With glyphosate as its primary ingredient, this product does need to be handled and used with care. It’s toxic to pollinators and pond life, and children / pets need to be kept off the treated area until it’s dried. It does take a while to dry – up to 48 hours. Prevent weed seeds from germinating by using a weed killer that stays in the soil. This will stop weeds from growing, but will also stop any other plants from germinating as well. MCPA – stands for ‘2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid’ and is used to keep broadleaf weeds like thistle at bay.

This pet friendly weed killer does contain glyphosate so watch where you spray it near your grass and flower beds or you’ll case damage to them, but if it gets onto bare soil, it shouldn’t adversely effect it in any way. Using the measuring cap provided, carefully measure the quantity of product required based on the table below Safety and Environmental Impact: It was important to assess the overall environmental impact of each weed killer as well as the risk to the user’s safety. As a result, any product where the nozzle leaked was rated lower, as this risked harm to the gardener using it. Products with excessively harmful chemicals, such as Glyphosate, were marked down, as these pose a risk to wildlife.Longevity: Any weed killers that needed to be reapplied after rain were significantly marked down, as this doubled the time you’d have to spend on weed killing. Weed killers that killed the entire plant, including the roots, were rated the best, as these are the only products that ensure long-lasting results.

Pelargonic acid is the most commonly found active ingredient in organic weed killers. It’s a naturally occurring acid in geraniums. This acid is generally considered effective at controlling the growth of smaller broadleaf weeds (under 15 cm tall). It does contain glyphosate, which is toxic to ponds and pollinators. It’s broken down into the soil so isn’t bad for the environment in that sense, but you do need to be careful to keep children and pets off the affected area until it’s dried. Florasalum – effective against dandelions, white clover and daisies before the plants have reached maturity. However, the results are reliably positive, albeit slow – it takes around one week for clover to start visibly yellowing and dying. There may still be the occasional dandelion that needs to be removed by hand after using Weedol Weed Killer, but it does a fairly comprehensive job of clearing the lawn (without harming the lawn itself).It’s important to note that the chemicals in most weed killers are not as effective during warmer temperatures. One of the biggest problems when using Glyphosate based weed killers, is that they are very susceptible to weather conditions and a bit of rain can seriously affect their effectiveness. In a place like the UK, where rain comes out of nowhere, and at a very frequent rate, that’s not ideal.