Herbicide? There is a difference!

[Letmgrow]

Wanting to spray some areas where I had plantings last year I started looking for Herbicide and pricing it. The Herbicide I've been using the past few years was 41% Glyphosate from TSC. (Tractor Supply Company) When I checked they didn't have 41% in stock but did have 51% at a cost of $103.95 per 2 1/2 gallon container. Thinking this was kind of pricey I started searching around. and during the search I called a local Farm supply business who also does spraying and fertilizing with a fleet of special purpose equipment. I got a price of $72.50 for a 2 1'2 gallon jug of 51.2% Herbicide. When I got to the store the Gal on the counter told me that was all they stocked in packaged Herbicide. For the lower price I figured I'd go with it. Why not, more Glyphosate at a lesser price.
This is genuine "Roundup Power Max Herbicide". Not a knock off brand.
I sprayed five different plots using a mixture of two quarts per acre. I was absolutely amazed at the end of the third day after spraying the plants were starting to turn yellow. Today is day seven after the spraying was done and the plots are starting to look like a mine field. IMO they are ready to fertilize and plant.
I have to say in all honesty this is the first time I've paid less and gotten more.
I probably should also add I mowed the plots the day before I sprayed them which made them hungry to take liquid in. Little did they know it was their last.

 

[yoderjac]

I haven't look at the label of PowerMax, but it sounds like you sprayed a hot mix. The typical burndown rate is 2 qts/ac of 41% gly. Unless you have a specific problematic weed that calls for a hot dose, you could probably save even more by cutting back the application rate to be the equivalent of 2 qt/ac of 41%.

 

[Letmgrow]

No doubt you are right but if I figure the time and fuel I use to spray my plots is cutting back really worth it?
In total all my plots add up to about four acres. I have a farmer friend who leases 80 acres of my tillable land and this year and the next three years will be planted in Alfalfa then it will be turned back to corn again. I get paid well for the lease which takes the sting out of what I do and much more.

 

[yoderjac]

No doubt you are right but if I figure the time and fuel I use to spray my plots is cutting back really worth it?
In total all my plots add up to about four acres. I have a farmer friend who leases 80 acres of my tillable land and this year and the next three years will be planted in Alfalfa then it will be turned back to corn again. I get paid well for the lease which takes the sting out of what I do and much more.

Just like mixing your own seed vs BOB, it all comes down to volume. I by my gly in 30 gal drums, so I'm more price sensitive.

 

[T-Max]

Sounds like a screaming deal! Another place to check, our local County Public Works sells 2-1/2 gal 41% Gly for $35. Tractor Supply here is $99.


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[Letmgrow]

yoderjac
If you have use for a higher volume I can fully understand buying in a larger quantity but I'm no longer in that situation. I do use some Glyphosate mixed with water around my garage, car storage shed, pole barn, access roads and driveway which is gravel. One thing I have found is to Never mix it with water and save the mixture for next season. It will form a cloudy appearance and gel up. Try running this through a sprayer and it will plug it up quickly. I had to figure this out the hard way. I spent two hours this spring cleaning out my sprayer tank, pump and nozzles because I thought I was saving a few pennies.
My good friend who manages one of the largest farms in my area will not use Glyphosate from a previous year. He hires a local spray service to do all his spraying figuring the time, fuel, wear and tear on his equipment plus the manpower would exceed what he pays to have the spraying done for him.

 

[Letmgrow]

Sounds like a screaming deal! Another place to check, our local County Public Works sells 2-1/2 gal 41% Gly for $35. Tractor Supply here is $99.


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If you can buy 2 1/2 gal. 41% Gly for $35 dollars go for it. You can afford to put it on heavily. Give me that opportunity and i'd be all over it.

 

[Drycreek]

TSC is where I go if I want to get raped and not kissed. Everything they have is high, and mostly understocked. I only go there if I can’t find it anywhere else.

 

[yoderjac]

yoderjac
If you have use for a higher volume I can fully understand buying in a larger quantity but I'm no longer in that situation. I do use some Glyphosate mixed with water around my garage, car storage shed, pole barn, access roads and driveway which is gravel. One thing I have found is to Never mix it with water and save the mixture for next season. It will form a cloudy appearance and gel up. Try running this through a sprayer and it will plug it up quickly. I had to figure this out the hard way. I spent two hours this spring cleaning out my sprayer tank, pump and nozzles because I thought I was saving a few pennies.
My good friend who manages one of the largest farms in my area will not use Glyphosate from a previous year. He hires a local spray service to do all his spraying figuring the time, fuel, wear and tear on his equipment plus the manpower would exceed what he pays to have the spraying done for him.

Good points! I have an old 3-door reach-in cooler box that died many years ago. I put a small oil filled heater in it and uses it as a herbicide locker. I can fit a 30 gal drum of gly in it as well as a bunch of 2.5 gal containers of other herbicides. I think (but I'm not sure) that gly can even freeze and still be effective, but many herbicides can't. This herbicide locker keeps everything from freezing. I never save mixed gly or other herbicides. I just spray any leftover in the tank along my roads and around camp to keep the weeds down.

I typically use neutralizer in my tank after I spray to clean it and keep the hoses and pump from gumming up. At the beginning of each season, I remove and clean the filter as well as all of the nozzles and the small screens behind them. I find this helps too.