Weedkiller That Works?

I have a stone area in my front garden that I am told represents a lake with the big rocks in it being islands.

It's also full of weeds and I'm not really up to extracting them by hand.

Is there a weed killer that actually kills weeds? The last chemical I bough was Nitromoors which smells like Acetone but got the paint off eventually.

Suggestions appreciated.

Reply to
Jeff Gaines
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Glyphosate. Available dilute as a trigger spray in most garden centres, even supermarkets, but an expensive way to buy it. OK if you've only got a small area to treat as a one-off, but better is to get some concentrate and dilute it according to the instructions. Choose a dry windless day. Be aware that it's not instant - at this time of year it will take probably a couple of weeks before you see any effect, but it will kill deep-rooted weeds, whereas some just kill the top growth and the root re-sprouts and round you go again.

Reply to
Chris Hogg

all the stuff that works has been banned

Reply to
Jim Stewart ...

Jim Stewart ... snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com wrote

Thats bullshit with roundup.

Reply to
Rod Speed

If you search ebay for 'Gallup' it finds the concentrate. Note that the

360g/L concentrate should be diluted at 33:1 so you end up with about 10g/L solution - some of the retail bottles are at that level, but others are weaker. (or mixed with random stuff like vinegar)

That means a 1 litre bottle of concentrate for about £20 makes 33 litres of solution.

Theo

Reply to
Theo

Spot on.

I buy ~350g/l stump killer, and measure 20ml using a turkey baster into an empty 800ml trigger pack. Don’t use one designed to produce foam.

For ivy and brambles I double the amount and add a couple of drops of washing-up detergent, then agitate gently before using.

Reply to
Spike

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Bill

Reply to
williamwright

Agreed.

Bill

Reply to
williamwright

Roundup is a form of Glyphosate. Glyphosate has already been mentioned and is effective.

Otherwise, I agree most other weedkillers that are effective have been banned, usually for good reason. Paraquat is an example, which has an association with Parkinson's disease.

Reply to
Fredxx

best online price

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Reply to
Mark

Available dilute in terms of using any old spray bottle as an applicator and diluting concentrate 20:1 etc

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I think the one big issue with much weed killer is that it does also tend to be lethal to insects and other life which feeds on them. I don't think you can buy agent Orange. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Salt. The type that is used on the roads for ice clearing. Spread it all over your gravel and you will see no more weeds. Mike

Reply to
Mike Rogers

That is more than somewhat misleading.

It was the nasty dioxin impurities in Agent Orange that caused most of the harm in populations exposed to it and not the herbicide itself (which is still used in places to control grass in rice and wheat).

Glyphosate is astonishingly benign in mammals considering how utterly lethal it is to green plants. We don't possess the photosynthetic pathway that it messes up. Malaria parasites do though and derivatives of glyphosate are under consideration as novel anti-malarials.

The thing that makes weedkillers lethal to life that feeds on plants is that it kills the plants they feed on and then they starve to death.

Classic weedkillers of choice for suicides like Paraquat that interfere with electron transfer were incredibly toxic in humans.

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It is a *really* nasty way to go and not to be recommended. That new slimming fad involving 2,4-dinitrobenzene can end the same way.

Reply to
Martin Brown

There were usually gramoxone bottles kicking around grandad's farm buildings, we knew not to touch them.

Reply to
Andy Burns

Couch grass grows perfectly well on our piles of grit salt by the roadside as do dandelions.

The OP probably wants to use Pathclear on it next year after knocking everything on the head with dose of glyphosate. Although the modern formulation is rubbish compared to the old one it is it only remaining one with a persistent germination inhibitor in that actually works.

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Now renamed by the marketeers as Weedol for Paths :( I hate branding...

It is nowhere near as good as it used to be but better than any of the alternatives in that it does last a couple of months weed free.

Reply to
Martin Brown

If you boil bleach you will turn sodium hypochlorite into a mixture of the chloride and chlorate forms. If you want a long-lasting path-clear style weedkiller that should do the trick!

Reply to
Fredxx

I use neat thick bleach from a plastic bottle with an angled nozzle and it works quite quickly and I don't seem to get re-growth on the same spot.

Reply to
The Other John

This is presumably after you've come out of hospital as a result of inhaling the chlorine gas so produced ?

bb

Reply to
billy bookcase

So use something safe like Agent Orange or Napalm:-)

Reply to
ARW

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