# Using Round Up in Landscaping???



## clarekate (Mar 13, 2016)

Hello,

I'm a first year beekeeper and my packages will be arriving at the end of the month (SO excited!). My husband and I tackled some major landscaping projects on this gorgeous weekend, including tilling, edging, and mulching 7 different beds. My husband mentioned that he'll use round up in the mulch to keep the weeds from coming back through, and I told him that I didn't want him to spray anything since my bees will be here soon. He said that round up works on contact and he wouldn't be treating the flowers/plants/shrubs that the bees would be visiting, just the mulched areas around/near them.

Should I be concerned? What is safe to use in flower beds if you have bees? Please help and any advice is appreciated - thanks 

Clare


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Roundup (generic name is glyphosate) is an herbicide. As a herbicide, it has no direct impact on bees. However, glyphosate is used to kill 'weeds' that are potentially bee forage, so less forage is not desirable from a bee perspective. 

Note: typical glyphosate mixtures do include a small amount of surfactant (essentially detergent) that is used to reduce surface tension and make a finer mist to make the herbicide application more effective. Spraying soapy water directly on bees can block their spiracles (breathing tubes - similar to our lungs) and result in their death. Avoid spraying surfactant mixtures directly on insects when possible unless unless your intent is to kill them.


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## clarekate (Mar 13, 2016)

Thanks for the insight! I was worried that having it in the soil would somehow contaminate the plants that did grow and make it's way to the bees food source. And even though we took lots of dandelions from the flower beds, they are welcome and thriving in the lawn 

In our landscaping adventures, we actually were tearing our lots of shrubs and plants that the previous owners had planted, and we intend to replace them with more bee-friendly plants (and hopefully native plants whenever possible). We live in Ohio and you can get giant seed packets to replace lawn with natural, native prairie land, so our project next summer will be converting the back 2 acres of our property back to native Ohio prairie. Hopefully the bees will love that!


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

My understanding is that glyphosate works by leaf absorption. I'm not sure it will be effective as an additive in the mulch. Check the label. The stuff is too expensive to waste.
Bill


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

whiskers said:


> My understanding is that glyphosate works by leaf absorption. I'm not sure it will be effective as an additive in the mulch. Check the label. The stuff is too expensive to waste.
> Bill


Correct. It will be wasted sprayed on mulch.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

In fact roundup has to be used on actively growing plants for the absorption to process. Freshly mowed or dormant vegetation will not absorb it, and it washes off in the first rain. When sprayed it dries fairly quickly, and is not even supposed to harm grazing animals once dry.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Trifluralin, the active ingredient in Preen is the stuff thats applied to the soil to stop germination of most seeds, primarily grasses.


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## Steve in PA (Jan 26, 2015)

jim lyon said:


> Trifluralin, the active ingredient in Preen is the stuff thats applied to the soil to stop germination of most seeds, primarily grasses.


There are a host of pre-emergent weed killers that would be much better than an indiscriminate splashing of glyphosphate, including corn gluten meal. Most Big Box stores are only interested in selling Scott's, Pennington, and house brands. For lawn and garden care a trip to the local farm supply/fertilizer store (not tractor supply) to someone who actually knows their business would be much more beneficial in attaining good results and often cheaper.

I'm not anti-chemical but I am against just "spraying stuff".


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## ArkansasBK (Mar 5, 2011)

I've used 41% Glyphosate for years around my hives with no ill effects whatsoever.


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