gravel driveway weeds, argh!

[bellweather]

I have a 600' gravel driveway and each summer I go around with a tank and sprayer wand to spot kill weeds with Roundup. It's time consuming but pretty effective. For some reason, this year the weeds are thick and spot spraying will be a lot of work, requiring frequent trips to the house to refill the 1-gallon tank.

I looked at tow-behind tank sprayers which hold 15 or more gallons, some of them have electric pumps which run off the tractor battery. Looks like a good option, except that the spray nozzles seem designed to broadcast the material in a wide fine mist, and I don't want to overspray beyond the driveway edge (lawn and flower beds). Are there any good options for this? I was thinking of making a towable gravity feed drip affair, using a large tank and a 5' rigid tube with a series of small holes along the length.

Also any cheaper alternatives to Roundup?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[clemsonfor]

I have a 600' gravel driveway and each summer I go around with a tank and sprayer wand to spot kill weeds with Roundup. It's time consuming but pretty effective. For some reason, this year the weeds are thick and spot spraying will be a lot of work, requiring frequent trips to the house to refill the 1-gallon tank.

I looked at tow-behind tank sprayers which hold 15 or more gallons, some of them have electric pumps which run off the tractor battery. Looks like a good option, except that the spray nozzles seem designed to broadcast the material in a wide fine mist, and I don't want to overspray beyond the driveway edge (lawn and flower beds). Are there any good options for this? I was thinking of making a towable gravity feed drip affair, using a large tank and a 5' rigid tube with a series of small holes along the length.

Also any cheaper alternatives to Roundup?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

The lower your put the boom or wand the less the chemical will drift.

I really cant think of a cheaper chemical alternative.


Are you calling Glyphosate (the actual chemical in roundup) Roundup just because of the trade name, kind of like SCOTCH tape or POST-IT notes. If your actually using roundup the brand you can save half by just using a generic Glyphosate in 41% concentrate. You can buy it in gallon or 2.5 gallon jugs at landscape places or TSC or Agrisupply. Just for reference i bought 2.5 gallons of 41% GLY with 12% surfactant from Agri-supply this year for $35. The local landscape place is around $55 and TSC is about $50 as well for the same size. Compare that to the offbrand GLY at walmart in a pint bottle that sells for like $7!

 

[bellweather]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I use the Roundup brand and I buy it at the hardware store. Good to know about the generic chemical which is available in bulk...sounds like a big savings!

Regarding lowering the boom on a sprayer. All the models I've checked into (on the web) appear to have a fixed position boom with a spray nozzle at either end.

 

[nybirdman]

I built a drip system to water my remote garden,have a second for round-up.
You could do the same with a small trailer.

 

[Soundguy]

go buy yourself a bag of cheap calcium chlorida dry wheel ballast.. mix it up and put that down on the weeds. virtually guarantees you of not having them come back up unless they are sea oats or something..

soundguy

I have a 600' gravel driveway and each summer I go around with a tank and sprayer wand to spot kill weeds with Roundup. It's time consuming but pretty effective. For some reason, this year the weeds are thick and spot spraying will be a lot of work, requiring frequent trips to the house to refill the 1-gallon tank.

I looked at tow-behind tank sprayers which hold 15 or more gallons, some of them have electric pumps which run off the tractor battery. Looks like a good option, except that the spray nozzles seem designed to broadcast the material in a wide fine mist, and I don't want to overspray beyond the driveway edge (lawn and flower beds). Are there any good options for this? I was thinking of making a towable gravity feed drip affair, using a large tank and a 5' rigid tube with a series of small holes along the length.

Also any cheaper alternatives to Roundup?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[troutsqueezer]

I bought a 16 gallon sprayer from Northern Tools which mounts on the back of my ATV. Plugs into the 12V outlet. The wand is adjustable and will give a focused stream instead of a fan pattern. Been using it on my 700' of gravel driveway for years. It's a no-sweat operation.

Also, the local John Deere Landscaping Supplies store sells the concentrated Roundup for much cheaper than Home Depot or other retail outlets.

 

[om21braz]

Also any cheaper alternatives to Roundup?

IMHO, RoundUp brand QuikPro is about as cheap as you can get with good results. The 6.8lb. jug (approx. $70) makes 70+ gallons at the 1.5oz. to 1 gal. rate. Plus it has the addition of Diquat for quicker foilage relief.

 

[Soundguy]

salt's cheaper...

 

[bellweather]

nybirdman - that's pretty much what I had in mind! I assume you used perforated tubes or drilled small holes?

troutsqueezer - the ones I saw on NT have one nozzel on each end of the boom. when you focus the spray pattern, does that leave a big gap in the coverage? requiring multiple passes?

Thanks guys

 

[clemsonfor]

IMHO, RoundUp brand QuikPro is about as cheap as you can get with good results. The 6.8lb. jug (approx. $70) makes 70+ gallons at the 1.5oz. to 1 gal. rate. Plus it has the addition of Diquat for quicker foilage relief.

The glyphosate i listed is Way cheaper than that. At the dose rate your using 1.5oz/gallon i can make 213 gallons for less than $37 with tax. THats 3 times the tank mix for half the price your using.

NO need for additional chemicals for anything up to some of the tougher brush species.

Im a licensed pesticide/herbicide applicator. Only reason i mention this is to put validity to my responses.