Anyone used a gas weed burner?

[Watellz]

Are these effective? Easy to use? Any recommendations?

Besides the obvious be careful not to cause a fire, are there any cons to using one?

The weeds grow back

Burners are effective at killing most annual weeds. Perennial weeds such as buttercups and dandelions will regrow.

Yes. PIL bought one and gave it to us before they got round to it. It's been effective so far. And fun!

We haven't used ours in years, it feels satisfying at first but the weeds don't die straight away, you are left with patio cracks full of dead/dying weeds, anything with a tap root grows back again very quickly, it's slower but much more satisfying/effective to dig them out with a weed tool.

Yes really good but you have to be persistent to get rid of things like brambles, cut back to the roots and give a good fry. And repeat on annuals as well through the growing season, but feels much better than using weedkillers and weeding our block paving would be a nightmare. The gas canisters get very cold in use and then don't work well, so useful to be able to swap canisters during prolonged use to make the best use of the gas.

Good fun but I stopped using mine after noticing it leaves scorch marks on the block paving

I had one but wasn't totally happy wandering round the garden with a potentially explosive gas cannister in my hand!
I've now got a weed wand that works off mains electricity instead. It says that it is multi-functional: general weedkiller, spot weedkiller, paint remover and BBQ lighter. The main drawback is considering what else might catch light: wooden sheds, plastic netting, etc
I got it from Aldi when it was on Special Buy but you can buy it from other places.

I did but totally forgot until you mentioned it! I seem to remember it felt like overkill and left scorch marks. I only used it once and have no clue where it went!

Our neighbours had one used it in his line of work all the time then brought it home to use on the front drive and while using it the wind picked up and he lost the huge fir tree, the guttering facias and front door.
999 was called to put out the fire and next door were panicking as they had 2 huge gas bottles on the neighbouring fence.

I would worry about the little creatures living amongst the weeds.

Agree. We need those creatures!

I certainly don't want to hurt the creatures but am struggling to find anything that kills the weeds without causing damage to nature. Was using boiling water and salt but believe that can make soil unusable

I certainly don't want to hurt the creatures but am struggling to find anything that kills the weeds without causing damage to nature.
I don't see how anyone can garden without causing some collateral damage. I try to be as eco as possible but I also accept that I can't save every last little creature.

Teasing out or pulling out weeds with a hoe or trowel seems to me the way of causing least collateral damage.

Boiling water, salt, weedkiller all leave the weed anyway, albeit dead, so you still have to pull it out. You might as well cut out the middleman and just weed.

I got one from LIDL but could never bring myself to use it. There was just something really horrible about torching a living plant, I couldn't bring myself to do it! 😬 Pathetic, I know 😆 God knows why I bought it!

I have one and it is quite fun but you have to stand there frying each individual weed for ages. Also mine is not quite long enough to stand up straight while doing it.

I accidentally set my neighbour’s lawn on fire with one. I got the dial for turning the flame up and down the wrong way round so instead of turning the flame down I turned it up instead and the dry edge of her grass went up in flames.

DH now deals with the weeds but tends to just take the strimmer over the driveway instead of a weed burner because the smell started to linger in our house when the windows were open.

If you are worried about setting fire to things take a bucket of water with you just in case, or have a hose nearby. If it's dry and windy better leave it till another day.

You only have to wilt the leaves not burn until incinerated (unless trying to get rid of bramble roots!). Probably that is why some people have scorched paving by leaving the flame in one place too long.