Driveway weeds, begone!

[fungussingstheblues]

I have a monoblock driveway as do lots of my neighbours. Theirs look fine, perhaps the odd dandelion or sprig of grass popping through the cracks. Mine looks like an urban jungle.

I have tried boiling salted water, wasted £50 on a fecking weed burner that only seemed to encourage stronger, greener growth, hoiked them out manually with those hook-y things and sprayed weedkiller between the cracks (a squirty bottle –haven't tried the heavy-duty backpack with power spray thing, but I feel that's going a bit far...). Nothing seems to keep them at bay for more than a couple of weeks and I don't see my neighbours out there slaving over theirs every fortnight.

Why do I have such a fertile driveway? The only thing I can think of now is sand between the cracks to suffocate them – will this work? Or does anyone have any better ideas?

Ooh, I'm following for ideas.

My DH has bought some weird contraption with a wire wheel on a stick that spins super fast and rips and burns the weeds.
No idea if it’s any good yet as we haven’t tried it out yet

We have the same particularly on the back patio which I suspect wasn't laid properly with impermeable membrane underneath - maybe yours is the same. I still haven't sorted it as I don't want to use weedkiller back there but if you weren't bothered then roundup every few weeks should definitely kill them.

My mum done hers too and within 2 weeks they were bk up. She spent days getting them out. You need to get the special paving sand and resand the entire drive after all the weeds are out. You can buy it from b&q etc but would probably need quite a bit of it. You brush it in to all the cracks.

Getting rid of weeds once established is difficult as the seeds might start growing in the gaps between the pavers but now the roots are established in the sand underneath the blocks.

If you going to use weedkiller you might need strong glyphosate, ideally sprayed during dry hot weather. This would need repeating every few months.

You can try to powerwash the driveway and reseed the driveway about 2 weeks after spraying strong weedkiller then after its dried use kiln dried sand to replace it.

You can get acrylic sealer to firm up the sand making it harder for weeds to take root or use polymeric sand which does a similar job. Even then the driveway needs a wash down every few months and ants can still disturb the sand letting weeds grow

Ultimately if you want to keep a block driveway weed clear maintenance is needed. I suppose your neighbours may have sealed there driveway or if they have had lots of oil leaks this might have poisoned the ground for plants etc.

You might need, not glyphosate, but a persistent weedkiller desunged to stop re-growth, with a name like "pathclear". Don't use it on your flower beds or you won't be able to grow anything in them for a long time.

Thanks, all - I think I will go down the environmentally friendly route with sand first, before stuff that'll kill everything known to man... B&Q beckons tomorrow, I think!

DH uses something like pathclear. We also get quite a bit of moss/lichen, for which he uses PatioMagic.
Afaik block paving is supposed to have sand between the blocks so sounds like you should resend it whatever else you do. But I doubt it will harm the existing weeds - dandelions can push through tarmac.

Don't forget if you are going to resand the blocks etc needed to be bone dry for the sand to fill and drop into the gaps. It usual to clean the driveway then resend after 2 to 3 dry days later.

If you do nothing to treat the weeds they will be back in weeks at most

I love moss and lichen, the birds and insects do too. (and the weeds too of course) Such a shame to ruin the environment because the neighbours do the same, or maybe they have put cement between their stones not sand, something you could try.

Fungussing You don't seem to want to spray nasty chemicals have the courage of your convictions!!!!

I love moss and lichen, the birds and insects do too. (and the weeds too of course)
Can’t speak for the OP, but my driveway is dry and sunny and therefore no moss and lichen but there is an abundance of shockingly big dandelions, wild buddleja, brambles as well as chives, alyssum and other self seeded plants/flowers from my garden.
It’s a real eyesore tbh, my DH and me struggle to keep on top of it hence the spinny wire wheel thing DH has bought and the plants have damaged the driveway, some of the stones are dangerously loose.
It needs complete re doing but we can’t afford that yet

My block paving is a mass of harebells except where the cars are. Happy with that!

Simple boiling water keeps my patio clear. Surely Pathclear would do it.

I would spray with weedkiller and simply expect to have to do this fairly regularly. There are lots of airborne seeds as well as seeds buried in the soil beneath the block paving. I expect this is what your neighbours are doing!

There are some weedkillers available that are residual and are supposed to stay effective for a while, but tbh I wouldn't be that optimistic and just plan on respraying to keep on top of it.

I love moss and lichen

In the right place... but it can get slippery so not what we want on a surface other people have to walk on.

Cement between the stones would presumably result in water running off rather than soaking in between the blocks which afaik isn't a good idea.

"Cement between the stones would presumably result in water running off rather than soaking in between the blocks which afaik isn't a good idea."

Very difficult to apply without staining the blocks too and generally not a good idea if the pavers are laid on flexible bed e.g sand etc
.

Paving on a flexible bed use flexible jointing. Pavers on a fixed bed use fixed jointing e.g cement

We have the same problem. Our neighbours have a front garden with no boundary between us and them and they never weed it so the things spread. Some of it is purple flowers but the rest are brambles and so on. I've tried burning them, getting rid of them with a wire brush, a pressure washer and so on but nothing works. There's no point in me using weedkiller because until next door control their garden it's going to be an ongoing process. I go out and pull them up and leave them on their garden now.

Yeah Noodles why worry about the birds or insects eh? They are all declining fast. The agroprairefarmers are terrifying with their insecticide\pesticide use, we shouldn't add to the problem.

Boiling water as tornadoalley says, if done enough will work . Pathclear is not benign.

@ppeatfruit

Yeah Noodles why worry about the birds or insects eh? They are all declining fast. The agroprairefarmers are terrifying with their insecticide\pesticide use, we shouldn't add to the problem.

Boiling water as tornadoalley says, if done enough will work . Pathclear is not benign.

Does the boiling water really work ? How often do you do it and is it effective actually on the weeds?

Yes ,but as I said it needs to be done quite often in the growing season. Probably best under pressure . Though that would be bad for paving in the long run.

Most sprays don't work very well anyway unless administered frequently. Non organic apples are sprayed 26 or it maybe 21 times, fgs!

Does the boiling water really work ? How often do you do it and is it effective actually on the weeds?

It may work on weeds; it also works on insects - DF used to use it on red ants. It will kill or maim whatever living is there at the time, which isn't the case for all weed killers. I suppose as it leaves no residues new populations can immediately move in and there's no chance of toxicity but I can't see how it's a benign solution either.

I dig out larger weeds with an old knife so we don't treat our drive very often. But I can't see how monoblock paving is ever going to be much of a source of food for birds...plenty elsewhere in the garden.

I'm afraid glyphosate seems to be the only effective solution that i've found. we've lived here 20 years and this is the first year i've used it. you need to wait around 14 days before they wilt and die off too. a few new ones have come up so i need to spray again and i hope there will be even less next year. we have block paviours all around our bungalow and on the drive plus a gravel parking area. i've just spot sprayed where the actual weeds are.

have you asked your neighbours how they keep the weeds off theirs?

I’m so glad you’re going for the environmentally friendly approach OP

Get some ammonium sulphamate, it breaks down into harmless chemicals.

Boiling water definitely works. My patio is totally clear. It has to be boiling.