Weeding the drive

kleefarr

It's nearly that time of year again.

The drive is small blocks and always gets moss and a few weeds in the joins.
I took ages last year clearing it. Blasted everything out of the joins with a pressure washer and then spent ages filling in all the gaps.
This year thought I would do a weed kill and leave for a couple of weeks. Then gently pressure wash the dead weeds off.
Then use a sealer.

I saw this method on telly, but have a couple of questions..

1. What would be your recommended long term weedkiller
2. Sealer? Any good recommendations?

Thanks.

Myggel

I'd recommend firstly pulling up (or powerwashing away) all the weeds.

When the drive is clear, put down chemicals to prevent them growing back.

Keep putting down chemicals to keep them down, every week/fortnight. They're resiliant little ba$tards!

Sonnenblumen

2 very good systemic (kill foliage + root) weedkillers, both take 5-7 days to do the job:

Casoron G (use to be available in consumer packs as 'EasyWeed') granules, but very effective, remains active for 6-9+ months thus inhibiting any new germination. Simply brush into joints, sprinkle area with water after a few days if no rain.

Roundup - spray area during a dry spell, very easy and very effective.

I'm not convinced by the effectiveness of 'sealers' claims, in fact there is evidence that some will actually cause the stone to darken!

An annual power wash is better, and/or apply a fungicide to deal with lichen etc.

Discodog

Just remember that systemics will only work if there is some leaf to adsorb the chemical. Also they won't prevent fresh germination in the way that eg Hytrol will.