On the 12th of January this year – just over 3 weeks ago- I sprayed the field I will be sowing swedes in with glyphosate. The temperature that day was around 5 degrees centigrade and it was dry and calm. I was glad to get the spray on because the weeds were beginning to get big on the cultivated beds.

I don’t plan to plough the field again this year – just prevent the weeds from getting too big, burn them off and refresh the beds with the bedtiller before sowing. That is the plan in theory – whether it works out like that is another thing.
It was a Friday the day I sprayed the field and just over one week later I looked at it on my way past, but there was no change – and I didn’t really expect to see anything either.

Last week, which would be the second week past I looked at the field and did notice a very slight yellowing of leaves – although the photo I took didn’t show the slight change I could see with my eyes.

Today it is just over three weeks and now I really see a change – the weeds are clearly dying and changing colour from bright green to brown/ yellow. It is now the 4th of February, so hopefully the weedkiller will keep working until I get to April or near it, when I plan to till the ground and sow the swedes.

Although the day I sprayed was cold, it was still 5 degrees, but a few days later we had -2 and snow, but obviously, the spray had been well absorbed by that time and it was just a waiting game for it to work.
More updates to come…