Killing weeds/grass with salt water!

NYlakesider

NYlakesider

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I know salt (Road Salt) will kill vegetation/trees along the roads.

What I’m wondering is could I use it (Rock salt) to kill unwanted grass and weeds that come up in my long gravel driveway/turn around area. I have been using strong chemicals (well strong as they now allow):mad: to control but we are getting a lot of turkeys and deer eating the stuff and my wife says see if there is something safer to control the grass/weeds.

Rock salt is plentiful and cheap and does anyone reading this have any thoughts of the subject?

Like how much by weight per galleon will do the job, or will it take many many applications over time to do i?. Will it do it at all? I have sprayers I could use to apply and if it works will be much safer for the wildlife.
 
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Yes, you can use salt but Roundup (glyphosate) is perfectly safe once it is dry. The generic version is cheaper and exactly the same.

Salt will corrode any metal in your sprayer.

Salt would be 2 parts water to 1 part salt
 
Rule3 said:
Yes, you can use salt but Roundup (glyphosate) is perfectly safe once it is dry. The generic version is cheaper and exactly the same.

Salt will corrode any metal in your sprayer.

Salt would be 2 parts water to 1 part salt
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Thank you. I have used chemicals for years, but now with all the animals coming around did not want to harm them.

:D My sprayers are cheep all plastic ones that we throw away at the end of the season. Salt damage would not be a concern!
 
venomballistics said:
vinegar and peroxide work very well and do not have the carry over issues of salt.
when you salt soil heavily enough to kill stuff off, it becomes and remains unproductive for a few years.
Vinegar method does its thing and fades away.
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That would be perfect:D its a driveway and I want nothing growing there at all(Ever). I would be putting it on with a couple gallon sprayer so I can well control where the spray goes.
 
Sometimes I think salt works like fertilizer , I live in the Catskill mountains (on top of one) they spread salt so heavy on the roads it makes like 6 inches of salt slush, then they plow it off the road to the edge, needless to say the weeds grow like crazy along the edge of the road.... I use roundup . Haven't had any problems with wildlife with it.
 
NYlakesider said:
That would be perfect:D its a driveway and I want nothing growing there at all(Ever). I would be putting it on with a couple gallon sprayer so I can well control where the spray goes.
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try both.
I like the vinegar peroxide mix.
it's not as good as agent orange, but it sure does try;)
a bottle of peroxide to a gallon jug of vinegar is the usual solution.
 
I'd be worried about the runoff. I've got a limestone driveway and am happy with using roundup. I've seen what salt water does to the crop fields and fresh marsh after flooding from hurricanes down here and it ain't pretty.
 
kenv1950 said:
Sometimes I think salt works like fertilizer , I live in the Catskill mountains (on top of one) they spread salt so heavy on the roads it makes like 6 inches of salt slush, then they plow it off the road to the edge, needless to say the weeds grow like crazy along the edge of the road.... I use roundup . Haven't had any problems with wildlife with it.
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Like you I live on a mountain ( Adirondacks only about 100' up though):D It goes up much farther behind my property!

Our road crew thinks salting and sanding is a Olympic event and their looking for a gold medal. Our highway crew prides themselves in using a very benign road spray so as you say stuff seem to grow OK.

In my case I want a much more nastier mix. There are many different products for melting ice. Real rock salt is not used by our highway crew (and possibly yours) one thing they add up here is some sort of cranberry juice to their mix!
 
If you have other animals around they will naturally lick the salt. If it is just in your driveway then they have liquid fence which will prevent anything from growing for a long time.

A gravel drive will be a continuing job, Kill one weed and another will grow some where else.

I live in the land of 12 month weeds, Roundup generic is the choice of Pros everywhere.

Get a propane roofing torch it is more fun the burn the suckers!!

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This is a good time of year to buy those type products. I bought a couple bottles of stuff called Ground Clear by Ortho from Kmart years ago for a dollar clearance. Great for driveways where you want nothing to grow.
 
I use a propane weeding torch myself...ie a flame thrower. The 500,000 btu model sounds like a jet engine on turbo mode and can shoot a blast of flame perhaps 30 feet. They hook up to BBQ tanks. They are actually quite "green" and environmentally safe leaving no chemical residue.

I used mine to kill ants, burn ditches, weed the garden, edge fences.... It was an excellent value at $50.

Smaller models that run on the same cylinders as camping stoves or propane torches can also be had
 
Ditto the propane torch. I use it on the driveway and along fence lines. It's also great for lighting up my semi-annual burn pile. What about pulling? If you kill a weed with roundup, you still gotta pull it up so why not just pull it? The torch will vaporize them.
 
chaparrito said:
Ditto the propane torch. I use it on the driveway and along fence lines. It's also great for lighting up my semi-annual burn pile. What about pulling? If you kill a weed with roundup, you still gotta pull it up so why not just pull it? The torch will vaporize them.
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For both above posters I assume you can get this at a place like "Tractor Supply"?

After you burn them off how long before they come back?

As Arty Johnson used to say VERRRRY INTERESTING!
 
I used to use it all the time, you can buy a 100lb bag of rocksalt and spread it along your drive way and wet it down with the hose.
 
venomballistics said:
when killing with fire .... does this matter?
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Possibly if something else kills the roots.

Then again it appears that burning is quick and could be done at a easy walk. If it only needs doing a couple times a growing season definitely not a problem.

Being a now retired 40 year welder I have sure had a lot of torches in my hand over the years,:D but I just never considered using one for that purpose.:cool:
 
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