Herbacide that wont harm palms?

[PalmGuyWC]

I have a couple of Chamaerops var Cerifera that are very bushey and thorney that have grasses that have grown up around them and in them. (and some other palms too). It would be impossible to pull the grass away from them without ripping up my hands and arms, even with gloves and it would be to tedious anyway.

Does anyone know of a herbacide that would kill grasses and not harm the palms? I think Roundup would be much to riskey.

Dick

[MattyB]

I just saw a product that was a herbicide for grasses only. It said it was safe to spray around your ornamentals and flowers, etc. I saw it at Walmart next to the roundup.

[Al in Kona]

I just saw a product that was a herbicide for grasses only. It said it was safe to spray around your ornamentals and flowers, etc. I saw it at Walmart next to the roundup.

Palms are in the grass family so I'd think twice before I used it around my palms. If you have two or more of the same palms you could test it out on one and see if it works. Of course there is a possibility you could lose it.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

goats?

[mangolorry]

I have a couple of Chamaerops var Cerifera that are very bushey and thorney that have grasses that have grown up around them and in them. (and some other palms too). It would be impossible to pull the grass away from them without ripping up my hands and arms, even with gloves and it would be to tedious anyway.

Does anyone know of a herbacide that would kill grasses and not harm the palms? I think Roundup would be much to riskey.

Dick

The theory behind Roundup is that it is absorbed only through the leaves so unless you were to drench the palm's foliage no ill effects should be seen. In any case the amount needed to kill grass is much less than the amount needed to kill an established woody plant. I've been spraying the stuff around the base of trees for 30 odd years and have never had a problem (and it makes mowing much easier)

[_Keith]

goats?

I can personally vouch for chickens. Of course afterwards you'll have to put all of your mulch back in place, but let me tell you, they will do the job.

[DoomsDave]

Dick:

I'm inclined to agree with Al, on the one hand.

However, there are herbicides which will kill only bermudagrass, though I'd test them to be sure.

Also, if you can pull out the grass blades away from the palm, and hit them with roundup without getting any on the palm leaves, that should also do the trick.

Finally, a wee little bit of herby on the leaves of the palm won't hurt it PROVIDED it's nice and big.

How big is your hi-oh silver?

[PalmGuyWC]

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I think maybe Dave has the best idea. I don't think chickens would work in my neighborhood, but last year my country lane was visited by 6 wild turkeys. They hung around for two weeks then left. I kept running them out of my yard.

My ciferas were 5 gal size planted about 4 years ago, and they have grown much faster than I anticipated. They are about 5' high and have a 6' spread and are already touching each other. They have vicious black thorns and they tend to produce many more suckers than regular green Chamaerops.

Dick

[Kostas]

Why not pull out as much as you can relatively easily and then wait the palms to outgrow the rest of the grasses? It will happen anyway and is not risky

[_Keith]

Why not pull out as much as you can relatively easily and then wait the palms to outgrow the rest of the grasses? It will happen anyway and is not risky

If you are going to stick your hand in and around these guys, which I don't recommend, wear real tough elbow length gloves.

[freakypalmguy]

I know a grower that regularly sprays Roundup around the base of hundreds of trunking palms in containers with no apparent ill affects. As others have said, do not get it on the foliage.

Matt

[Patrick]

I have two thoughts,

I think chickens would be a great idea; hens only, though. They are pretty darn quiet. My neighbors behind me have had hens for years 40 feet from my bedroom window and they are never a problem. You have that greenhouse in the back which could be easily converted.....

Concord feed will have some chicks in stock pretty soon.

The only problem would be whether or not your dogs would want to make a meal out of them!!!???

The other option would be to have that guy that borrows your truck for a week come & pull everything..........

I guess roundup gets absorbed directly through the foliage only, so maybe that's why spraying the base of a palm would cause no ill effects???

[Bennz]

HI Dick,

I have been using cardboard as mulch around trees, it works really well to shade out weed growth as well as add moisture retention, and has no toxic effect on soil, breaking down to humus eventually. Any chemical that acts as a herbicide also has some adverse impact on soil life. Roundup/glyphosphate for example is benign to most soil life but takes out the algae content entirely, whch radically impacts the soil balance. Not to mention the human health impacts which occur periodically. Cardboard or newspaper mulch is not pretty I concede, but no worse than dead grass!

disclaimer: I am biased. I am organic farmer.