My dad used Round-Up heavily in my yard 10 years ago. I haven't used any since and now I would love to harvest and eat some of the edible weeds growing so well there. Is it safe now that 10 years have passed? Does anyone know how long this chemical stays in the soil?
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1Roundup does not stay in the soil. The least poisonous chemical pesticides are the ones like Roundup that are non-selective: they kill whatever they touch. Roundup is unique in that GMO soybeans nonetheless do not die.– Yosef BaskinCommented Jun 28, 2023 at 22:00
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1Enjoy your dandelion salad!– DaaniiCommented Jul 1, 2023 at 21:19
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2 Answers
You are 7 years past the point (3 years) where your land could be certified organic, (at least if using glyphosate on it was the only thing of concern) so I expect you're fine.
This paper indicates a half-life of 7 to 60 days so 3600+ days should result in pretty near total elimination. Something like 0.0000000000000000009 (at most, possibly a lot less) what there was to start with, if I didn't fudge up the math.
It's perfectly safe. Otherwise I would have 5 arms by now, or be dead.
So, you’ve treated your weeds and now it’s time to get the good stuff growing again. You might be wondering, how long does a Roundup brand product stay in the soil? When is it safe to proceed? The length of time you wait before replanting depends on which product you used and what you want to grow. For example, if you used Roundup® Ready-To-Use Weed & Grass Killer III, you’re only looking at 1 day before you can put your favorite ornamentals in the soil. (This makes weekend projects a breeze!) However, if you went after poison ivy in your landscape, you’ll want to give it a month before you replant in that area.
From Roundup site
It got a bad rep when someone fed the equivalent of a cup of roundup a day to mice and declared it carcinogenic.
The sun decomposes it within hours. If you are really worried, just turn the soil and wait a few days.
answered Jun 28, 2023 at 21:57
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3The World Health Organization begs to differ, but the cancer cases in the US adjudicated to be caused by RoundUp involve applicators who basically bathed in the concentrate while filling tanks and backpack sprayers. OTOH, in the US 80% of us have glyphosate in our bodies, partially due to the RoundUp-ready food crops, so we'll see in a few decades whether it causes cancer or not, theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/09/…. Personally I LOVE being a lab-rat /s– JurpCommented Jun 29, 2023 at 14:32