weed flame thrower good on block paved driveway?

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cordyman

weed flame thrower good on block paved driveway?

Post by cordyman »

Anyone use a weed flame thrower ?

Seen one in Wilkinsons. Block paved driveway is constantly weed ridden. Sick of using weed killer and manually picking them out.

How effective would they be at the back of my borders to fry the horse tail weed?
GoggleboxUK

Re: weed flame thrower good on block paved driveway?

Post by GoggleboxUK »

I just use rock salt in mine. It alters the pH of the soil between the blocks and everything shrivels and dies. I've only had to do it once in 3 years.

;)
Trudytropics

Re: weed flame thrower good on block paved driveway?

Post by Trudytropics »

Cordyman I have seen these flame throwers advertised and demonstrated on shopping channels, I would save your money. It takes a while to kill one weed, then you have to bend down to get out charred remains, or I would anyway, I think on a drive it would be very tedious, as for the horsetail, a systemic weedkiller would be better IMO, and keep on top of it. :D

I clean my blocking paving, pulling out bigger weeds by hand, spraying moss inbetween blocks with a chemical off the shelf algae/moss killer, leave it a few days then power wash. Once bone dry re sand. Can take a couple of days, result is clean like new drive, also weeds kept at bay for another year. If you have block paving a certain amount of maintenance is crucial, I keep mine tip top but others neighbours drives look hideous with weeds. One of my near neighbours is selling their house, they say kerb appeal can sell a house, in that case their house won't ever sell. Why? block paved drive has been left too long, its dirty and full of weeds. It looks disgusting but lazy bleeders won't do anything about it :x
cordyman

Re: weed flame thrower good on block paved driveway?

Post by cordyman »

cant seem to find anywhere locally that sells these anyway, Wilkinsons dont have them anymore, nor b+q, wickes, homebase etc.

Once I get my pressure washer fixed i'll blast the driveway, and resand with some rocksalt mixed in :)
Conifers
Posts: 13147
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:11 pm
Location: Northumbs

Re: weed flame thrower good on block paved driveway?

Post by Conifers »

I'd avoid the salt - you need quite a lot to kill all the weeds, enough to give nasty side results, like salt seeping out into the surrounding beds and killing more sensitive choice plants, and also ruining shoes (and carpets too, when it gets tracked into the house).
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Adam D
Posts: 3574
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:47 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: weed flame thrower good on block paved driveway?

Post by Adam D »

My Granddad used to have a flame thrower that must have come from the 50s/60s and that was awesome, quite different to the feeble efforts of today.

You filled it up with paraffin and then pumped it up to increase the pressure and then lit the end of it. It roared like a jet engine and it completely incinerated the weeds, there was nothing left. Granddad also used to use it on the slugs and snails :twisted:
Andy P

Re: weed flame thrower good on block paved driveway?

Post by Andy P »

I used to put a weedkiller called ` Pathclear` on my driveway. I also have a block paved driveway and it`s quite large. It was brilliant. I`d only have to treat it about once every 2 years and i never got weeds. It was fairly cheap and hassle free. I went to buy some more about 2 years ago and the price had shot up and it was in different packaging. I started to wonder if it was the same product so i did a little research on the net. Turns out ..... due to some new EEC directive ....... Most of the ingredients that had previously been in ` pathclear` had been banned and it was now a very expensive and watered down product being sold under the same name. Many reviews i read about it on the net were very damming and i came to the conclusion that it was now less than useless, and certainly not worth the money.Would also like to know if anyone could recommend anything as i think since these new EEC directives have come in, there aren`t any decent weedkillers on sale in the UK.
Andy
jungle jas

Re: weed flame thrower good on block paved driveway?

Post by jungle jas »

Hi,
I'm with Adam on this one, go and find an old one from a junk shop or car boot and when you have annihilated everything in site give it the kids!!!!!! They can play solders with flame throwers like I used to, great fun. icon_rambo
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