Weed removal….organically ?

SueDonim

We had more chuckies put on our driveway last summer as they’d gradually disappeared over the years. The drive was weedy and mossy so the chap laying down the chuckies used salt & vinegar in water to prepare it. He simply didn’t like paying high prices for chemicals!

I had my doubts but it worked. Being a driveway it doesn’t have much in the way of wildlife on it and in any case, as we are in Scotland, the rain soon dilutes it.

Ok I’m going to ask… what’s a chuckie??? ?‍♀️?

MoorlandMooner

Oh my goodness that photo makes me so sad. Poor old nature.

What poor creatures, wild or domestic, are going to come to drink at that bowl on a boiling hot night and trail their feet and bodies through all that salt.

This is the RSPCA saying how dangerous salt is for animals.

All for a few weeds that would have taken 10 minutes to weed out by hand.

www.rspca.org.uk/documents/1494939/7712578/Rock+salt+poisoning+in+pets+%28PDF+101KB%29.pdf/663009e5-a4c0-44ed-1c88-a06376ccfd86?t=1559139782482#:~:text=Even%20a%20small%20amount%20of,of%20convulsions%20and%20kidney%20damage.

The salt is going to be washed away with a hosepipe in about an hours time

Shinamae

MoorlandMooner

Oh my goodness that photo makes me so sad. Poor old nature.

What poor creatures, wild or domestic, are going to come to drink at that bowl on a boiling hot night and trail their feet and bodies through all that salt.

This is the RSPCA saying how dangerous salt is for animals.

All for a few weeds that would have taken 10 minutes to weed out by hand.

www.rspca.org.uk/documents/1494939/7712578/Rock+salt+poisoning+in+pets+%28PDF+101KB%29.pdf/663009e5-a4c0-44ed-1c88-a06376ccfd86?t=1559139782482#:~:text=Even%20a%20small%20amount%20of,of%20convulsions%20and%20kidney%20damage.

The salt is going to be washed away with a hosepipe in about an hours time

And it is not rocksalt it is table salt

Shinamae

Thanks for all your advice it is only a very small patio probably 16‘ x 8, I have attempted to get them out with a long handled contraption that has looks like brass wire bristles on the end, hasn’t really worked… I will definitely try the boiling water and the salt and vinegar which will disappear after a little while. I am just adverse to using chemicals…???

Salt is sodium chloride, vinegar is acetic acid. Both are chemicals.

Esspee

Shinamae

Thanks for all your advice it is only a very small patio probably 16‘ x 8, I have attempted to get them out with a long handled contraption that has looks like brass wire bristles on the end, hasn’t really worked… I will definitely try the boiling water and the salt and vinegar which will disappear after a little while. I am just adverse to using chemicals…???

Salt is sodium chloride, vinegar is acetic acid. Both are chemicals.

I know that, I was talking about commercial products!!

BlueBelle

What’s wrong with a hoe that’s how I get rid of them

If it's a small patio and you have time, it's quite therapeutic as well as organic to weed it by hand.
Most weeds seem to come out easily if you don't yank them, just persuade them.

Bluebelle DH wrecked my lovely hoe (it could have been vintage!) by doing that.

Polarbear2 chuckies are small stones used on driveways or paths.

Callistemon

BlueBelle

What’s wrong with a hoe that’s how I get rid of them

If it's a small patio and you have time, it's quite therapeutic as well as organic to weed it by hand.
Most weeds seem to come out easily if you don't yank them, just persuade them.

Bluebelle DH wrecked my lovely hoe (it could have been vintage!) by doing that.

Callistemon,I have tried to do it by hand believe me but they are very deeply rooted….Also the contraption I bought and described up thread was no good either. I have a wildlife garden and would do nothing to harm the wildlife, the salt has been down a few hours now and shortly I am going to hose it away…

I bought an electric one for DH but he's not keen on it.

I do weed the back patio (sometimes) but we have a large block drive full of weeds (they've appeared again in a few weeks) so we do need to do something and I've downloaded the link to the grouting stuff.

Because something is sold as a weed killer or to put on your fish and chips doesn’t matter. They are both toxic chemicals to wildlife. Rock salt and table salt are chemically the same thing.
If you put salt down then hose it off it doesn’t magically disappear. It is simply spread elsewhere.
I’m beginning to think you are being deliberately obtuse.

Esspee

Because something is sold as a weed killer or to put on your fish and chips doesn’t matter. They are both toxic chemicals to wildlife. Rock salt and table salt are chemically the same thing.
If you put salt down then hose it off it doesn’t magically disappear. It is simply spread elsewhere.
I’m beginning to think you are being deliberately obtuse.

And I’m beginning to think you are using your “superior knowledge” to try and belittle me!! I have hosed the salt off of my small patio it is gone on a part where there are pebbles and grass and I have diluted it with a lot of water!!! I know my garden you do not so you’re spiky comments mean nothing to me..

Sorry, Polarbear I didn’t think! Chuckies, as Esspee says, are small stones or gravel. It’s a colloquial term, universally used in this area.

too late for the neighbour's ivy.
it's long since made it's way across this garden and strangled the far fence, our fence.
it's a dashed nuisance, but next door don't care, no hope of them reigning it in, or preferably, eradicating it.
i think it ought to be banned in any joined houses.
by its nature it doesn't stay put.
why i don't like the name too, connotations, clinging, destructive, poison.

My gardener uses a strimmer to take my weeds off to path level, and then a stiff garden brush to remove anything left. Yes they grow again, but they are easily dealt with.

I didn't fnid boiling water worked. I'm not a fan of the salt and vinegar method either due to the effect on wildlife that might encounter it. We lifted our patio stones and put down sheeting before replacing the patio stones. That keeps the weeds at bay. You can also pay someone to do it every now and then.

Use a hoe or spade to cut the top off the weeds before any other treatment then use salt to kill the roots. Gives a much tidier patio, rather than dying weeds.

We have one of those weed knife things-very effective. I agree about ivy-cut it at the base and keep at it!

Katie59

Use a hoe or spade to cut the top off the weeds before any other treatment then use salt to kill the roots. Gives a much tidier patio, rather than dying weeds.

Thanks Katie ??

OP you asked for organic solutions, are advised that salt and vinegar are toxic to wildlife then you keep justifying your decision to use them. Trust those of us who kindly gave of our time to advise you.
Water will have just spread the "treatment" you have applied thereby poisoning even more of your garden to wildlife.

Esspee

OP you asked for organic solutions, are advised that salt and vinegar are toxic to wildlife then you keep justifying your decision to use them. Trust those of us who kindly gave of our time to advise you.
Water will have just spread the "treatment" you have applied thereby poisoning even more of your garden to wildlife.

And I appreciate the advice but not the way you give it,very patronising!!” I’m beginning to think you are being deliberately obtuse“ how very rude!!

I would definitely prefer a pressure washer to a weed burner any day of the week.

You shouldn't use a weed burner in dry weather and the gas is heavy to transport, plus should be stored carefuly.

Argos stocks various reasonably priced pressure washers. I was unlucky with a Karcher model that broke down the second time we used it, so can't advise it.

Shinamae

MoorlandMooner

Oh my goodness that photo makes me so sad. Poor old nature.

What poor creatures, wild or domestic, are going to come to drink at that bowl on a boiling hot night and trail their feet and bodies through all that salt.

This is the RSPCA saying how dangerous salt is for animals.

All for a few weeds that would have taken 10 minutes to weed out by hand.

www.rspca.org.uk/documents/1494939/7712578/Rock+salt+poisoning+in+pets+%28PDF+101KB%29.pdf/663009e5-a4c0-44ed-1c88-a06376ccfd86?t=1559139782482#:~:text=Even%20a%20small%20amount%20of,of%20convulsions%20and%20kidney%20damage.

The salt is going to be washed away with a hosepipe in about an hours time

be careful where it goes, it will kill sutff in flower beds and your lawn just as well as the weeds.

With you all the way here Espee- breaks my heart.

My problem tops everyone else's. Two floods in five years, caused by overflowing street drains, have killed off so many good plants, including all perennials planted just before the flood two years ago. What's more, many noxious weeds that weren't there before took over and my garden is a wilderness. I can't cope with it and the garden maintenance company I took on last year was vastly expensive and made no lasting difference. My trees and shrubs, fortunately, are flourishing and the one flowering plant is a seemingly indestructible agapanthus which has been there for twenty years and now has masses of buds.

This talk of harming wildlife on a patio is way over the top, if you use salt or vinegar slugs and snails would certainly be affected, maybe mice too, I count that as a plus I don’t like snails crawling up my walls, possibly other reptiles too, do you get many frogs on your patio.

You have already decided to have a patio and remove the weeds for cosmetic reasons, if it bothers you that much leave the weeds alone.

PS glyphosate has been scientifically proved over 50 yrs not to harm wildlife.

Katie59

This talk of harming wildlife on a patio is way over the top, if you use salt or vinegar slugs and snails would certainly be affected, maybe mice too, I count that as a plus I don’t like snails crawling up my walls, possibly other reptiles too, do you get many frogs on your patio.

You have already decided to have a patio and remove the weeds for cosmetic reasons, if it bothers you that much leave the weeds alone.

PS glyphosate has been scientifically proved over 50 yrs not to harm wildlife.

'Way over the top' in your opinion.

The fact that you don't like slugs, mice and reptiles living in what is essentially their natural environment doesn't mean they should be killed there with salt.

The research into glyphosate to which I believe you refer was almost entirely funded by the weed killer industry which casts serious doubt on its impartiality.

Glyphosate has a detrimental effect on bees, impacting their activities and causing death.

p.s. Slugs are not reptiles.