Do you have a gravel driveway? Gravel driveways look great when it’s pristine and weed-free. However, when there are weeds growing in the gravel driveway, it quickly diminishes the curb appeal. The easiest and most effective way to remove weeds growing in gravel is to spray it with a commercial weed killer. However, if you are like me and are worried about using weed killers because it has been linked to cancer. There are natural ways to get rid of weeds in your gravel driveway. In this video, I will show you natural ways to get rid of weeds in gravel driveways without using chemical weed killers.
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4 Ways to Kill Weeds in Gravel Driveway
1. Hand weed
The safest way to get rid of weeds in gravel driveways is to hand weed. Dig out the weed and make sure to remove the roots. However, hand weeding may not be practical for most people because it’s time-consuming and you will need to stay on top of it by hand weeding every week! If you do decide to hand weed, do it after rain so the soil is moist, making it easier to pull out stubborn weeds. It’s also best to hand weed early Spring so you can get rid of weeds while it’s emerging. I like to use a garden weeder tool to help make it easier to remove the roots.
2. Homemade Weed Killer
Another way to kill the weeds growing in your gravel driveway is to use a homemade weed killer. I make my weed killer by mixing water, salt, vinegar, and dish liquid. The salt and vinegar will kill the weeds and make the soil not viable for plant growth. The dish liquid will help the solution adhere to the leaves of existing weeds. Check the weather first, and ensure there is no rain that day and a few days afterward. This will make sure the salt and vinegar get absorbed into the soil.
This method is pretty effective in killing weeds. It effectively killed the weeds in my driveway in 5 days. I also like this weed-killing method because it is safe for pets and children. The only downside with the salt and vinegar weed killer is that you will still have to manually remove the wilted weeds after they die. I usually use a rake to remove the wilted weeds- it makes it easier to dig them out.
3. Boiling Water
Another way to kill the weeds growing in your gravel driveway is to use hot water. Boil some water and pour it directly onto the weeds. This should kill the weeds. This is a time-consuming method if you have a large driveway or if you have a lot of weeds to kill.
I suggest buying a few fast boiling electric kettles so you can have boiling water ready to go and you can alternate between kettles. Pouring boiling water onto weeds effectively killed the weeds in my driveway. Here are the weeds 5 days later after pouring hot water on them.
Again, this is a very safe weed-killing method because there are no harmful chemicals involved. Just be careful and don’t do it when pets and children are around because you don’t want to accidentally get hot water near them! What I don’t like about the boiling water method is you will need to remove the wilted weeds with a rake after they die out.
4. Propane Torch
Another way to kill the weeds growing in your gravel is to use a propane torch. You can kill the weeds by burning them off using a propane torch. Burning the weeds is effective in killing weeds. Out of all the methods in this article, using a propane torch to kill off the weeds is my favorite method. It is easy to do because you can kill off a large surface area in one go. It’s also very effective in killing weeds down to their roots. You don’t even have to pull the dead weeds out because the weeds disintegrate into the air when torched! It saves you from the extra step of having to remove dead weeds.
The only downside to using a propane torch is the smoke. It can get intense while you are torching. I like this propane torch, it’s very easy to use. The only thing is you have to drag the propane tank around which is no big deal if you have a small driveway.
Using a propane torch to kill weeds is definitely safe for pets and children. You do have to be careful when using the propane torch around pets and children, make sure they don’t get too close.
Maintaining a pristine gravel driveway can be challenging. However, if you combine the natural weed-killing methods in this video, you should be able to get rid of the weeds growing in your gravel driveway. The key is to start early in the Spring while the weeds are just emerging and then maintain the driveway by killing weeds as they grow throughout the summer.
My favorite weed-killing method is to use the propane torch. It really is a time saver because the weeds disintegrate immediately and there is no need to clean up the dead weeds. I can’t stress this enough, if you start killing weeds in the Spring when the weeds are still emerging, you will have fewer weeds to deal with in the summer.
You May Be Interested In Other Weed Killing Methods
How to Kill Weeds Growing Around Trees without harming the tree (video)
4 Ways to Kill Weeds in Gravel Driveway without using chemicals (safe for pets and children)