive option for a pro. The stuff I'm currently using is here.
http://www.afrasa.es/pagina.php?idPag=4&idSubPag=10&familia...
I dilute it 100:1 i.e. 100ml in 10litres water. This is a single charge of my knapsack as I find 15 litres a bit tiring on a hot day. This zaps just about everything. In October last, I paid €23 for 5 litres (it's now gone up to €41 :-( but I've sprayed a very difficult 2 acre area where I've planted 92 new olives about 6 times or more since October plus numerous other areas and I still have about a litre left.
I don't think there can be any rules about the best time to spray and frequency. It depends on the condition of the area when you start. If you're tackling an area in summer with well established weeds, it will kill what's growing but by then, seed will have been broadcast and the next time it rains, you'll have a whole new crop. You need to respray these as soon as the are looking green and healthy but before they flower and set seed. Depending on the type of weeds, you'll either have to do a physical clearance (strim or similar) to tidy up, as many of the dead weed's stems will still be erect.
For what it's worth.
Roger
P.S. My piccy shows me armed with my knapsack.
Assuming the AI works based on causing a distortion within the growth cells of plants.
And assuming growth in any plant is temperature controlled [one of 5 main factors]
I live in Ireland. Last year we had the wettest holiday weekend in June for 50/ 70 years - this year was the warmest! If one cannot predict temperature then surely timelines go out the door. It will also depend on the age of the 'plant' requiring destruction...
[to add to the discussion]
slán
peter
It has been 30-38 degrees here in the last week and weeds which were sprayed with Roundup only a week ago are almost shrivelled up to nothing.
As I said above, in my experience there are no hard and fast rules, only guidelines. It's difficult to ascertain exactly at what stage the "plant" can be considered "dead". Brain scans would be laborious. For example, some large weeds that are normally well anchored by their roots can be easily "pulled" in about three or four days. I think that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter much as long as we know it's more than a day and less than a month. The wild Fennel here will still be very erect, green and difficult to pull even after three or four weeks.
For what it's worth again,
Roger
Yes, you're right. Just another of the variables that will affect the rate of destruction (if differentiated from killing). The weed can be technically dead but still be a blot on the landscape. Hot sun (and or drying winds) will definitely speed physical distruction. In fact, in many less developed countries, solarisation alone (covering weed areas with plastic sheet) is used instead of chemicals and is probably a more environmentally friendly (if more labour intensive) solution.
We're at about 30C average down here at the moment. Not much help to a landscaper in UK though.
Cheers,
Roger