I need help...

I need to kill grass and weeds that grow at my curb, and within a small patch of ground that measures approximately 20 ft. X 20 ft.  I want to clear it so that I can spread a layer of decorative gravel or lay some brick-work on these areas. 

I can no longer keep trimming the grass and weeds because of terrible allergies, and honestly, I hate to work and spend valuable fig-growing time on this kind of nonsense.  The line trimmer that I use, sucks...and tangles every 10 minutes, so, a job that should take no more than an hour turns into a project that lasts hours.  I'm getting older, and I want to do less work, and more fig eating in my future.

So....I need a herbicide, that could be broadcast in granular form, then watered into the ground that will kill grass, weeds dandelion, leaves, roots,...the whole shebang, once and for all.  Then I can lay bricks, or, gravel on these areas.

I've tried "Round-Up"...it doesn't work, and the spray blows in my face when the wind shifts.  I don't want it blowing on my figs either.  At least with a granular product, I can sprinkle it out and control where it goes.

Any ideas?

Thanks for any help.

Frank

Are you able to put a plastic over top of the curb with the weeds and burn them up that way?

That's what I'd try too. Note that they suggest clear plastic, not black.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

There are a number of LIQUID vegetation killers that are long acting by virtue of the fact that they poison the soil so plant's can't grow. Ortho Ground Clear is just one. There are also some granular preparations that do the same job - one is Total Solution's 'Weed Easy'. FWIW - I'd think long & hard before using these products. They aren't reversible & their effects last a LONG time. Even after weeds start to return, you won't be able to grow anything you'd WANT to grow in that area for many, many years.

Al 

This soil solarization process  is not a option in my circumstances.  The general public has access to the curb spaces, and if someone trips on a plastic sheet, I would be sued instantly. 

I need a granular product that will kill everything, but still be non-toxic to dogs, cats, animals, humans.  After I spread it, and then water it in, all I want to see is bare dirt after a week or so.

I thought I remembered seeing some kind of corn-gluten type products that will kill grass and weeds.  I searched the web for herbicides, but I find most products are for professionals and not available to the public.

I tried vinegar, rock-salt,....but the weeds grew back stronger.

Frank

6 Natural Weed Control Solutions:  http://www.organicauthority.com/organic-gardening/organic-gardening/6-natural-weed-control-solutions.html

Burn 'em with a torch.

John

I do understand the liability issues, and wanting life to be easier. I also know you are trying to do the right thing Frank, and I'm only speaking from my heart. I'm not even an organic gardener. But I do find it troubling when so many still seem to recommend and justify using toxic chemicals for so many things involving gardening, and in essence, nature. They are only weeds. :)

I don't see why you can't use Roundup.  Buy a 1 gallon pump up sprayer and spray when the wind is calm, sun shining and no rain expected.  You can cut a plastic water bottle  in half and tape it to the tip of your spray wand to direct the spray only where you want it to go.

Thank-you for your suggestions.  I understand the toxicity issues.  Your concerns are also my concerns.   A few products have been recommended that I had not heard of before.  Now, I will do some research.

I hate to use such harsh measures to control weeds, and unwanted grass, but every product that I have used has so far failed to do what I need, or is only a temporary solution for my problems.  Each year I'm back where I started with a new crop of stronger weeds. 

This year the weeds are going, one way or another.

Frank

Frank,

For the record - no one recommended anything toxic on this thread prior to Gina's comment - certainly not me, since my comments are the only ones that could possibly be misconstrued as a recommendation.  Far from it, my cautions were meant to discourage the use of the vegetation killer and in no way justify or recommend it. I tend to NOT allow my personal politics or ideology get in the way of the information I will/won't share. Frank asked a question, I answered it. It's for Frank to decide what he wants to do. There was certainly nothing in my comments to be troubled about.

Personally, I wouldn't use it under any circumstances, but I wouldn't presume to make up Frank's mind for him.

Al

Just went to  the link that Johnson1 provided, and look...no poisons!  maybe these products will be effective.

Thanks again everybody for the suggestions.

Frank

Just went to  the link that Johnson1 provided, and look...no poisons!  maybe these products will be effective.

Thanks again everybody for the suggestions.

Frank

most plants can be killed by overfertilizing,

Grant
z5b

most plants can be killed by overfertilizing,

Grant
z5b

Grant.....

At first I thought you were kidding, but upon reflection, this may be the easiest, cheapest, and least toxic of all the alternatives.  Kill the plants with too much kindness.  What a novel approach.

Thanks.  Tomorrow, it's a trip to Home Depot to get me some fertilizer.

Frank

Frank- How did you use the salt? Salt is only for walkways etc. where you absolutely do not want any plants growing, I am sure it is perfectly capable of killing plants. But it sounds like you have some spots like that. The weeds are not even growing here this year though, even though annuals made it through the winter! Is it as dry there as it is here?

hoosier/Brent

I dumped a 50 lb bag of rock-salt in the grass/weeds growing in a 3 ft. wide X 20ft long strip at the curb,  It looked like snow.  I watered it into the soil before the weeds emerged.  This was last year, beginning of March.  It "burnt" away some weeds, but it didn't last.  The weeds grew so thick by late spring, that I had to hack them back BEFORE I used my lousy, Toro line trimmer.  This year.... a bumper crop of thick, lush, dark green weeds, and full of pollen.  Round-Up doesn't work, it's a real pain to keep pumping, and most of it is wasted from over-spray into any slight breeze....and  it costs a fortune.   It doesn't kill  for very long, either. 

I'm going to try burning the grass and weeds away with easily available fertilizer.  Maybe the concentrated salts will burn the roots.  The Borax hint looks interesting, too.

Thanks for the help.

Frank

borax is supposedly good for creeping charlie as it is sensitive to boron. If you are just going to be throwing rocks in the area, why not just use weed tarp under the rock? Be sure to tuck the edges into the ground and overlap to prevent anything from growing out from under it. If you want to kill without being toxic, maybe try large amounts of ph adjustment. You an use lime, wood ash or buy gallons of muratic acid. You will still need to be careful when applying these products.

Use 40% strength Roundup and Scythe. I'm not recommending it but it works. Roundup and Scythe are inert after about two weeks.

http://growerssolution.com/page/GS/PROD/75-10511 

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup and you can by other named products with the same percentage or more of Glyphosate for half to one third the price of Rounup.

Monsanto is pure evil and they add extra toxic ingredients that are listed as inert in their roundup folmulations. Scythe looks good though, expensive, but safer.

Frank, I have never used salt as a weed killer, but I think it is usually dissolved in soapy water and sprayed on the soon to be dead foliage. With all the rain we had last year it is no wonder all that salt had no effect, it must have washed away fast.

When I posted the original question, I had no idea that it would generate so many useful answers.

Thank-you all, so much for the help, and suggestions.

Frank

 Cement and Astro Turf may be considered.

Frank

If you just put too much fertilizer, it may work in the short term, but eventually, the rain will wash it all away.  Then you'll be back to where you started.  Either dormant seeds will sprout, or new ones from birds/wind/etc will be placed and sprout.

Perhaps that solution sounds marginally better for the environment, passers by, dogs, etc, than mass pesticide deployment, but fertilizer runoff does cause problems of its own. 

I cringe to think of what would happen to NY's waterways if everyone in Bronx/Brkln/Queens/Manhattan used enough fertilizer to kill their unwanted weeds.  This is one of the reasons I don't go fishing or eat local fish.  Too many people doing who knows what and releasing stuff into the water that I really don't want to ingest. 

I can understand your desire to reduce your back-breaking work that doesn't really give you much reward, other than not having to look at the so called "weeds".  It does seem like a physical barrier would be just as effective, with fewer downstream concerns.  Like you said, some sort of bricks, pavers, etc.  If you put landscape fabric underneath, then put the pavers on top, wouldn't that block anything from growing up through?  And you wouldn't have to worry about people tripping and suing you.