Round Up and a weedwacker - great combo!
 

I've used a gardening service for the past 13 years but since my MD tells me to get more exercise I thought I'd kill two birds and get fit while taking care of my big yard. I rediscovered how hard manual labor is on the body but I am really enjoying taking care of my house myself. It's even more fun now that I've been using Round Up and a Stihl weedwacker for the hillside.

There is a steep hill between my house and the next door neighbor. Weeds grow rampant during the rainy season and, year after year, the gardener would spray Round Up and use a weedwacker. I thought I'd just control it by pulling weeds every weekend. Forget that noise! Pulling weeds by hand sucks big time. The gardener had it right. Nuke the weeds then clear them with a machine. Round Up and a Stihl - a One-Two punch.

Next I'm going to buy a chainsaw to trim down the ivy. Then I'm going to buy a leaf blower so I won't have to rake. I feel like Tim Allen on Tool Time with all these mechanized gadgets.

'Atta boy! Doing work around the house is a good excuse to buy cool stuff. Cool stuff that makes said work much easier to do. That's why my garage looks like a hardware store.

Hint, if you have a large area of weeds to cut, those weedeaters on wheels are awesome. Buy one with the replacable individual heavy strings instead of the reels, they cut through anything.

Excellent!

If I may proffer some advice concerning chain saws? Unless you have a need for cutting down trees and preparing the tree for splitting, I recommend a pole saw. I have two, both Stihls, one for low pruning and the other with a mongo extension on it for reaching the long distances.:cool:

http://www.stihl.com/isapi/default.asp?contenturl=/produkte/

Buy a second chain and a chain sharpener for your Dremel and you're good to go!

I've never even needed a "good" excuse...just an excuse will do :)

Dang it Seahawk, I think you just cost me some dough :). I have a couple of chainsaws, but was eyeing one of the Stihl pole saws a while back for pruning work. How high can you reach with each (I wouldn't need to get "that" high up)? I see that site lists 5 meters as the reach for those models...would you recommend one of yours over the other? Thanks!

:D

The five meter is great, but a heavy machine...it is an a$$ buster:cool:

The 101 model is really nice and the 4MX engine is incredibly smooth. I have the older model and I can reach to over ten feet. It is also much lighter:)

I love taking care of my own yard / pool / dog waste (there is actually a service for this) and whatever else that needs to be done. I hate paying people to do things I can.

How I spent my evening last night. Demo in bathroom.

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http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...l/CIMG3846.jpg

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chris! if you are going to buy a chainsaw go to the store across the street from the concord costco. they have a great selection, and fantastic follow thru. plus they push safety. personally, i have seen your yard. you dont have much need for a chainsaw. get a great (dont skimp on money), GREAT pair of shears and work your pecs. ;)

yea, buy a pole saw! i have a branch i cant reach...i mean, you really need it!

I can't say I look forward to my hedge every year.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1213369912.jpg
Here's my backyard



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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1213369972.jpg

This is the neighbor's side, at least he cleared most of his stuff out of my way this year. Last year he had all his remodel materials in my way.
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Here's my back alley.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1213370112.jpg

This is about 16 hours of work including the 2 full pick up loads that go to the dump. I bought the biggest Stihl hedge bar I could find & it works like a champ. I plan to get started this weekend.

Schrup - that looks like a 12 pack size job.

wow shrup! no wonder you dont post much anymore! that screams "GAS Hedger!" i bought one, and i have 1/10th of your wall of green.

Make sure you use the weedeater first, then spray the crap out of the hill with the roundup. It will get soaked in dang fast on the cut off stalks and work even better.

Bill

Whack it, let the new growth come back for 7 to 14 days and then hit it with then hit it with the Roundup.

For tough stuff like blackberries, Roundup+Crossbow+ a sticker agent.

I'm all for the roundup - but after you get things under control....Try a pre-emergent like Preen. It's amazing stuff as it only kills wee seeds. After you have gotten rid of most of the weeds, you sprinkle this stuff around. It won't hurt your established shrubs.

I found out just how well this works when I did my whole yard except for a 10' section (after I ran out). After a few months, the 10' section was plagued with weeds but the rest of the yard was in great shape.

Wow, Schrup, that's a thick, healthy looking hedge!

You must be a Shrubberer.

it's hard to control weeds on a steep hillside. I think if you use Ground Clear instead of Roundup, you'll get better results.

One last thing, those weeds are a fire hazzard. Nothing beats clear, bare dirt. I use a tractor and a box scraper to keep a fire buffer zone of about 50 feet. It has worked at stopping more fires than I care to recall.

Bill, NOT trying to be nasty here...but in a former life, I held a state pesticide consultant's license. Roundup, and most lawn weed killers (Think Ortho Weed B Gon) and a host of other sprays kill through a "trans-location" process...this means they need to stick to a leaf surface in order to get a good kill.

"Madmmac" suggested a combo I use often for general weed control. Roundup for the soft weeds and grasses, Crossbow for the woody type ones. Use both at label directed strengths, plus add a surfactant. For lawn weeds? Use a selective leaf contact killer, one that leaves grass alone, kills only broad leaf. You can pretty much guarantee a good lawn weed kill by fertilizing first, watering the fertilizer in well. This gets the lawn weeds systems really cranking...then let your lawn get shaggy. This allows for lots of leaf growth on the weeds for the weed killer to stick to. ZAP! Then you got 'em! I'm a cheapskate...I usually spot treat for lawn weeds...walking around with a small pump up sprayer, zapping each individual weed. Round-up? Buy the concentrate at your local farm store. The 2.5gallon jug of concentrate (41% glyphosate) usually sells in the $120 range. 2 tablespoons per gallon of H20 usually does the trick. I also use a sticker-spreader, even tho the roundup label says it's not needed.

Oh...my home sets on 1.5 acres, I have a 1/3 acre lawn...I spray weeds a LOT.
My feet hurt today...after 5 hours of packing a backpack sprayer around. One good thing about sprayers you carry? As the tank volume decreases, the load gets lighter...;)

I once saw a do it yourself design article in Popular Mechanics for a sort of rolling holder for your gas hedge trimmer to make a giant hedge like that come out surgically perfect with one pass per length of the hedger. It was made of 2x4's and home center wheels. Even without the drawing I'm pretty sure you could mock one up and get the same results. glad I don't have to do that job. Plus, I'm so anal it would be about a quarterly job!

Vegetation killer is a friend of mine - ;-)

Take a close look at the Echo brand of chain saws. It's what the "professionals" around here use.