My pikey-done tarmac drive to the garage (not used for car storage) is breaking out in weeds (the tarmac is only tissue-thin).
There's no lawn to either side of the area. Can anyone suggest something to kill the weeds off for a very long time ? Sodium Chlorate ?
The local authority relaid all the pavement with tarmac last year, but unfortunately the gaffer of the gang was immune to my suggestion they could relay the drive for a few drinks :( (However, to be fair, they did replace the edging stones.)
I'm fairly sure that it's now illegal to own and use sodium chlorate.
Try Roundup or the cheaper glyphosate but be prepared to use several treatments over a period of time.
Pick a time when there's going to be at least one day of sun and warm(ish) weather. Spray generously. Wait at least six weeks for the weeds to die, repeat if necessary after that time. Next year zap the weeds as they appear, gradually they'll get less frequent.
On 31/08/2012 10:38, Andy Dingley wrote: > On Aug 31, 10:16 am, Jethro_uk wrote: >> There's no lawn to either side of the area. Can anyone suggest something >> to kill the weeds off for a very long time ? Sodium Chlorate ? >
Unless you have already bought it you will struggle to find sodium chlorate now as it was delisted as a weedkiller a couple of years back.
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for Simazine persistent weedkiller at least for the home user.
See also
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apologies for sending a private email version - Thunderbird has upgraded itself and moved around the reply/followup buttons today.
In many ways, the fact that weeds are already through means its too late and the surface is broken up. You will soon start to see what I call the marbles on the floor effect where you take a step and all the round bits of the broken tarmac mysteriously transport your feet so that your bum is on the ground!
Use a path weedkiller, which is a mixture of glyphosate to kill what's growing now (but no long lasting protection in the ground), and a germination inhibitor to prevent new seeds germinating. Once you've sprayed what's there, leave it to die without interfering with it, as that will give it time to draw the glyphosate into the roots and kill them.
For tough perennials, glyphosate works best near the end of the growing season, when the plants draw nutrients (and the glypohsate) back into their roots over winter, and the glyphosate gets a long time to act on them during a period when they are unable to do anything to resist.
There are some weeds which glyphosate doesn't work well on because it can't get into the sap, either because it kills the leaves on contact, or because the plant doesn't absorb it well enough. In the latter case (e.g. Mares Tail), you will have more success if you "bruise" the foliage by lightly walking on it immediately after application. (Don't walk across your lawn afterwards!) Mares Tail can take a few years of repeated treatments to eradicate, and in spite of being a very "weedy" weed, has no problem breaking through tarmac and the resin-based equivalents. Again, treatment at the end of the growing season is the most effective, as it continues acting in the roots all winter.
Think I'd rather use cheaper a concentrated genric glyphosate rather than a watered down expensive branded glyphosate like Roundup or a path weed killer. Will take a few applications but these days persistent weed killers aren't very common.
Well do things the other way round, bruise then spray. B-)
Of course as some one else hinted at, where the weeds have broken through the tarmac the frost will get in and break it up...
On 31/08/2012 14:21, Dave Liquorice wrote:> On Fri, 31 Aug 2012 12:28:53
+0000 (UTC), Andrew Gabriel wrote: >
Generic shed glyphosate is fine (choose the one with maximum active ingredient per unit price), but for optimum results on a path it is better to use a "path weed killer" at the *start* of the season so that the germination inhibitor stops new weeds from growing. Unfortunately the most potent of these was delisted for home use a while back.
Even so a germination inhibitor in path weedkiller is useful but pointless at this time of year since winter rains will wash it away (and this year summer rains did that!). >
And beware of overspray on boots it is easy to leave outlines of dead grass if you later walk across a lawn. Grass is exquisitely sensitive to glyphosate but it takes a week or more to show.
Most path weedkillers these days have a quick kill component as well. They are not brilliant but still better than just glyphosate on its own.
Used it loads of times, mostly on thistles, nettles and brambles which other weedkillers find difficult. Mixed results TBH, it seems the woodier the stem, the more likely that chemicals will struggle. For tree stumps, IE just wood, you'd be better mixing it with used engine oil and painting it on...for brambles mix with the same but thin it down with turps or any thin solvent and spray it on - the longer it stays in contact with the greenery the more effective it is. For ivy, mix it with a bucket of solvite (yes wallpaer paste) and apply it with your hands (covered in washing up gloves) running them over the underside of the leaves in an upwards motion, this way the leaves stay on and absorb the chemical - if you run them down you'll rip the leaves off and the stalks can't absorb anything
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