STUPID WEED Best way to get rid of weed between concrete slabs?

[Zeze]

My drive way consists of huge concrete slab tiles like the crappy google pic above. Between the cracks, I'm getting gnarly crab grass that's very unsightly. Using weed killer constantly time consuming and it's a losing battle. I'm looking for a more permanent solution.

The space between tiles can be quite wide, up to one inch.,

1. Can't I just pour fvcking paint in the gap?

2. Use External sealant?

3. How about quickcrete?

4. Something like this? https://trim-a-slab.com/ But looks expensive.

Are these solutions okay during hot summers & harsh cold winters?

 

[lxskllr]

Nothing works in my experience. Any kind of grout will break out through temperature changes. You could use some kind of goo, but it'll have to regularly be redone. I just let the weeds come up. When it starts bugging me, I scrape them off with a shovel.

 

[IronWing]

Propane weed burner. Even mundane chores are more enjoyable with fire.

 

[tortoise]

Using weed killer constantly time consuming and it's a losing battle.

Hard to believe RoundUp is not working!

 

[Zeze]

Hard to believe RoundUp is not working!

Any weed killer is a battle against time due to rain washing away. Looks like this method is the best & common.

 

[EliteRetard]

Clean out the expansion joints and then use a proper backing rod and self leveling sealant to close them up.

Here's a useful vid:

And the sika stuff is common:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sikaflex-29-fl-oz-Grey-Self-Leveling-Sealant-106711/202523824
http://www.lowes.com/pd/Sika-29-oz-Gray-Sanded-Paintable-Polyurethane-Specialty-Caulk/999977080

 

[bruceb]

Roundup Weed Killer should work, you will need to spray it a few times, as it does not kill it instantly. But
once it is gone, it will stay gone for about 1 year.

 

[EliteRetard]

Any weed killer is a battle against time due to rain washing away. Looks like this method is the best & common.

That's an interesting idea, I wonder if the sand affects the flexibility of the expansion joint. I'm pretty sure silicone is more durable and longer lasting than polyurethane (like the sika stuff).

 

[Puffnstuff]

Use roundup on stream setting and make sure that the leaves and stalks are generously coated.

 

[Mike64]

Clean out the expansion joints and then use a proper backing rod and self leveling sealant to close them up.

Here's a useful vid:

And the sika stuff is common:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sikaflex-29-fl-oz-Grey-Self-Leveling-Sealant-106711/202523824
http://www.lowes.com/pd/Sika-29-oz-Gray-Sanded-Paintable-Polyurethane-Specialty-Caulk/999977080

^ This.

Round Up to kill everything down to the roots, then seal off the joints before new seeds can blow in and sprout.. (Even if you have to replace the joint sealant once in a great while, it won't be anywhere near as often as getting rid of the weeds). Not only does Round Up wash away with rain, it biodegrades fairly quickly under the best of circumstances (although a little Googling a few minutes ago suggests it might not be nearly as biodegradable as Monsanto has always claimed it was - surprise, surprise), so isn't really a long-term solution to general weed prevention. (It's great for something like removing a stand of poison ivy, but that's not going to just "blow in" randomly like many other weed seeds will.) If you aren't already using the Round Up concentrate instead of the ready-mixed, consider that, and mix it stronger than usual. Overkill does occasionally have its place.

 

[Zeze]

I got both the 1.33 gal roundup + Sika sealant + backing rod.

Just applied the weed killer on the cracks... although I don't think I needed to that since I'll yank them all out before doing the sealant.

 

[Ruptga]

Propane weed burner. Even mundane chores are more enjoyable with fire.

+1 for smoking that weed.

 

[Mike64]

I got both the 1.33 gal roundup + Sika sealant + backing rod.

Just applied the weed killer on the cracks... although I don't think I needed to that since I'll yank them all out before doing the sealant.

Probably doesn't really matter in the end, but using the Round Up will ensure actually killing everything off "down to the roots" rather than maybe leaving bits of live root that could (at least try to) send shoots back up later (though it seems unlikely they'd make it through any sealant worthy of the name...)

 

[BoomerD]

Get the Round-up concentrate in the purple bottle. Mix it a bit stronger than the recommended dosage...and add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of liquid dish soap to the mix. It helps the solution stick to the plant leaves better...and makes the water "wetter." I accidentally wiped out a patch of front lawn about 5' x 10' with this...and it took most of a year for it to come back.

There's no "one best" way to control weeds in this situation...they'll come back. Sealing the crack by using the backing rod and SikaFlex WILL help immensely...but as dirt collects along the edge of the sealant, weeds can still sprout, and if they can get a root into the crack...they will.

Keep in mind, Round-up kills weeds by interfering with their photosynthesis...essentially starving the plant, so it takes a while to actually KILL the weed...it's not a "spray and dead overnight" kind of thing.

 

[sdifox]

Nuke it from orbit, it is the only way to be sure.


Short of that, the weed will come back.

 

[EliteRetard]

I wonder if there was not something in those joints earlier, like perhaps a strip of wood or something. And if you've got 1" joints, you may want to use a larger tool to scrape everything out. Pickaxe, mattock, or even a powered edger or something like that.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Nuke it from orbit, it is the only way to be sure.


Short of that, the weed will come back.

Too bad we live in a modern era where us mere mortals can't get our hands on real plant poison.

One day I was flying into the commercial airport near Midland Army Air Field (where they training bombers during WW2) and I noticed this outline of a battleship in the brush. Apparently they used some sort of poison to kill the plants in an outline of a battleship for practice, and plants can't grow there even today.

I want some of that stuff for my driveway!

 

[Renob]

My drive way consists of huge concrete slab tiles like the crappy google pic above. Between the cracks, I'm getting gnarly crab grass that's very unsightly. Using weed killer constantly time consuming and it's a losing battle. I'm looking for a more permanent solution.

The space between tiles can be quite wide, up to one inch.,

1. Can't I just pour fvcking paint in the gap?

2. Use External sealant?

3. How about quickcrete?

4. Something like this? https://trim-a-slab.com/ But looks expensive.

Are these solutions okay during hot summers & harsh cold winters?

I used Trim-a-slab on my driveway, no more weeds, holding up great after 3 years cost me $200 and change very easy to install.

 

[Humpy]

Plant flowers in the gap to feed the bees and little birdies.

 

[EliteRetard]

Too bad we live in a modern era where us mere mortals can't get our hands on real plant poison.

One day I was flying into the commercial airport near Midland Army Air Field (where they training bombers during WW2) and I noticed this outline of a battleship in the brush. Apparently they used some sort of poison to kill the plants in an outline of a battleship for practice, and plants can't grow there even today.

I want some of that stuff for my driveway!

You can still get the components to make your own batch of that stuff. One half (2,4-D) is very common today. The other part (2,4,5-T) is harder to get but can be had. The good stuff though is the 2,3,7,8-T (TCDD) that was produced inadvertently back when making agent orange. They have learned how to control the production of this chemical so it's much harder to come by.

If you could get all three you'd be golden...and likely suffer a horrific slow death. As would anybody who came into contact with your yard or anything downstream... for 3 generations.

 

[sdifox]

Too bad we live in a modern era where us mere mortals can't get our hands on real plant poison.

One day I was flying into the commercial airport near Midland Army Air Field (where they training bombers during WW2) and I noticed this outline of a battleship in the brush. Apparently they used some sort of poison to kill the plants in an outline of a battleship for practice, and plants can't grow there even today.

I want some of that stuff for my driveway!

I think it is a good thing the general population doesnt get to poison the planet.

 

[dullard]

From what I can tell, there is no solution. I've tried concentrated Roundup, but another weed seed can come in the next day and germinate. I've used lots of weed preventers like Preen but that did nothing. I've tried salting the slot with massive amounts of salt. Again nothing (but crack up the concrete more since salt is corrosive to concrete). Finally, I've tried the backing filler + concrete gap filler method. That worked for a year, but it doesn't last.

Best that I've found is to do all of the above, realizing that you'll have to fill the gap every other year or so (which is more expensive and more time consuming than just spraying Roundup once a month on it).

 

[Stopsignhank]

I think it is a good thing the general population doesnt get to poison the planet.

Did you ever hear about the town that had to be abandoned because of dioxin poisoning?

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-timesbeach.html

TLDR: Town hired a guy to spray oil on their dirt roads to keep the dust down. The oil had dioxins in it. The town of 2,000 people had to be abandoned.

BTW OP. I recommend roundup also.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Have you tried anything like this?

 

[Capt Caveman]

Polymeric sand