About 6 years ago I decided I would get rid of the sandspur aka goatshead weeds that filled my spare lot. so I bought some glyphosate and sprayed them. And the weeds lived. I used to have feathery leaved white yarrow, but I didn't know it because I only mowed and never watered (hoping the goatsheads would die), I had plantain, and still have some little bluestem and goatweed. Eventually if the drought ends I may manage to reseed some of what I killed. I still get a couple of clumps of sandspur (goatshead)
But I now keep bees there. And I have not sprayed since 2009, and I never sprayed the main yard, thank goodness. Because a new report is crediting Roundup with some of the colony losses where the bees can't find their way home. I am not surprised, somehow.
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2985493/glyphosate_harms_bees_spatial_learning.html
Roundup, glyphosate, and bees.
