Clearing weeds in driveway

[bkenobi]

The driveway is looking great so far. I sprayed a second time with a slightly stronger mix because i missed some areas and it was so much faster than the 4gal backpack. Im hopeful the imazapyr will keep things dead. In the past the thin grass tufts would start pretty quickly after the next heavy spring rain. We're getting soaked today so will see what happens in the next week!

 

[BackRoad]

And we're almost 4 weeks later...did it work as desired?

 

[bkenobi]

Actually yes the driveway looks great. The mower blew the motor so its fortunate cause i dont want to do it with the backpack again!

 

[paulsharvey]

I know I'm too late, but every time this question comes up, I'm kinda pushed to ask Why. Is it an visual issue, a too high center mound issue, or what. Grass/weeds do a Ton to stabalize the base material. I understand the grading issue; BUT a real key with gravel/rock/stabalized driveways, unless needed, quit messing with it. Grading frequently loses compaction, stirs up the fines, and generally hurts things.

 

[dodge man]

In my experience if you don’t keep the grass mostly out of your gravel it gradually starts to end up looking more like dirt.

 

[NoTrespassing]

I don't recommend this but I accidentally killed the weeds in my driveway/parking area awhile back. I had about 3/4 gallon of muriatic acid left over from when we had an above ground pool set up. I needed to get rid of it, so I poured it on the weeds and wow, they were dying within minutes and nothing has come back since and it's been about 6 weeks. That stuff is corrosive and nasty.

 

[grsthegreat]

I don't recommend this but I accidentally killed the weeds in my driveway/parking area awhile back. I had about 3/4 gallon of muriatic acid left over from when we had an above ground pool set up. I needed to get rid of it, so I poured it on the weeds and wow, they were dying within minutes and nothing has come back since and it's been about 6 weeks. That stuff is corrosive and nasty.

Hope you have a deep water level….. that stuff is nasty and very toxic.

 

[deezler]

Yeah... no grass or old leaves, sticks, etc are allowed to stay on my nice gravel. It just turns to mud over time if you allow that.

But I also don't really understand how some of you can have such issue with this. I dont get grass anywhere that we frequently drive on.

Contrary to Paul's statement above, I do rip up and reset my gravel once or twice a year with my land plane. It's pretty low disruption, just smooths out any washboards and gets more stone back in the middle. One bonus is that any bit of grass doesnt stand a chance against the land plane.

So: Driving on it, and occasionally land-plane it, and you wont have any grass. Toxic chemical weed killers? no way.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Hope you have a deep water level….. that stuff is nasty and very toxic.

I hear ya, the well is about 70 deep 3' diameter bored starting about 40 feet down with another sand vein above the one we pull water off of. Actually, I haul water by the gallon for drinking, but we do brush teeth and shower in it. I'm confident that the 3/4 gallon of acid didn't make it down to the aquifer we're pulling off of.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Hope you have a deep water level….. that stuff is nasty and very toxic.

Muriatic acid, also known as hydrochloric acid, is sometimes used in well water systems for well rehabilitation to improve water flow. It can dissolve mineral deposits, iron and manganese oxides, and other substances that can clog wells. However, it's a strong acid and requires careful handling and safety precautions.

 

[Runner]

My state DOT recommends Imazapyr for control of weeds along the edge of the road but for some reason retailers do not sell a concentrate and Amazon won't even deliver. When I was out of state last year I ordered a quart so I have that. I'm going to mix glyphosate with imazapyr and spray with a sprayer mounted to my lawn tractor. I usually mix 1.5% (2oz/gal of roundup power max).

Last year I found a somewhat concentrate imazapyr/glyphosate mix at walmart that seemed ok at best. I added that to my glyphosate mix (don't remember the ratio I selected) but didn't like using the backpack so looking forward to the mounted tractor solution.

I think I'll try your mixture on my 600 foot drive. Current method is spray it good with glyphosate mix in the tow-behind sprayer, wait a few weeks to see what's left, then go back and spray anything that's still green with the same stuff in the hand sprayer. As mentioned, doesn't keep new stuff from coming back, but if I can get everything cleaned out once, then there's a chance I can keep up by just occasional spot-spraying and pulling weeds. Unfortunately, this year I let it go much longer than intended, so kind of had to start with a big mess.

I'm using this rig, with an old PCU side panel to block the spray on one side along the driveway edge. I have found this works very well.

Same area 1 week later.

My experience has been that the less disturbance of the gravel, the better. Rearranging the gravel tends to make it wash easier and also seems to make the weeds sprout even faster for me.

 

[kenmbz]

I use RM43 and it keeps everything I spray down for a few months.
Takes a while to work , but it does.

 

[bkenobi]

Everything died and hasn't tried to come back. I wanted to get the dead moss out so i hooked the dethatcher up and broke everything up. That may be a mistake but I'll know for the future. Right now it looks amazing!

 

[Santa Craig Cringle]

Muriatic acid, also known as hydrochloric acid, is sometimes used in well water systems for well rehabilitation to improve water flow. It can dissolve mineral deposits, iron and manganese oxides, and other substances that can clog wells. However, it's a strong acid and requires careful handling and safety precautions.

Used in swimming pools also.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I use RM43 and it keeps everything I spray down for a few months.
Takes a while to work , but it does.

I read a lot on here about RM43, but I'm a bit confused. RM43 is 41% glyphosphate whereas Roundup is 50%. Is there something about RM43 that makes it more effective?

 

[kenmbz]

I read a lot on here about RM43, but I'm a bit confused. RM43 is 41% glyphosphate whereas Roundup is 50%. Is there something about RM43 that makes it more effective?

It is in a mix that makes it stick around better, not sure how/what.
So instead of working fast in 24 hours, it works slow and lasts months (based on how much rain you get).
Of course this means you have to be very careful not to have it drip or spill anywhere , ask me how I know ....

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I haven't read most threads but the homeplace and this place used to be gravel, now asphalt.
I read many years ago in Farmer's Almanac an old then fellow wrote an article about it and he used an old watering can and filled it with used motor oil, old gas or diesel and went down drive with it which worked for me. (environmentalists would have a hissy fit)
I was helping a 42yo neighbor with his '85 Dodge pickup, I told him the leak he asked be about was coming from the transmission. I said it's probably a 727 Torqueflite and it's the gasket. Let's get a filter kit, pop the pan off and we'll sprinkle old tranny fluid down your gravel driveway killing weeds. New filter, fluid, Permatex, gasket... easy peezy.
I thought he was going to have a stroke!
Never did do it.

 

[paulsharvey]

I haven't read most threads but the homeplace and this place used to be gravel, now asphalt.
I read many years ago in Farmer's Almanac an old then fellow wrote an article about it and he used an old watering can and filled it with used motor oil, old gas or diesel and went down drive with it which worked for me. (environmentalists would have a hissy fit)
I was helping a 42yo neighbor with his '85 Dodge pickup, I told him the leak he asked be about was coming from the transmission. I said it's probably a 727 Torqueflite and it's the gasket. Let's get a filter kit, pop the pan off and we'll sprinkle old tranny fluid down your gravel driveway killing weeds. New filter, fluid, Permatex, gasket... easy peezy.
I thought he was going to have a stroke!
Never did do it.

There are better ways; prime and sand. I saw a video of a guy using a watering can (pretty common on small areas), and he used a leaf blower to get better distribution. Then load your 3pt fertilizer spreader with clean sand, and sand the fresh prime. Small areas, you can shovel sling the sand.