http://www.greenmedinfo.com/bl...

On Monday some enterprising street worker decided to spray my propertry all along the curb and around my mail box and a light pole with glyphosate (Round Up). It looks much like the photograph in this article. All the grass is killed. Only a few weedy sprouls are still growing in the barren ground. A heavy rain yesterday washed much of the naked soil out into the street.

In addition to the possibly negative effects on humans, glyphosate in the soil bonds with some important soil nutrients in the soil and makes them unavailable to plants. The effect is cumulative and long lasting.

Ack! Why are municipalities using this stuff??? We have a lake in our town, fed by a creek. Because the water lily density is getting out of control, the town is using this stuff - http://www.forestry-suppliers....
Why advertise the lakefront here when it's full of toxic stuff?

So sorry, Hazelnut!

Cindy, because their little pet, the USDA says it's safe. Anything so profitable couldn't harm anyone. The US must have some really great dirt, to be able to absorb it without repercussions compared to most other countries where it's not legal to spray indiscriminately like that, because it *is* harmful there. Amazing & totally believable, right? Most of the packages of chemical concoctions one can buy in the US are not legal in most other countries. The majority of high-ups in the USDA come from Monsanto, Bayer, DuPont. The policy is that chemicals are safe unless/until proven otherwise, so many potential tests go undone, and not publicized or accepted if done independently. Most of the weeds we're told to kill, especially that end-of-the-world dandelion in the middle of that guy's driveway in the RU commercial, are edible but they'd prefer you pay for their product that kills them & buy all of your (their) food at the store.

The dust bowl should have been an unforgettable lesson.

Tiffany - totally agree. I know that a former attorney (I think) for Monsanto is now head of the USDA. Lot of good that does for people with brains. And I absolutely HATE that Roundup commercial - the only good weed is a weed that's dead. Very frustrating. I thought I had read a report that stated that glyphosate doesn't break down as quickly in the water as originally thought.

There would be fewer weeds without killing the grass with Round Up. The grass crowds out the weeds. When everything is dead, its not grass that grows back, or even dandelions. its just useless thorny weeds that grab your ankles when you go to the mail box.

I would be tempted to take a photo and send it to the street department. Roundup was totally the wrong product to use.

Maybe I'm confused (and a pic would help!) Not that I'm not against the spraying, definitely am, but wondering, if anything is tall enough to grab ankles, that you're not cultivating for some reason, shouldn't the areas you described be mowed? For your comfort & enjoyment of walking around your yard?

(Maybe it's berry vines?)

We try our best to be 100% organic and then the power company comes and sprays not only my bank but also a few of my rosa rugosa plants. talk about mad, boy was I hot . Nothing was over 4ft tall so there was no chance in the power lines being effected. They just spray spray spray like it's fine without contacting the home owner first. I'm glad I'm not the only one bothered by this, and agree something should be done.

When DD lived in TN, she had to be careful about planting too close to the highway because the road crews would spray herbicides along the side of the roads. Maybe their solution for walking access where sidewalks don't exist? Would the municipality be using easement rights to spray?

Unless they were spraying city property, they should be paying to repair your grass. That is assuming you were keeping it mowed. Even then they would have to send you a notice before spraying.

Even if it is an easement, as long as it is still on your property and you are not obstructing their rights to the easement, they cannot destroy your property. They have to repair any damage they do while using your easement. I went through this once w a phone company and they had to repair my fence, replace my plants and fix all the ruts they left when driving through my yard. I picked up all their trash and cig butts and returned them to my local office along with a bill for the damage and photos. The manager was at my door the next morning and made the crew return to clean it up and he wrote me a check to replace the plants they destroyed.

You are now our resident expert on easement rights. Seriously, good-to-know info.

The city mows the grass in the easement. I would prefer to mow it myself, but I dont have that option. Im not sure what this weed is, I should take a picture. it has heart shaped leaves, Grows on a long tendril and has thorns. That was the ankle grabber I was referring to.

I know what you are talking about, I have those pop up some too, hate them. They are hard to pull even w gloves sometimes.

well can you just throw a bunch of mulch over the area?

I think Ill try to replant it with grass. I dont grow grass on my place, but here anything else would be mowed away by the city mower. I do have some yuccas on the corner, but that wouldn't do well with the mail man putting mail in the box. Ouch! And believe it our not, the city will even cut down my yuccas every few years or so. They have been in that spot for 75 years or more. I hope they got a good case of "yucca's revenge" for their efforts. [Yuccas have razor sharp barbs at the tip of each leaf.]