4 ms·

But the point is to not buy or use them at all.

• pkaye 10y ago
  What should we use instead for the times when a weed killer is necessary?
  • elif 10y ago
    in japan, they put plastic bags on fruit on the vine/branch, but in the US that would require far more exploited immigrants, so that's not perfect either.
    • mohaine 10y ago
      How does a plastic bag on fruit help kill weeds that are a completely separate plant?
      • petre 10y ago
        The crops you want grow trough holes in the plastic lining, the weeds don't get a chance to see the light since they're under the "bag".
      • elif 10y ago
        sorry, it's an alternative to pesticides, not herbicides. I was confused. However, i've used plastic sheeting in my garden to keep the soil warm and incidentally block light from weeds.
  • fdupoo 10y ago
    There are plenty of agricultural techniques that work better than the current system. The current system has low productivity per acre. It is very input intensive, inefficient, and is subject to volatile price swings. It's only advantage is that it's highly mechanized, so you get economy of scale with high output per worker and per asset, but that mechanization in it's current form is a system that destroys arability(soil health) over time. So your returns over time degrade, but input costs are on a 40 year uptrend... It's a broken system. There are food systems that are more labor intensive (less return per human and per asset) but you can produce more food more predictably at lower margins for the producers and higher prices for consumers, but the with more stable input and end-user costs. The three added (and in my opinion most important) side-effects of this system are higher quality food, more jobs, and IMPROVED fertility over time. These new systems use science as well. They were developed by ecologists, systems theorists, and soil microbiologists. Credentials: (i'm the first son of a 6th generation land-owning family in the Mississippi Delta region of Arkansas.)
  • rch 10y ago
    It really depends on the weeds and the situation. I've used citrus-based formulas around the house, but you might check out Holistic Management (Allan Savory, 2016) for advice applicable to agriculture.
    • pkaye 10y ago
      Do you have a brand name and an MSDS on one of those citrus based formulas? Just because something is natural doesn't mean it is safe.