Round up only kills the weed.... slowly - it has a chance to go to seed in the process if you hit it too late - and it has no persistence. I've had good luck with the Ground Clear for keeping weeds and grass away for the summer in cracks and gravel, but that shit is expensive and goes on pretty heavy to be effective. I just ran up and down the gravel driveway a couple of days ago with the torch --- best way I've found to keep the weeds at bay - burning the seeds is the best option... chickweed has been my curse for the last couple of years when I let it get away from me.
I've been fighting chickweed, speedwell, creeping charlie and a few others in my lawn for the last few years --- made the mistake of raking all the moss out.... that only made it easy for the weeds to grow and spread --- coupled with the long dry summers where I let the lawn brown + the drier springs where the lawn never really fills in good. Coupled with drier falls where the lawn doesn't regrow before the winter, the weeds have just had the upper hand. It dawned on me that I never used to have these problems.... when I thought about it, I realized that I had switched from using Scotts W&F to Vigiro - because it was cheaper - switched back to Scotts and it does a much better job and taking out the infestations. Had tried all the mix weed killers -- WeedBGone, Bayer, Spectracide --- with mixed results - one will take out one weed, but not the others.... they go to seed and I'm fighting another generation.... Dandelions are the easiest to kill, the others have some real fight to them.
Gonna throw a bag of Vigiro W&F out today or tomorrow - I've already thrown some Scotts ~3+ weeks ago - and hope for some good wet weather to get the lawn into good shape before the brown season.... I'm thinking its gonna come sooner this year based on how dry everything is and predictions for fire issues on the 'wet side'. Gonna save my other bag of Scotts for after the brown season when the lawn wakes back up.
_________________ Plan B is actually repeating Plan A.... it just involves much more alcohol.
Of the ten voices I hear in my head, only three keep telling me NOT to shoot.... Do I go with the majority or common sense?
You could probably have it even more effective if you used the cleaning vinegar from Home Depot or Fred Meyer. It's higher concentration of acetic acid. I think 10%. I've just ordered some 30%, and a small bottle of 75% from Amazon. I'll be trying it out on the blackberry bushes in my backyard as soon as it gets in. This year has been bad and these damn things just exploded in the last couple weeks. I don't want to use anything to poisonous because of my dogs. And really most weed killers are pretty damn poisonous and it was proven that roundup was cancer causing. Agent Orange anyone?
Thu May 23, 2019 7:51 pm
Old Growth
Site Supporter
Location: Nisqually Valley Joined: Wed Oct 5, 2016 Posts: 4834
Black berries aren't to bad to cut down. Most of the bush originates from only a few root clusters.
My wife is the master of BBs. She has a pair of welding gloves and a pair of Fiskars nippers and just cuts them into 3 foot long vines and lays them on a wagon. Then we find out where all the shoots are coming up from and pull the stump.
Black berries aren't to bad to cut down. Most of the bush originates from only a few root clusters.
My wife is the master of BBs. She has a pair of welding gloves and a pair of Fiskars nippers and just cuts them into 3 foot long vines and lays them on a wagon. Then we find out where all the shoots are coming up from and pull the stump.
Same... While I've been tempted to spray large areas, never succumbed to that temptation. Cutting the vines and then digging the crown out works well for us. We leave enough vines for a good harvest and a few good blackberry fights at the end of the season.
Thu May 23, 2019 10:52 pm
movingviolation
Site Supporter
Location: Bonney Lake Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 Posts: 3294
done did spray with Ground Clear a strip along the walkway on the left and further up towards the end of this (supposedly gravel) patch last year. everything in the patch is dead, including moss, just need to rake the surface. will spray the rest little bit later
dog did ok with it, it stinks so bad he stayed the hell away from it on his own, it just needs to be cut down as much as possible so he has no long grass to try and eat after a couple of rain showers it goes in the ground pretty quick
did spray another gravel driveway on the front/side of the house today around noon. 3 hours later...
i need to remember to try the vinegar deal before i go Agent Orange again
Thu May 23, 2019 11:23 pm
Old Growth
Site Supporter
Location: Nisqually Valley Joined: Wed Oct 5, 2016 Posts: 4834
When I was a kid I remember dogs died from old age and parvo.
Now tons of dogs die from cancer. I wont spray that shit anywhere on my property, ever.
When Im driving around I can smell that shit a mile away when someone has sprayed weedkillers. Bad shit.
One of my good friends lost his dad to the same kinda cancer that roundup causes. He was a super landscape guy and used GALLONS of that poison. Doc recommended my friend get a lawyer.
Fri May 24, 2019 9:17 am
JohnMBrowning
Location: Bothell Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 Posts: 4872
Ran across this on YT this morning.... thought it might be a good option for MV's weed infested gravel without going 'agent orange' on it....
I've heard salt works pretty good, but you need to be aware of where the drainage is going to go.... Cheap enuff to try and should have some persistence to it too.
_________________ Plan B is actually repeating Plan A.... it just involves much more alcohol.
Of the ten voices I hear in my head, only three keep telling me NOT to shoot.... Do I go with the majority or common sense?
Sat May 25, 2019 10:50 am
movingviolation
Site Supporter
Location: Bonney Lake Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 Posts: 3294
Ran across this on YT this morning.... thought it might be a good option for MV's weed infested gravel without going 'agent orange' on it....
I've heard salt works pretty good, but you need to be aware of where the drainage is going to go.... Cheap enuff to try and should have some persistence to it too.
remember this area?
last week i made the salt/soap spray (pool salt from wallyworld) sprayed it in the evening of last Wednesday, 2 hours later
this afternoon:
4 gallons of water, pool salt, as much as will dissolve, 1x14oz bottle of Palmolive dish soap (Vinegar/Lemon flavor) going to wait for these rain showers to pass over the rest of the week and see if the rest of weeds will die or if i need to treat whatever is left standing again or maybe just do a few squirts of GroundClear on them
Mon Jun 03, 2019 9:23 pm
Massivedesign
Site Admin
Location: Olympia, WA Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2011 Posts: 38307
Real Name: Dan
Nice! Good to see it worked. I had a feeling it would work good..... remembering back to high school days when one of the pranks was to put rock salt out on the football field -- always seemed to work good back then.
I'd be curious if there is much in the way of leaching after some 'good' rains..... please update. Definitely gonna keep this one in mind for when the day comes that I want to nuke my gravel.
_________________ Plan B is actually repeating Plan A.... it just involves much more alcohol.
Of the ten voices I hear in my head, only three keep telling me NOT to shoot.... Do I go with the majority or common sense?
Tue Jun 04, 2019 8:03 am
Pablo
Site Supporter
Location: Everson, WA Joined: Sun Jan 6, 2013 Posts: 28177
Real Name: Ace Winky
If you want to clean it up easily, pick up one of these... https://www.harborfreight.com/propane-t ... 91037.html I picked one up ~15 years ago and while it doesn't get used much, it really makes it easy to clean up all the dead grass/weeds. It will leave the area black until a good rain, but it has the added benefit of roasting all the remaining seeds.... Its good fun at dusk too. I have just shy of 1/4 acre of gravel with the driveway... everything will brown out in the summer and this just makes for an easy way to do a full clear of the gravel --- weed wack and burn.
_________________ Plan B is actually repeating Plan A.... it just involves much more alcohol.
Of the ten voices I hear in my head, only three keep telling me NOT to shoot.... Do I go with the majority or common sense?
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