Nuke the weeds!

[ban-all-sheds]

Yes, but easily bought by the general public.

Once diluted as per instructions, what's the difference between it and Pathclear?

Apart from Pathclear being over 5x the price, that is.

 

[r896neo]

Because most homeowners aren't keen on spending 130 quid on some weedkiller.

Because professional products are a much higher concentration and often the dose rate is given in l/hectare etc and some idiot ends up putting down a massively toxic dose 10 or more times what it should be.

Not to mention the fact that a 5L container of pistol will last a professional, using it on multiple sites, probably a year or 2 so joe public leaves it sitting in his garage for 10 years and then pours the end down the drain when he has forgotten what it is.

Of course i'm exaggerating for effect but these are some of the very valid reasons why they should not be used by the general public.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Because most homeowners aren't keen on spending 130 quid on some weedkiller.

They don't have to.

Because professional products are a much higher concentration and often the dose rate is given in l/hectare etc and some idiot ends up putting down a massively toxic dose 10 or more times what it should be.

So it's stupid people who can't read and do simple arithmetic who shouldn't be allowed to have them, not the entire "general public".

I'm sure that if people are too stupid to read how much commercial product to add to 2-4l in their sprayer they'd be just as incapable of reading how much garden centre product to add.

Not to mention the fact that a 5L container of pistol will last a professional, using it on multiple sites, probably a year or 2 so joe public leaves it sitting in his garage for 10 years and then pours the end down the drain when he has forgotten what it is.

1) It isn't only sold in 5l containers

2) Again you are positing the existence of stupid people. Is that because you think that stupid people should be forced to pay 5+x as much as clever professionals?

Of course i'm exaggerating for effect but these are some of the very valid reasons why they should not be used by the general public.

They are not valid at all - they are all ridiculous.

I'll ask you again - when prepared as per the instructions, what's the difference between what you end up with when you start with Pistol and when you start with Pathclear?

 

[skotl]

I see B-A-S points. I ordered a controlled weedkiller substance last year from a very well known, professional outfit.

As a new customer, they sent me a long questionnaire, but were not interested in my answers to the questions. Instead they simply asked whether I complied to the questions in the questionnaire.
I said yes. They shipped the goods.

As it happens, I have never used the product because the area in question has drained back of its own accord.

As B-A-S suggests (in his own inimitable style) "the public" will have no problem in acquiring these tools, so it will be more useful to offer advice than pretend that it won't happen.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The advice is exactly the same as they need for the stuff they buy in the garden centre - follow the instructions.

I have absolutely no problem with the basic principle that some chemicals should not be on sale to untrained/unqualified people. But in this case, the stuff is the same, just more concentrated. If you pay the same amount of attention to the instructions as you do to the ones on what you buy in the garden centre you end up with a mix of the same 2 agents which you apply to a given area.

 

[r896neo]

You are right of course on all points but you also have to be realistic as to what people will actually do with the product.

As i said i was exaggerating for effect.

There are plenty of trained individuals who are more careless than some homeowners but you have to admit that someone with training is more likely to store and use a pesticide properly than someone without.

The greater the concentration of the product the greater the risk caused by mis-use.

I of course don't think that homeowners should pay more for the same thing than professionals which is why i tried to list some of the reasons.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I take your point, but the problem with exaggerated is that it's not far from there to ridiculous.

There is no accounting for what the stupid and lazy will do when ignoring instructions, and I am opposed to the idea that what we must therefore do is to dumb everything down to their level.

I'm sure the agro-chemical companies are delighted with the system whereby they licence one product for professional use only, and others for garden use only, and charge 5-10x as much for the latter, but I am not.

 

[doitall]

I of course don't think that homeowners should pay more for the same thing than professionals which is why i tried to list some of the reasons.

Why not, the professional has to give a Guarantee.

 

[r896neo]

thats to do with their workmanship not the product.