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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 21 Oct 2020 04:17pm
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Anyone have a solution for keeping Grass/Weeds out of your Gravel or Dirt Driveway?
I have not put down gravel yet. So maybe road fabric?
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Irrigation Guy
Member
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# Posted: 21 Oct 2020 04:32pm
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Herbicide
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lburners
Member
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# Posted: 21 Oct 2020 06:45pm
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Leave em roots minimize erosion 
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jhp
Member
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# Posted: 21 Oct 2020 07:00pm
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It will be a neverending battle no matter what you do.
I just mow it like it was part of the lawn. The more grassy parts I mow extra low and it usually kills off pretty early in the year after it dries up.
I don't think fabric will help you with the weeds - maybe stop the ground from "absorbing" your gravel some but the weeds will just grow from the top down with whatever dirt and silt washes in above.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 22 Oct 2020 07:11am
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Road fabric is really good stuff but if you dont have a solid packed top layer of your driveway it will still grow weeds. Either way if theres an area that you cant drive due to it being soft put road fabric down. It keeps the mud from pumping up through the gravel.
On our home we have an old gravel drive and have weeds in the middle. I use a weed burner on some but the rest is a lost cause. I dont feel that the use of chemicals is really needed for a pure visual thing. On Poison ivy I spay round up like its free.
They do make a more natural weed killer called "burn out" I got 4 jugs to try for next year.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 22 Oct 2020 11:33am
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I've been fighting it for years at my house. Spray it, burn it, give up.
But a couple of years ago, on my side yard (see gopher thread), I had some old plastic tarps laying around, and one winter I covered the yard with them to keep the dog out of the mud. In the spring I pulled up the tarps and was surprised to see the formerly weed covered yard barren as the moon. And it has stayed that way.
I might tarp a section of my driveway this winter and drive over it just to see what happens.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 23 Oct 2020 10:23am - Edited by: paulz
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Quoting: Brettny Road fabric
Speaking of road fabric.. i bought 600 ft. of it a few years ago. Was going to use it on my hill but found out it's not recommended for grades. I finally put about 200ft. of it down last year on a flat muddy section that gets a lot of water runoff, and covered it with road base. It did work well at keeping the road base on top. However to do it properly I think you need to do it right. A road roller to firmly compact the dirt underneath, a thick layer of road base on top and again another roller to compact that. Without that, my surface became uneven, not that it can't be fixed with more road base and compaction.
A friend of mine makes the argument that it might be better to have the road base compact into the dirt underneath. I have done that on my hill where I can't use the fabric and it does seem to work, however being a hill it has no mud puddles to deal with.
I'm laying down more road base next week and on the fence about where to use the road fabric. On a flat area that does not receive runoff it might not be necessary.
As for grass and weeds, I don't get any where I put down the fabric so can't say.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 23 Oct 2020 10:41am
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I to couldn't use it on my hill. I did at the driveway apron and with 2 loads of stone on it (16yrds) I saw the next load pop the clutch in reverse and the whole 16yrds on the ground shifted.
Water and time along with normal traffic will compact the ground. I'm currently packing my hill every time i drive in and out. On the flat/swamp area I layed logs down, then road fabric then 2in stone on that. All slightly compacted with my mini Ex. Crowning the top layer really helps to keep water off the road thus keeping a hard surface and keeping seeds running off.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 23 Oct 2020 11:08am
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Yeah I run my small 6,500lb. skid steer over to compact. My neighbor has a tow behind, water filled roller I can borrow, maybe 3-500 gallon I'm guessing. Not sure it would be any better.
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spoofer
Member
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2020 10:52pm
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White Vinegar works great to kill weeds and is not harmful to the environment. Spray full strength on a string of sunny days. Cheap too! A gallon is about a Buck.
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jsahara24
Member
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# Posted: 26 Oct 2020 11:38am
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Quoting: spoofer White Vinegar works great to kill weeds and is not harmful to the environment. Spray full strength on a string of sunny days. Cheap too! A gallon is about a Buck.
I've used vinegar and it does work, just not quite as good as roundup.....I added a bit of dish soap to help the vinegar stick to the vegetation....
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