The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: HesterF on February 23, 2014, 04:54:24 pm
-
We have loads of gravel paths and a big gravel courtyard as well as plenty of paved/brick areas. I was hoping to stay on top of the weeds by hand but by the end of last season was struggling. So for this season I was going to go over it all with a back-pack and weedkiller. But I've just been perusing the Harrod Horticultural catalogue (one of my favourite things to do) and saw they have two weed wand/flame gun type things. Have any of you used them? Are they worth it? Easy to use? Easy to cover a large area? Do they kill the weed completely or will they just come back from the roots (in which case I'm better off with a systemic weedkiller)?
Thanks
Hester
-
Hi Hester, I found the back pack thing a pest actually and I just ended up making up the mixture in a designated watering can and using it, it was quicker.
We inherited here a weed want of humungous proportions - its a calor gas bottle on a wheelie thing with a big wand attached to it. Much more of an industrial scale than a domestic version and you just torch everything in site.
We're just about to lay a large gravel area and it's a must have I'd say.
-
Well I went for it! I've got to clear our fence line prior to planting windbreak hedging so I reckoned it's wet enough I could probably do it with that without risking a field fire. Then started to think of all the other places I could do with blasting weeds and it just sort of bought itself! I'm now expecting miracles.
-
I have a flame gun but I use it only for killing red mites in the polytunnel and henhouses. I worry that out in the open ground too many insects, spiders and so on are being frazzled. They are great fun though and fuel the amateur pyromaniac in us all :excited:
-
Ooooh, yes, add that to the list! At this rate I'll be lighting the log burner and bonfires, perfecting crème brulee, scorching the bee hives, blasting red mite and writing messages across the lawn. The world is my oyster ;D.
-
:roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
I haven't tried the crème brulee but we always use the flame gun for bonfires now - saves singeing your eyebrows from using a match, or ending up in the Burns Unit from throwing on petrol :o
-
:roflanim: what about that unwanted hair on the bikini line :D
actually, another serious addictive toy is a strimmer, you can start going mad with it and strim everything in site and then regret it later of course :D
-
Oh no, it's going nowhere near my lady bits :) - no doubt the sort of thing my husband would have tried in his rugby playing days.
Personally I hate our strimmer. It seems to eat cord and I can never get it to feed properly (that light tap just doesn't ever work). Mind you, husband has used to successfully so I might give it another go sometime when I'm feeling high on patience.
-
i found them quite expensive over the area we needed so resorted to weedkiller, though i hate using that. weedgun is more fun though. now we have more bargain shops here the gas is alot cheaper so i spose it depends on how much the refills are.
-
This one will run on paraffin. No idea how much it'll drink - or even where to buy quantities bigger than 1l bottles. I thought I'd try the camping/bbq/lawnmower shop tomorrow to see whether they'll do bigger quantities for less.
-
First flame throwing attempts today! Turns out the local garage sells paraffin from the pump (mostly for heating, I believe). It's slower work than I'd hoped. I managed to clear about 20m of grass along the fence line to help prep for the hedge planting - that took the best part of 3 hours! So I reckon it'll be a full time job for a wee while to clear the whole 200m. Mind you the grass is still really wet - and it continues to rain on and off - so a lot of the heat is just going into drying the grass before actually burning it. The big upside is that weedkiller would be even less effective at the moment.
-
Yep, too slow for the clearing. I think it'll be good for spot weed clearing the gravel and paving but I resorted to spraying weedkiller today. I reckoned it was taking me 15mins per square metre with the flame gun and could do the same area in less than a minute with the weedkiller. Mind you, it remains to be seen how effective the week killer will be.
-
the trick I was taught with the flame gun is not to burn the weeds in one go, just scorch them 1 week and then they will die back and can be burnt clean in no time the next week. remember that this will also germinate weed seeds that are killed in the second pass
-
It said that in the instructions too. I wasn't sure how much scorched they meant. I aimed to get everything blackened - and that's what took 15 mins. Clearing it entirely would have taken much longer.
-
two seconds is long enough you just need to pop the outer cells. do it in frosty conditions an d it may work quicker, although I like the theory I never tried it
-
Frosty? I'm hoping we've seen the back of frost for this year - otherwise fruit harvest isn't hopeful. I've sprayed the fenceline now with systemic and will do it with something else in a couple of days to kill off the tops straight away (didn't realise systemics can take up to four weeks for the damage to show and it needs to be cleared in two, ideally sooner but at least the roots will now go as well). But I'll be using the flame gun on all the paths and paving and there it is perfect.
-
This one will run on paraffin. No idea how much it'll drink - or even where to buy quantities bigger than 1l bottles. I thought I'd try the camping/bbq/lawnmower shop tomorrow to see whether they'll do bigger quantities for less.
It might also run on standard heating oil , perhaps a diesel mixture or common painters white spirit ( In bulk 20 litre drums ) if you have it , though you'll have to get a nice & hot vaporiser hot to start with .
The pressure you pump it up to will determine the fuel consumption so don't always have a portable volcano on the business end .
-
Weirdly it turned out that our local garage has it on the pump - and is the only place around here to stock it - because they supply for normal domestic use. It does get through it quite quickly and would have been mighty expensive to clear the whole area. Weedkiller did the job but I do like the volcano approach - so satisfying and immediate. Given the geese keep destroying the weed matting in the orchard and I don't want to use weedkillers around them, I might use it for keeping the trees clear too (although will need to do part by hand as I guess tree trunks don't appreciate being scorched).
-
:idea: Put a goose or three in a simple pig wire portable rolled pen that surrounds a tree trunk for a day or so & they will cut the grass round the trunk for you , whilst at the time also providing free fertilizer for the tree directly where it is needed . . :roflanim:
-
I have both but use weedkiller monthly on the driveways, only use the gun in the grass areas
-
Weirdly it turned out that our local garage has it on the pump - and is the only place around here to stock it - because they supply for normal domestic use. It does get through it quite quickly and would have been mighty expensive to clear the whole area. Weedkiller did the job but I do like the volcano approach - so satisfying and immediate. Given the geese keep destroying the weed matting in the orchard and I don't want to use weedkillers around them, I might use it for keeping the trees clear too (although will need to do part by hand as I guess tree trunks don't appreciate being scorched).
My friends used Grazon 90 in their orchard to clear nettles & all other weeds . They complied with all the safety requirements and did a section at a time .
Once it had killed the weeds they cut the grass ( at 6 inches tall ) , twice , raked it up each time and burnt it when dry .
The geese were then put in the orchard behind electric fencing for slowing down Mr fox , a night shed ( fox proof) was towed in the orchard to put them in
Their foot deep water bath ( bottom of one of the big square palletized liquid containers with a 2 inch tap drain in it,
It was put on a home made very low trailer that had a drop down access ramp for them to get up to it & a small ramp for them to exit out the water easily .
They moved it around if the grass was suffering , it was power washed out at least once a week .
-
Searched to find this thread - i'm thinking of getting a weed wand (butane type) - any recommendations? Just for a small area round my raised beds and on the driveway, oh and a flower bed that's got overgrown.
-
Mine was from Harrod Horticultural. After my initial burst of enthusiasm, I haven't used it much :-( Mind you, I've been pretty useless at removing weeds by any method recently!
-
Mine was from Harrod Horticultural. After my initial burst of enthusiasm, I haven't used it much :-( Mind you, I've been pretty useless at removing weeds by any method recently!
:roflanim: Sooooo with you. I fancy a blaster, but if we havnt finished the job with a striker, scythe and grazon....not sure a burner will help. It about hours on the field isn't it.