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Salt brine or other solutions for weed control in rock driveways

viper

Titanium
Joined
May 18, 2007
Location
nowhereville
I am just curious if anyone has truly used salt brine? I am trying to gauge this vs roundup. I will use both because I know salt will leach so I did not plan to do the edges. I am really curious "how much" it will leach when if I spray a liquid solution. I was not going to use rock salt because sheet water can carry it, right into my fescue.

Other options are open. Just gotta get ahead of these weeds. I waste more time with this than....
 
Do not use salt. Not only does it leach, its permanent. Weed grasses are far more salt tolerant than landscape grasses, so after you get enough salt in the soil to kill the weeds it will be impossible to grow anything other than asparagus for decades.

Round-up gets a bad rap from the anti-GMO crowd, but it is the safest most effective herbicide available. If it is just taking to much time you may need to get a tow behind sprayer for your lawn mower. A couple of passes and you are done. A 25 gallon sprayer will hold enough mixture to kill 2-6 acres.
 
When I was a kid I mowed the neighbors yard and he had a brick paved walk and patio. The weeds were always a problem and someone suggested putting down rock salt. That did work for a while but then we got some other weed that took hold. then I tried gasoline.....
 
Permanent is the idea!! I am not looking to put down rock salt. I have been spraying non-selective herbicides for years. Problem is I get real tired of spraying every 3 weeks. Yes, I know, paving is an option. Well, not on this house.

The drive is pretty big. If I can kill off a large part of it for good, I would be happy with that. Just trying to find out how much it might leach and how well (fast) it works.
 
Glyphosate is your friend

I have been buying Glyphosate in 2 1/2 gallon jugs for a few years now. You have to watch the concentration. The jug I have says use 2 ounces per gallon of water. At 3 ounces per gallon it is killing seedling trees. It works well. I have to do the edges of my drive twice a year. I trim all of the flower beds and trees with a lighter solution to keep the grass back. It is a ton cheaper than roundup and 2 1/2 gallons goes a looooog ways. I split my last jug between a few people. It does not stop future weeds though.

John
 
i came across this by accident some years ago
having a large teapot full of boiling water to dispose of, i took it out into the back yard to dump it.
there i saw many clumps of dandelions, so i thought what the heck
lets aggravate the bastards.
i poured some of the boiling water right down the center of about 20 plants, a little in each.

after a week they were not only dead, but after a while they rotted right out of the ground leaving a deep root hole vacated, either that or i cooked the damned things and the bugs like cooked dandelion?

they never came back in those holes, at least not the original plants.

must have been a horrible shock to the plants system.

something like this might work on other weeds, certainly is environmentally neutral, fairly cheap and easy to apply.

you might give it a try?

bob g
 
Why are you asking us, a buncha machnists, about horticulture. Forget about salt and boiling water. They're temporary at best. What you need is a "persistent soil sterilant." One that stays in the ground, does not leach or permeate, and renders the ground hostile to green growth for years.

Talk to your local country extention agent. His job is to advise about anything having to do with agriculture a job requiring full time expertise. There's probably not a machinist among him or his staff.

Another place to find info is your local paving contractor. They have to pave over ground and warrant against plant growth sprouting in the inevitible cracks and gaps between paving joints and abutting buildings, walks or anything else connected with the pavement..

The stuff I've seen in a whitish powder they sprinkle on the dirt along joint before the paving is laid.
 
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I have a 200'deep well. I'm afraid to put anything on the ground that might get into the well. We bought a weed burner,but its been raining so much I haven't used it yet. Is there anything safe I can use without messing up my well?
 
...............Talk to your local country extention agent. His job is to advise about anything having to do with agriculture. ............


I second what Forrest has advised.

My county has a weed and pest control department with 2 or 3 guys working there. The noxious weed control guy is pretty into weeds. He is a young guy and really nice. He helps people identify the weeds they are trying to kill and recommends the best method or specific chemical to kill them.

If the weed you are struggling with happens to be on the long list of noxious weeds he is trying to control in the county, he will give you some of the recommend chemical. All his assistance is free of charge. All we wants in return is to collect data about the weeds you have, where they are located, and what you are doing to control them.
 
Broad-leaved weeds are vulnerable to nearly anything. Grases are resistant to most everything. Has to do with the root-shoot ratio, among other things.Roundup (glyphosate) is ok on broad-leaved weeds, not so good on grasses. Same with propane torches.

People with dogs and babies shouldn't use PERSISTENT pesticides (I was a licensed applicator for years). A decent solution is horticultural-grade vinegar, defined as at least 20% vinegar. The food-grade supermarket stuff is 5%. Hort-grade works a charm and won't sicken you, your kids, or your dog. Available at farm supply places. or online merchants like AM Leonard.

Propane torch works ok too. It's the most expensive solution, and grasses will need to be zapped 2 or 3 times.

A backpack blower used weekly will blow away weed seeds, and the organic matter they sprout in. This can prevent most of the weeds from sprouting in the first place.

And of course, large numbers of Asians driving imported cars can do doughnuts in your driveway and rip up these imported weed pests by the roots :dopeslap::dopeslap:
 
My neighbor's driveway was a sheet of ice a couple years back. He told me he's gonna put a few hundred pounds of salt on it. I said, you cannot do that on a gravel drive. Did it anyway. The frozen ground turned to mush when it thawed. I could hear his Ranger PU scraping the frame on the gravel it rutted so bad. Two years later, it's still pretty ugly!
 
Preen weed preventer

We have to maintain a property in Arizona, think 120 degrees and sandy desert, where we only visit in spring and late fall. We used to employ a local kid to pull weeds, but he found an easier source of income and quit. The back yard is right on the edge of the desert, and desert weeds are indestructible, with very deep roots and very quick flowering and seeding.

We have used a product called Preen, (do a google) which you sprinkle into the top inch of topsoil ( or for us gravel), and water it in. It does something to the seeds to stop them from germinating, and it works well -if it didn't the weeds would be literally 3-4 feet high when we visit after summer is over.

It takes a while to get ahead of the weed-flower-seed cycle, but once you do, it works a charm -the big deal is that it isn't a poison, and if you keep it away from various specified sensitive plants, it's safe for them too.

We used to spray with Roundup 2-4 times a year, we haven't had to in nearly six years now, just by using Preen - no financial interest, just a satisfied customer.

Richard in Los Angeles
 
Depending upon the type of rock, salt also degrades rock, cracks it up. Bluestone tends to break up faster when salted over the seasons. Had a bluestone carport floor, salt used to degrade the stones where the car panels drained off.
 
Do not use salt. Not only does it leach, its permanent. Weed grasses are far more salt tolerant than landscape grasses, so after you get enough salt in the soil to kill the weeds it will be impossible to grow anything other than asparagus for decades.

I've tried salting the Earth in a rock garden area I have with limited effect - the weeds and grass still grow.

Around here, every municipality sprays out thousands of tons of salt on the roads almost every day from November through March. These guys actually go so far as to spray a brine solution all over the road the night before an expected ice condition, and then dump rock salt throughout the next day. And yet grass and weeds don't seem to have any trouble growing right up to the edge of the roadway.

Ryan
 
If you are using Roundup every three weeks something is not right. Generally, if I use it, it will kill the weeds for more like 2 months. Try upping the concentration.
 
Paramathal is a ground sterilizer that is used around grainbins and should last for six to eight years, nothing will grow. It will migriate some what so careful around borders. Roundup is a contact herbicide that will not kill the plant that is about to come up. Check with county extension agent as paramathal might be controled and you need an applicators license to buy and use.
 








 
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