Article: Before you start spraying, understand how weed killers work.

Byline: Cindy McNatt

Now that spring has sprung, television, newspaper and magazine ads are sprouting with all sorts of plugs for weed killers. If you have never curled up on the couch with a dry book on botany, you might wonder how they work. How does a weed killer sprinkled on the lawn kill the weeds but not the lawn? Do herbicides recognize the difference between good plants and bad?

Interesting stuff, these weed-killing chemicals, for they are not as urbane and refined as you might think.

The way they work is to interfere with growth, either by blocking photosynthesis and protein production, or destroying or inhibiting root formation.

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