Will Atrazine Hurt Opuntia

I've been experimenting wtih atrazine (Scott's Bonus S) to control dollarweed. Will it hurt my opuntia? Thanks. :)

Bill

You could use Round-up or Remuda. That definitely won't kill a cactus and when its dry, its gone. You don't have to worry about contaminating anything else.

Awesome. Thanks so much! :)

Cactus have a waxy skin so herbicides like Round-up roll right off. I'm pretty sure the same applies to succulents but I haven't wanted to sacrifice any to find out.

Mix the round-up just strong enough to kill the weeds. If the cacti have broken spots or wounds, the round-up will kill them as that waxy coating is missing from those spots. I know my cactus have taken direct hits a couple times but I try to spray the weeds, not the cactus.

Cactus can be killed with systemic herbicides; apparently no waxy coatings on roots.

I would be careful with roundup there was a report last week that roundup up is likely carcinogenic.

Thanks for the admonition, mcvansoest, but I read online that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, has a 174 day half-life in the soil and since I don't expect to be eating any of the opuntia for a few years, it shouldn't be a problem when I do. I'm planning to just use it once to clear out the dollarweed and then keep the dollarweed out afterward via organic means.

I think all pesticides and herbicides are deadly. If they are deadly to plants and bugs, why not us? My farmer girlfriend wears a hazmat suit when she sprays anything. I live more dangerously, but she is exposed to a lot more chemicals than I am. The most potent thing I use (other than Round-up and that not since I moved to Nevada) is insecticidal soap.

By the way, whats dollarweed?

Hydrocotyle umbellata, or dollarweed aka pennywort, is a weed that is extremely difficult to get rid of via organic means and so I've thrown in the towel and decided to use herbicides for control, although once I have the dollarweed population managed, I'll revert to pure organic methods and I'll continue using organic for ALL other weeds.

Dollarweed isn't all bad, though. It's edible and very nutritious, from what I've read. But getting rid of it should be an option as well and it has so far eluded all of my organic attempts.

Oh, Pennywort. Your cactus garden must be wetter than mine. Or is it just the weather. It looks like the stuff that comes up in my cousins lawn (also in Florida).

Thanks,

Daisy

This message was edited Mar 27, 2015 2:35 PM

Yeah, that's it. :)