Weed Burners

We have a small area of resin bound gravel which is now 10+ years old and weeds have broken through.

We have two dogs who are in the yard daily so don’t want to be spraying anything toxic about so thought maybe a weed burner could be the solution.

Anyone use one? Are they effective? Should I go electric or gas?

Thanks

This one looks quite good.

Not sure how much gardening you’ll get done after using it.

Oh and the consensus seems to be, don’t drive for 72hrs

I have a cheap electric one. It does work but anything with a root will come back quite quickly. OTOH it’s easy and fast to use.

I just found some old roundup sachets a few weeks ago and that was much quicker and more effective.

Just pour some petrol on it and throw a match at it.

Isn’t a weed burner going to destroy your resin binding?
IME burners just irritate weeds & they come back pretty quickly.

I think the top coat of resin has weathered/worn away.

Is roundup pet safe?

Isn’t a resin drive basically plastic and therefore going to melt when you apply heat ???

I think it is once it’s dried. Their newer non glyphosate version is just citric acid in a spray bottle.

Yes Roundup is pet safe, just keep them out of the area while it dries, although its not toxic to mammals. It’s not residual so breaks down very quickly as well. The toxicity scares are based on some dubious edge cases of it allegedly giving people cancer. How they could tell it was the Glyphosate and not something else is a miracle of science or spin or something.

Actually got some citric acid in powder form for degreasing purposes. Is it worth making a solution and giving this a go?

vinegar kills weeds. White vinegar is quite cheap. No idea if it will damage the driveway. Test on an inconspicuous area.

I use a combination of a gas weedburner and an acetic acid (vinegar) based weedkiller.

Weedkiller first and burner once the weeds start looking sorry for themselves. I also live in the middle of a forest, so i get a *lot* of weeds.

user name checks out

Thought this was going to be another Jon V thread

Chemical industry pro glyphosate propaganda and marketing is more effective than I thought possible.

The toxicity scares are based on some dubious edge cases of it allegedly giving people cancer

And those people were spraying litres of the stuff every day.

Boiling water is also quite good. I find Round Up very good for ‘spotting on’. Just spray the individual weeds. Drys quick.

Bear in mind that glyphosate has been used by the metric fucktonne for decades by farmers, and it took detailed and lengthy studies to find a very modest association of use with a small increase in some cancer(s).

I don’t doubt the research (any more than any medical research into small effects) but to put to put it into context, the association of meat and alcohol with cancer is very much more clear-cut.

I got one of the gas-bottle fed ones off ebay for £15 or so.

It worked quite well on block paving weeds and was satisfying to use.

You’ll need to check whether it’ll melt your drive obvs.

And on the flipside using unapproved chemicals to control weeds is actually illegal as unlike Glyphosate they have not been fully tested and the impacts assessed prior to approval. Things like acetic acid work because they are nasty chemicals and burn the leaves. Glyphosate is systemic and works with the biology of the weed making it much more effective and with far fewer potential side affects.

Messing with boiling water is also much more likely to result in harm than Glyphosate.

Messing with boiling water is also much more likely to result in harm than Glyphosate.

But, but, but, chemicals!

Chemical industry pro glyphosate propaganda and marketing is more effective than I thought possible.

Green hysteria rather than evidence based reason is just as rife as I expected

I tried one of the little burners you can get at garden centres etc that takes a butane canister. It’s crap. After a bit of research I ordered a Sheen X300 online that takes paraffin. Absolute beast, does the job, plus sounds like a Typhoon at full afterburner when you fire it up 😂

https://www.mowermagic.co.uk/acatalog/Sheen-X300-Professional-Flame-Thrower-Weeder-SHEEN-X300.html

Jesus christ that looks amazing @zilog6128. I fear I’d end up burning my garden fence (/house) down though. What are the fuel costs like?

Also the total lack of PPE in that press photo is great 😀

Ah! Came on to recommend this…

Jesus christ that looks amazing zilog6128. I fear I’d end up burning my garden fence (/house) down though. What are the fuel costs like?

not too bad, the paraffin is £10-11 for 4L (I think) which does our driveway & patio area a few times! I don’t do it too often, tend to leave it until it gets really bad  😂

The photo is a bit disingenuous as it only flames like that when it’s heating up, you wouldn’t pick it up in that state – when at full temp it’s a very focussed, blue flame like a massive blowtorch, so it’s actually very accurate & safe when in use! It is pretty scary the first time you light it up tho and it’s sitting on the ground belching out massive gobs of fire as it warms up 🤣

And on the flipside using unapproved chemicals to control weeds is actually illegal.

Really?   If I pour vinegar on my weeds to kill them what offence will I be charged with? Or indeed boiling water, which is also a “chemical” and I assume “unapproved” for killing weeds?

Dunno about home users but industrially you’re not allowed to discharge water above 43C to drain.

Also had to laugh at acetic acid being nasty stuff. Well yeah, have you ever accidentally rubbed your eye after a bag of chips?

And how many unsuspecting insects get torched when people go around with their burners? Bet they prefer weed killer.

And how many unsuspecting insects get torched when people go around with their burners?

the burn zone is actually extremely focused so none, if I can help it!!