How to Keep Weeds from Growing In Gravel Driveway

Have weeds taken over your gravel driveway? Learning how to avoid weeds from growing in a gravel driveway is one of the plus benefits to your home. Owning a beautiful driveway, sidewalk, and pathway adds to the face of your home. Therefore, maintaining that face should be a priority, among other things.

Weeds tend to appear where they are not wanted and taking over with no plan to leave. How rude! With a gravel driveway, the flexibility and movements uncover some weeds you had no idea existed. Weeds seeds will bud from the soil to above the gravel.

So how do we handle this weed in your gravel driveway menace? Read on.

A Step-By-Step Process of the Best Method

Methods vary depending on the level of weed infestation and size of the area. But, any approach should provide favorable results. We have selected the below as the best method with a long-term service against weeds on your gravel driveway. Let’s begin.

1. For starters, take out all the gravel from your driveway as the best way to kill the weeds is before you lay the stones.
2. After all, the gravel is out, manually remove the weeds. Pull out by hand, and then use a shovel to dig out the deep-rooted weeds. Make sure to clear all the roots to avoid regrowth.
3. Use a pre-emergent herbicide to inhibit any budding from happening.
4. Use a barrier between the soil and the gravel. Preferably a layer of plastic sheeting or landscaping weed suppressant fabric would be ideal as a barrier. Either of the two will prevent new weed growth before it begins.
5. Lay a sub base. A granular or hard-core base will ensure the uniform spread of gravel, and it allows proper drainage.
6. Add another layer of the barrier of your choice.
7. Finally, lay the gravel on the barrier. Do not put a deep layer; just spread about 3-5 inches of rock for a proper and practical layout.

Note: This method is for a large infestation of weeds on your driveway, or you can use it the first time as a preventive measure before the gravel layer.

Best Herbicide for Gravel Driveway

Weeds and the brands of weed killers in the market have one thing in common; they both flood! There are so many several varieties to pick from, which becomes the main challenge since you want to make sure you choose the best.

The information below will help you put major things into consideration as you make a choice. Read on.

Brand Names and Active Ingredients

Active ingredients play a significant role as they help you understand the kind of job the herbicide will handle. Those with active ingredients that are poisonous to kill certain types of weeds and others will kill every plant they come into contact with. That is selective and non-selective herbicides.

 We have 2,4D, dicamba, triclopyr as active ingredients, and SedgeHammer + herbicide as an example. Non-selective has glysophate as the active ingredient and Roundup Pro Dry as an example.

Conversely, brand names are the famous names of products all over the market. However, don’t just go for a name because it is renowned for commercials, instead look for the reviews of the work to be sure of its performance.

Time of Application

For a weed problem, herbicides have three stages of application throughout the growing period.

Pre-plant herbicides: these are best before planting any crop. Most of them are non-selective to kill any weed before it grows. Well, it is better to prevent rather than to cure.

Pre-emergent herbicides: they come in handy before the weeds sprout. They kill weeds as they germinate, for example, Surflan A.S.

Post-emergent herbicides: they work best on mature weeds. Apply directly on the unwanted plant to kill even its roots, for example, Trimec Lawn Weed Killer.

The best type of weed killer will be the post-emergent for driveways and walkways as you will notice an already sprout weed.

Method of Application

Consider the method of application for the best weed killer for the driveway. It should be easy to operate and practical. Some of the options of application methods are;

Concentrate: this is the raw, powerful substance of the herbicide. Mostly, it needs water to dilute for larger areas or concentrate use as you would prefer but permitted in the manufacturer’s instructions.

Granules: this comes mostly in powder form and can also need direct or diluted application.

Ready-to-use trigger: a weed killer that comes in a gun spray bottle is ready-to-use and directly applied to the weeds.

Ready-to-use pump applicator: this is a big container that you use by manually spraying the weedy area’s herbicide. Mostly it is for use in large areas with weeds.

Persistence

How resilient is the weed killer of your choice on a driveway? It would be best if you considered how long the weed killer would remain active to perform. Even though you would want a herbicide with high resilience, remember it will also stay longer in the soil. The more it remains in the ground, the longer you will wait before you re-plant. But if you want nothing to come back, high persistent herbicides are the best, like the driveways.

Quantity

Mostly, driveways are large areas, so you should buy a herbicide to last the whole application process. Consider the concentrates application as this will need water for diluting to cover a large area. Also, always have some in stock as the weeds are likely to come back.

Salt on the Gravel Driveway to Kill Weeds

Salt is a cheap and readily available non-selective weed killer. I mean, who lacks salt in their kitchen? However, there is rock salt and table salt. This is a method ideal for areas where you want no plant growth whatsoever. In consideration of the foregoing, there are several ways of using salt on your gravel driveway to kill weeds. Read on.

• Mix 1 cup of salt with 1 cup of hot water as a homemade herbicide and stir until the salt completely dissolves. Put the mixture in a spray bottle and spray targeting the weeds. Several applications will guarantee excellent results.
• Sprinkle the salt on the soil before you put gravel. This method will kill any weeds trying to sprout through the gravel. The results will be consistent for a while as salt in the soil prevents any plant growth.
• Sprinkle salt o your gravel where the weed is growing. Repeat the process after five days in case the weeds are not dead. The salt will stay active and prevent any regrowth of the weeds for some time.

Caution: Do not use salt if you plan on growing anything nearby as it will leach into the soil, making it toxic for any plat growth.

Using Roundup on a Gravel Driveway

Roundup is a harsh non-selective herbicide containing glysophate that kills every plant it touches. Also, it is dangerous to children, pets, and the surrounding. The use of Roundup requires caution and certainty of the area of application.

Without a doubt, it is the ideal and easiest way to kill weeds growing in your gravel driveway. It will kill even the roots. With glysophate, all types season growing weeds will die with just one application. A 2 Litre bottle kills weeds of an area of up to 3332 square meters. But if you have a small infestation, store the remaining safely for future use.

Other Roundup brands have a diluted form. However, the undiluted element is better as it is cheaper and even easy to mix. You can use plain tap water and still get desirable results. Be cautious about following instructions on the right dilution rates as you mix. On driveways, you can use a watering can instead of other expensive application mediums.

This is how Roundup works;

• Spray Roundup on the leaves of the weed
• The leaves will absorb the Roundup and gets in the plant’s system through its sap
• Roundup spreads to all the actively growing parts of the weed system
• Roundup kills the whole weed from the leaves to the roots in the ground
• After some time, the soil is ready for re-planting

Parting Shot

Whether you want to get down and dirty or use chemicals, one thing remains is that weeds on your gravel create horrible patches. However, you can also opt to remove the gravel and add a concrete layer on the soil and the top layer of gravel. Or even leave it as concrete alone.

Your level of patience will determine the best way to kill the weeds from your gravel driveway.

Below are other suggestions of killing weeds

Does baking soda kill weeds

Does ammonia kill weeds