Lawn equipment/motor advice needed

[Ajmassa]

Yeah roundup! Yeah more bee deaths! We don't need those pesky bees for grapes so kill away. We also don't need all those fruits and vegetables that the bees pollinate.

Sorry not a fan of roundup and similar stuff under any circumstance.

Careful now. Sarcasm in texts can be read many ways- and usually not in the tone your meaning.
But apparently roundup is said to be safer than most others- and safer than many DIY home remedy type killers too. Or so I’ve read. I don’t know either way. I just know I DONT want ivy again - The English and the poison (she needed 3 rounds of prednisone. Was brutal) and the roots. And I DO want a nice garden.
I’m ok using whatever I need to for my backyard. Maybe later in life I’ll develop stronger Enviromental morals- but for now I want a good looking backyard.
FWIW I left a whole area covering my fence and behind the shed of overgrown honeysuckle vines/growth. It’s a nuisance but smells nice-looks nice-and feeds all the flying guests. Maybe that will cancel out the evil of roundup in the other corner

 

[Ajmassa]

Also- don’t just hit me with saying your highly against roundup “under any circumstance” - let me know any alternatives you suggest. I’m pretty naive to all of this stuff essentially. ANY insight here is helpful

 

[ibglowin]

I will just say this. The older you get and the more people you meet in this world. The more one realizes that the less direct exposure you have to chemicals in your environment the better off you are. There is lots of info out there that says Roundup is safe to use and breaks down within 24 hours. Other studies show it never breaks down and causes cancer. I no longer use Roundup or any herbicide around the house. It’s just not worth it IMHO. Hand pull weeds or use a propane torch for big jobs. My sig says it all.

 

[pgentile]

Careful now. Sarcasm in texts can be read many ways- and usually not in the tone your meaning.
But apparently roundup is said to be safer than most others- and safer than many DIY home remedy type killers too. Or so I’ve read. I don’t know either way. I just know I DONT want ivy again - The English and the poison (she needed 3 rounds of prednisone. Was brutal) and the roots. And I DO want a nice garden.
I’m ok using whatever I need to for my backyard. Maybe later in life I’ll develop stronger Enviromental morals- but for now I want a good looking backyard.
FWIW I left a whole area covering my fence and behind the shed of overgrown honeysuckle vines/growth. It’s a nuisance but smells nice-looks nice-and feeds all the flying guests. Maybe that will cancel out the evil of roundup in the other corner

I'll start using emoticons and emoji's more. Hey I've been there and back again with the environmental thing, but like @ibglowin says the older I get the less i want to be around or like the long term consequences of chemicals. I have a micro yard in the city, so it's easy but, I have ivy, vinca and poison ivy that keeps trying to come back each year and I rip it out. And having planted many other things helps thwart it.

I have no experience or words of wisdom with trying to rip out and control a large patch of ivy/vines. But if it were me I would physically rip out all I could find, till it good, physically remove more that the tilling pulled up. Add new top layer of soil and plant new garden. then rip any ivy/vines that try gain foot hold as time goes by.

 

[Ajmassa]

I will just say this. The older you get and the more people you meet in this world. The more one realizes that the less direct exposure you have to chemicals in your environment the better off you are. There is lots of info out there that says Roundup is safe to use and breaks down within 24 hours. Other studies show it never breaks down and causes cancer. I no longer use Roundup or any herbicide around the house. It’s just not worth it IMHO. Hand pull weeds or use a propane torch for big jobs. My sig says it all.

Some sources say perfectly safe. Others say exact opposite. Some say both in the same damn sentence.
We already removed by hand. And was not easy or quick. With Close to 50’ linear of fencing that had mature ivy weaved around as well. Both English and posion. But the maze of thick roots under the surface is insane. The amount of roots are as thick down 10” as they are at 2”’ haven’t checked deeper. Not one spot can you dig a shovel into dirt more than 2” before roots stop it. And Paul, I had the same exact idea initially. I was ready to till right away until learned I’d just be spreading it and would easily return. I gotta kill the root system to potentially have a garden I’ve read.
Mrs Massa wasn’t keen on the roundup idea. But now we realize how sensitive to poison ivy she is, and how tolerant I am of it- the rest of this work is all on me.

 

[pgentile]

And Paul, I had the same exact idea initially. I was ready to till right away until learned I’d just be spreading it and would easily return. I gotta kill the root system to potentially have a garden I’ve read. Mrs Massa wasn’t keen on the roundup idea. But now we realize how sensitive to poison ivy she is, and how tolerant I am of it- the rest of this work is all on me.

I understand that poison ivy thing, I have to wear gloves to rip it out and then throw them away without touching the outside of the glove.

Covering the ivy area with 6-8" of mulch after physically removing as much as possible is supposed to thwart it pretty good, but I've had it just power through the mulch after a while. You are probably not going get it completely unless you use the roundup.

 

[Ajmassa]

Well I’m not doing anything until I mess with the tiller and get her running anyway. Just kinda shooting from the hip here- nothing set in stone. Might do a small test location and see if does what I need it to do.
This garden will be strictly aesthetics FWIW. The fun stuff will be in a different location, the green bell peppers, long hots, tomatoes, eggplant, at least 4 types of berry, numerous herbs— I want it all! Plenty of space. And after all, I did move to “The Garden State”. When in Rome...

 

[Ajmassa]

Mrs Massa wasn’t keen on the roundup idea. But now we realize how sensitive to poison ivy she is, and how tolerant I am of it- the rest of this work is all on me.

Just left the doctor to get my very own prescription for Prednisone!
Pretty large tree had tons of very mature vines running up. So I cut a section out of all the hairy vines and found the “mother vine” at the base. A knuckle with thick vines both coming and going. I left the knuckle and all the vines that were coming from under the surface. And then loaded it up with copper nails. So far so good.
All poison ivy is dying above (which went up over 40’). The sections I nailed have turned completely black with some thick tar like substance.
I got infected pretty good but was a necessary evil. Gotta crack a few eggs if ya wanna make an omelet as they say!

 

[meadmaker1]

I have bees and live very near some of the largest grass seed fields in the world
Meadow foam is grown right next to it. When you buy grass seed it claims to be what it says to a very high % . They used to burn the fields to kill foreign seed but someone in Eugene got a runny nose so, so can't do that any more. Round up, retill, replant.
Thousands of bees on meadow foam or sage next door.
I make no scientific claim but the bees are focused on nectar .
I would hope you would avoid spraying flowers of any kind, spray late hoping to be dry by morning, if possible spray during a heavy bloom of something else (for me now with black berry popping) . I'm gonna spray some poison oak very soon my self.
I want to hit it and be done.

 

[wrongway]

Garden season! And ivy covering our future garden.
Cleaned out above ground really well. But now we gotta get rid of the maze of roots that are endless underground.
Neither of us really know what we’re doing here. Just shooting from the hip. But this forum is filled with knowledgeable people. I’m assumed I need to just till it.
Yesterday I came home with a very old tiller I bought for next to nothing that doesnt start. Her name is ‘Betsy’ apparently. 5 HP. I think it’s a Briggs &Stratton motor.
She wants to start so bad. I’ll get her to go for about 3-5 seconds but not turn over.
Drained old oil and gas and put in new. Newer spark plug. That’s as far as my motor knowledge goes. I cheaped out on a tiller since $ priority is a decent mower and grill. I figure somebody here has gotta be familiar with these motors. View attachment 48539
View attachment 48540View attachment 48541

I am sorry I do not know much about Gardening, But I would put a small block Chevy in that tiller if I was you! P.S. Maybe I am doing something wrong but every time I have ever used Roundup, The weeds just grew like weeds!

 

[Ajmassa]

I am sorry I do not know much about Gardening, But I would put a small block Chevy in that tiller if I was you! P.S. Maybe I am doing something wrong but every time I have ever used Roundup, The weeds just grew like weeds!

Coincidentally I just read an article yesterday on the first lawsuit to make it to court claiming roundup caused the plaintiff to get cancer. Expedited because of his deteriorating condition in spite the of all the data showing its safe. Should be interesting to see how it shakes out. I’ll try and dig it up and post

“He's dying of cancer. Now, he's the first patient to go to trial to argue Roundup made him sick - CNN” https://apple.news/A21aH9_RSQtGkqtpizlnxbg