Will a Systemic Weedkiller Harm Other Garden Plants?

I'm not sure about flowers, but it will kill vegetable plants. If it doesn't kill them, it is still taken up into the plant when it rains. I wouldn't eat any veggies grown anywhere near this, even if you plant them months/years later. But even if you don't have a vegetable garden, this stuff is poison. Americans apply tons of this kind of thing to the Earth every year. It ends up in the water supply. It dries and gets into the air that you and your neighbors breath. The people where you bought it might tell you it is safe, but I'm sure the packaging will tell you not to ingest it, get it into your eyes, or onto your skin.

It is designed to kill, and that is what it does. I'm not criticizing you at all - the companies that make this stuff have spent a lot of money making it sound safe. ALL of my criticism is for them. You are just trying to have a beautiful yard, and that is a good thing. I don't like the weeds either, at least not in my garden. Good luck with your garden, I hope it is beautiful and gives you a lot of joy.

Yes! The only way a herbicide is selective is by the width of the leaves. There are broadleaf hebicides that only kill things with leaves wider than grass. This allows them kill everything else, a systemic weed killer is taken through the root system of the plant.

Systemic weed killers can actually harm large trees as they absorb the chemical into the root system. Be very careful when using any pesticide read and follow all directions and mix as directed.

Yes! Weedkillers- herbicides- and pesticides of all sorts will not only kill or harm the 'friendlies', they get into the soil, water, and the animals that may feed on the them. Some of Round-up products by Monsanto, are now being found to cause mis-carriages in many mammals through eating or being near some products of that company, and possibly into the marine food chain, dolphin, via water and run-off.

An important fact to remember, is that this Earth is a closed recyling system. Everything we humans put into it will come back to us in some rather strange form or another. Genetics, illnesses or other ways as yet unknown.

It really depends on what systemic herbicide you are using. If you sprayed the briar plant and any of the herbicide drifted onto near-by plants, they may well be affected. If you used a q-tip or paintbrush to daub the herbicide only onto the briar, the other plants should be ok. Read your label! If you put the herbicide into the soil (granules) then you very well may have killed everything except the briar.

Briars are notoriously hard to kill. You will have to repeatedly cut them off, pull them up, etc. before you will get rid of them, and still you will be pulling up volunteers for years. Good luck!