Grass specific "herbicide"?

[Lesley Cox]

That's it then.... back to the donkey work on hands and knees..........

A donkey on its knees probably has footrot. Donkeys will eat anything just about, as do goats, including gorse and broom and Californian thistles. Pity they don't dig for the roots as well.

[Maggi Young]

That's it then.... back to the donkey work on hands and knees..........

A donkey on its knees probably has footrot. Donkeys will eat anything just about, as do goats, including gorse and broom and Californian thistles. Pity they don't dig for the roots as well.

That's why people keep pigs 

[Lesley Cox]

but yes, they do eat just about everything else.... not as much as a goat, but nearly! 

When I was a small child, maybe about 5 years old, I owned 2 prs of black Fuji silk knickers. They were hung on the clothesline in the paddock, at my farming aunt's place and a donkey ate them totally. MY mother was furious and never forgave her sister for taking such poor care of my precious underwear.

[gote]

"RoundUp" was advertised as a grass killer, I think,  and is still available. (I thought it killed everything ) 
The latest RHS leaflet on Weedkillers for Gardeners is here :
http://www.rhs.org.uk/media/pdfs/advice/WeedkillersForGardeners

It kills (nearly) everything Of course you can use it around a shrub or tree since it is taken up by the leaves. To advertise it as a grass killer is like advertising sulfuric acid as a stain remover. "Apply it on he stain and you will never see the stain again" 
It seems, however, that some mosses are not much affected perhaps because mosses have no true roots.
Cheers
Göte

[arisaema]

Agil (propaquizafop) is available for farmers here in Norway, and apparently also in the UK: http://www.plantprotection.co.uk/HTML/Ingr/Ingr478.htm

ETA: ...and there's two more, clethodim and cycloxydim, the latter is also available in the UK: http://www.plantprotection.co.uk/HTML/Ingr/Ingr194.htm

[Lesley Cox]

Roundup WILL kill everything, except clover, which is what I want it to kill, in the driveway. Gradually as other things are killed over time, the drive becomes more and more infested with clover. Clover killers in general are very toxic.

Roundup will damage trees if sprayed on the trunks, small trees at least. I have a Sorbus sargentiana with a trunk about 6" in diameter. Roundup was accidentally sprayed near the base of it and the new leaf growth above, when it duly appeared, was discoloured and distorted. and has never been really right in the 5 years since.

It kills moss and liverwort TEMPORARILY. Both then come back with a vengeance, healther and stronger than ever. When weed cover is destroyed by Roundup, as soon as the area is rained on or watered, moss takes over even if there was no moss there before.

[Ezeiza]

Lesley, any high nitrogen fertilizer will damage clover until it declines. The cheapest one will do, urea, for instance.

[Lesley Cox]

Really? I'll try that then.

[fermi de Sousa]

Is there such a thing available to the public in the UK? I have borders with grass ingress..also pots outside and so rock garden plants I've been trying to pull grass out of for years.

Be careful what you wish for, Mark
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Grass
 
And, yes, couch grass has to be our worst weed at the moment!
cheers
fermi

[bendgardener]

If the grass is not overly established I have had good success with roundup applied with a sponge applicator like the ones used to hold dish washing soap.  Mix the Roundup as instructed on the label put it in the applicator and dab the grass blades. It takes patients but over time I have had good luck removing grass from beds. It is better than pulling the bed out and starting over.

Bob