Weeds and grass in gravel drive

I'd look into resurfacing it with something else. If it is a long driveway it is just too tough to keep the weeds down. Around here one can get ground up black top (from road projects) for the same price as gravel. Get a roller and smooth it out. While not as nice as a black top road it'll keep the weeds and dust down plus it is much less susceptible to turning into mush in a heavy rain. A lot of the Amish around here use it for the drives for their saw mills because of all the heavy logging trucks.

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you can buy coarse salt at the COOP - farmers use it on their wet hay to prevent mold.

Vinegar
Box blade on a tractor

...and when your dead and gone, they'll grow. Thaat's my opinion so I let em grow.

I guess the reason for my suggestion is that almost all "fix's" are temporary. Round-up, salt, vinegar, boiling water, ashes, torches, box-blading are all temporary fix's - you'll have to repeat the treatment every few months. If you're into being a slave to that kind of maintenance, have at it! We all have our own priorites and passions, a perfect driveway is not one of mine. But hey, if it floats your boat - go for it!

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Repetition still doesn't make it true, and some of the references don't even mention Round Up.

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Give it time, you'll get over it as bigger problems emerge.

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Thank you! Been saying this for years&years&years.

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We have almost a mile long gravel driveway and it easily will get overgrown during the rainy season. We have an agreement with the forest service to keep a 10' clear area on both sides of our driveway for fire prevention. I like to work smarter, not more, so I finally have a system where I weedwack in the spring as soon as I can get a week of nice weather and then spray with the Extended Roundup. If I do it in May, I get until August before I do it again. If I keep with that schedule I only have to do anything with the driveway twice a year. Did I mention that mile long driveway was on a 16% grade? It only took two years of hauling a sprayer up and down in the heat with regular Roundup every month before I figured out this system. We are not allowed to use the Flame things here during the summer months due to fire danger. If you watch for the Roundup to come on sale, get the Extended concentrate. And keep your receipt because there have been rebates on roundup during the summer months in the past.

CindyOR

I just stick my mule on the driveway every time the weeds get ankle-deep. He mows it nicely, and over time it comes to look like a closely cropped lawn. Very pretty. The only thing he doesn't go for is the chamomile, but we want that for ourselves anyway.

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You could just "oil" it. It will keep down the dust and greatly limit weed growth.

Just google dust control oil. If you wish you can even put chip and tar. It's much cheaper than blacktop and over time it will build a nice hard driveway.

So, you spray Roundup (Glyphosate), grass and weeds die, but a few months later, the grass and weeds grow back?

Is this not a good thing, concerning toxicity? Frankly, I'd be a little more concerned, if nothing ever grew back on the sprayed areas.

If you spray for flies, before too long, again, you will have flies.

Dale, what do you think about Monsanto creating GMO roundup ready seeds, i.e. seeds that are roundup resistant?

I don't use roundup because I despise Monsanto, their genetic tampering, their patent b.s. that is granted to them because they give BIG money to everyone involved in gov't, as well as what they do to small-scale farmers.

We're going to have to Roundup our drive too. The grass messes up the gravel. We had to add more gravel last fall. Without the gravel our drive is useless. We had horrible ruts and had difficulty getting in and out. We got stuck several times. The bus that drops DD off turns around in our drive also got stuck. IMO a weedy driveway is more than a looks thing.

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Got over 3/4 mile of driveway and put new gravel on the bottom third. My wife caught me when I started and made me keep the grass strip. I hog it once every couple weeks along with two strips down the sides. Takes less than 10 minutes.

I would think the brown dead weeds would look worse than the green.

If you have Oil Prod. near ask about salt brine!

blade down some dirt and have a brine hauler oil your drive. The brine/dirt combo makes an EXCELLENT paved surface, repeat application as necessary.

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The grass helps keep the gravel in place.

You know, this is one of those personal issue threads, like Cabin Fever said. If your grandson was a cancer survivor at age seven and your granddaughter had P.H.A.C.E., then you wouldn't mind grass in the gravel.

Thank you St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.

Thank you granpa Frank for finding a treatment.

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Sorry, didn't realize this thread was still alive!

In a free world, babies can be killed in the womb, gays can marry, and monsanto can be free to offer RR crops, whether any of these things are palatable or not. If farmers didn't want it they wouldn't use it voraciously, IMO. I am neutral on the GMO issue, as I see benefits with certain crops, in terms of total chemical use, and soil saving factors, with some potential problems, if and when this goes into wheat where it is not needed, many other crops, animal tinkering etc.

I don't have any feelings for monsanto either way. They are a company, not a person, so I really don't think of them much. I don't hate the oil companies, even though they cost a lot of money: They just exist, as monsanto does. And that is fine in a free world, IMO. You don't have to use monsanto's glyphosate at all. There are MANY other companies manufacturing glyphosate, so you do not have to patronize the company you despise. I don't like certain grocery stores due to customer service so I go elsewhere.

I am a small to medium sized farmer. They have yet to do a negatiive thing to me! I am not sure what you mean by what they do to small scale farmers. If you could clarify, I'd be happy to see if it has affeced me as a fairly small to medium sized grain farmer.

Dale

I completely agree that in a free world, you are a-okay unless you actively infringe on the rights of others. I have no angle on this, I am just interested in hearing what real farmers have to say on issues such as this.

Most people want improved, disease resistant seeds, and Monsanto fits the bill. However, the tactics Monsanto uses are insidious. They want, in the end, to be the end all be all for food supplies. Monsanto was the big money behind the food safety act. And, I find their genetic tampering with animals, and their desire to patent animals, terrifying.

Wikipedia may not be 100% accurate, I don't really know, but read about Monsanto there. Also, here is an article from CBS:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n4048288.shtml

If you google "monsanto sues small farmers" you'll see lots of stories. I'm a libertarian, so I don't have a "green" stance on this. I just find their tentacles within the government to be creepy.

I'm not a farmer, just a homesteader. I use heirloom seeds. I don't use any chemicals for health reasons, as I am allergic to just about everything.

As far as "weeds" go, I like them. Most are useful one way or another. If I were a large scale farmer I'm sure I would feel differently.

My best gravel area is the gravel well infiltrated with grass. The layer of fresher gravel with no grass is so loose we spin around in it at times and have gotten stuck when we first had it put down. I do have to cut the weeds and small trees back now and then since we rarely park there, only turn around there. Think of it, as I do, as a lawn you park on though with a lot of gravel in it making it better when wet than regular turf.

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I'd like to know this, too. We use weedkiller on fencelines, but we have to repeat it 2-3 times a season using 40 gallons of Roundup at a time.

There has to be something better~

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Beth ~ Old Church, VA
3 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 4 cats, 3 Pekin ducks and 7 chickens. One very patient husband~

LOL Right on!
I was going to say DRIVE ON IT!
Its important to remember not mow in a way that throws grass clippings and seed on the drive. The decomposing material makes a much better seedbed than gravel.