Stock up on Roundup for TSHTF?

I was thinking... Let's say TSHTF, the lights go out and gasoline is unobtainable.

What's your yard going to look like in 6 months? It's going to be waste high weeds and the first fire that gets loose is going to burn down your entire neighboorhood.

It will also be dangerious because you will not be able to tell who is sneeking right up to your home at night crouched in the weeds.

So how you going to control the weeds?

Guess you could stock up on a herbicide like Roundup. Also considered buying
a ton of salt which could be spread on the yard to kill the weeds and grass.

The best solution would be a goat but you would have to have a fence to keep him in place.

I remember as a young boy, people did not have grass in their yards. The yards were hard packed gray dirt. You would see women sweeping the yard with brooms. No sure how people managed to keep the yard dirt and not have any erosion, I remember the dirt being literally hard as concrete in my grandmothers front yard.

If you spray round-up or salt it you will never get a thing to grow.

You just might need some dirt to grow your food in!!!

Get a goat

salt your yard, so weeds won't grow?

aren't the mongols or the russians supposed to do that for us after they conquer us and drive us before their hordes like cattle?

is this so they won't have to waste the time and just leave us alone?

Scythe. Rabbits in a "tractor" (ie: movable bottomless cage which you move to fresh "pasture" every day or two).

GARDEN... believe me, "lawns" were the province of the very wealthy... and they didn't mow them, either. They grazed them... usually with sheep, because they bite the grass off (as opposed to tearing it like cattle), their manure is in neat pellets (instead of large, messy "pies") and they are light enough so their hooves don't pug up the ground in wet weather.

If TSHTF to the extent you're envisioning, believe me- every edible thing will have a value and use, and salt will be FAR too valuable to poison soil with.

Summerthyme

Roundup is not soil active. You may spray it but after everything dies new seed will grow.

Stuff like Vegatox will keep killing for along time though.

I think it's safe to say that if you have waist high weeds, you have yourself edible greens and/or herbal meds...much more useful than grass

How about a push mower. I have 4 acres in grass. I will hate to see that day arrive.

I just bought a push mower last week. I found one on Craig's list and it works great.
They really are not that hard to push. They really are no harder to push than all that metal in a self propelled.

I was pleasantly surprised and I love the sound it makes and smell of the fresh cut grass as I go along.

And the really fun part is I can cut it early on Saturday morning and the neighbors won't hear a thing.

P.S. I did find they sell for NEW from several different sources for under $100.

BTW, you really WOULD rather have the heavier older one...It's a physics mass*velocity thing...

night driver said:

BTW, you really WOULD rather have the heavier older one...It's a physics mass*velocity thing...

Click to expand...

Do you mean heavier older push mower or heavier gas eating self propelled?

I have, and use, a scythe. I also have chicken tractors, which do a pretty good job of keeping the grass short in the areas I move them over. But my ultimate goal is to have the entire property planted in food-producing plants, whether in the annual garden, or perennial bushes, trees, and herbs. In that case, there won't be any lawn to worry about, only patches of grass and alfalfa to cut for hay.

Kathleen

Six months and you haven't dug it up for root crops as soon as the frost is out of the ground and the ground has dried out enough to dig ?

Roundup is great for killing grass when you want to turn lawn into garden and worth keeping around for that, and offing poison ivy, poison oak, multiflora rose.

Store stuff that will off Colorado potato bugs, BT, DE or ? Potatoes are your friend.

Scythe, clip, shear, etc - long grass to dry for grass hay for rabbits in winter.
urthmom

Shock Wave Rider said:

If you spray round-up or salt it you will never get a thing to grow.

You just might need some dirt to grow your food in!!!

Click to expand...

Roundup (Glyphosate) kills only what it actually contacts. It goes down into the root system and interrupts the growing cycle. Takes about two weeks to work on my poison oak and blackberries.

You can save a lot of money by buying generic or house-brand Glyphosate, which runs about half of what Roundup does, hereabouts.

Personally, I have a weed whip. Its quiet, takes no fuel, and you can cover a large area fairly easy.

I would also caution against drawing too much attention to myself when the SHTF. If everybody else in the neighborhood has a yard that is overgrown....the last thing I'm going to do is keep mine up. I want to blend in as much as possible with my surroundings. After things have calmed down....you can always spend time and effort keeping the weeds down.

I plan to keep the weeds and tall grass down in an area behind my home...that can't be easily spotted. I'm more concerned about our rattle snakes than a brush fire.

Geese! They will keep your grass short and let you know when you have "company"!

Ron Galt said:

I was thinking... Let's say TSHTF, the lights go out and gasoline is unobtainable.

What's your yard going to look like in 6 months? .

Click to expand...

Sir, if the power goes out and gas is not available, you won't need to worry a bout your landscaping as you won't be around your home anyway. If you have supplies to keep you alive in your home for 6 months, you probably have not considered the inevitability of getting burned out by a hungry and pissed off arsonist(s).

Broken record time:
If you truly expect a large hiccup, burp or gut-wrenching explosive regurgitation, prepare now for the ability to not have to suffer through it, or even notice parts of it. Secifically, put in a low-mow or no-mow yard. There are grasses that will work most places that will not grow over 2 to 4 inches. Alternatively, the British approach of creeping Thyme, rosemary and other herbal plants as a sort of lawn/groundcover hybrid that will take foot traffic will work many places.

There are 3 kinds of people. first, the majority, will be caught either where they stand or in the middle of a rush to someplace they hope will be more secure. Second, there are those who will have a backup place to abandon their home for. Third, those with underground homes or maybe monolithic domes or concrete forms. Put another way, there are those who wake up and dash around to no good purpose, those who wake up and perform a somewhat orderly retreat, and those who wake up the next morning in their secure home and wonder what all the fuss was about.