areas where I want NOTHING to grow -- what to do? (trees, weeds)
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Sow the soil with salt. The kind you use for sidewalks. It'll give you a barren patch quickly.
This is a prime example of why you should not believe everything you read on the internet.
What an incredibly ignorant and irresponsible piece of advice. I won't even go into all the reasons it's so bad. I won't dignify it with any more keystrokes.
One trick I do whenever I find a new weed popping out through landscape fabric, is one, either boil a kettle of water and pour over said weed, or two, use a minute amount of household bleach to kill. Both work wonders.
No bleach. NO BLEACH!!! Ach! Leave that stuff in the house where it belongs!!
Boiling water is a good trick, but only when there are no roots of non-target plants growing where you pour it.
I am continually stunned to read recommendations to use things like salt, bleach, even gasoline -- in order to avoid using that ***horrible*** herbicide, Roundup. Come on! THINK!!!
This is a prime example of why you should not believe everything you read on the internet.
What an incredibly ignorant and irresponsible piece of advice. I won't even go into all the reasons it's so bad. I won't dignify it with any more keystrokes.
You DO NOT ever want to create dead soil. What a horrendous thing to do to the environment. Good lord, get some sense, will you?
Stop all these ridiculous and irresponsible suggestions. JUST STOP.
Oh, and saline soil is saline soil, not dead soil. Soil is only killed of all its biological matter when you funigate it with something like methyl bromide (banned in most of the world) or if you solarize it. After that, plants do grow in it because biological matter returns.
What you are suggesting is to POLLUTE the soil, not kill it. You want to argue soil properties with me, have at it. Soil science was my best class in college.
I've used the newspaper method - then covered with mulch - very effectively.
How "fast" it kills the underlying growth is kind of irrelevant because it is covered and therefore unseen.
Also, if you decide in the future to insert, say, a specimen plant, you've got soil that's been enriched by the paper and mulch. In my case, I planted bulbs, so all that came up through the mulch were spring tulips, daffodils, crocus, and grape hyacinth.
About boiling water v. Roundup (or something like) v. other chemicals: To kill weeds in the cracks of my sidewalk, I've tried boiling water or Roundup. At the end of the day, the strategic, narrow use of Round-up seemed less invasive to me than boiling water because everything in its path - plant or small fauna alike - died from the boiling water, but (in theory, at least), only the targeted plant died if I used the Round-up directly on the leaves of the target plant.
You DO NOT ever want to create dead soil. What a horrendous thing to do to the environment. Good lord, get some sense, will you?
Stop all these ridiculous and irresponsible suggestions. JUST STOP.
Oh, and saline soil is saline soil, not dead soil. Soil is only killed of all its biological matter when you funigate it with something like methyl bromide (banned in most of the world) or if you solarize it. After that, plants do grow in it because biological matter returns.
What you are suggesting is to POLLUTE the soil, not kill it. You want to argue soil properties with me, have at it. Soil science was my best class in college.
Re-read OP. He wants "NOTHING" to grow.
Is it your property in question?
No? Then calm down and MYOB.
OP: Sow it with salt and be done. Oh, and add some poison like methyl bromide for good measure. Gasoline also kills grass too, perhaps with a twist of vinegar.
You experts make me laugh. I almost spit coffee on the screen reading some of the posts.
OP like Tina STATED:dont put bleach or salt on the soil.
Soak the weeds with round up and let die to kill the roots. Remove and place with a good geotextile (landscape fabric), not that plastic crap. Make sure to remove at least 2-4 inches of dirt/soil from the area you plan to install the rock. Grade so water falls away from house. Install fabric with metal lawn/fabric staples every couple of feet to keep fabric stable. Then put down a good layer of 3/4 inch drain rock to bring area back to grade replacing the soil you removed.
FYI 3/4 drain rock is usually the cheapest rock material you can get and cheaper when purchased in bulk.
OP: Sow it with salt and be done. Oh, and add some poison like methyl bromide for good measure. Gasoline also kills grass too, perhaps with a twist of vinegar.
Nothing will grow.
Oh, so we're not supposed to care about anyone's property but our own? We're not supposed to slap down patently irresponsible advice on these forums? We're not supposed to be concerned with how others POLLUTE the ground? Do you think you are only advising the OP? Do you realize these forums are public and someone might make the stupid mistake of taking your advice?
Gasoline, salt, vinegar: NEVER EVER douse the soil with any of these. Your advice is so bad it deserves to be flagged for removal. How about napalm or paraquat? Maybe the military has some leftover stocks from the Vietnam war, huh?
If you want nothing to grow and never want to maintain a weed-free area, you are a terrible (and lazy) caretaker of the earth. Mind my own business? The way people treat the ground is everybody's business. No, I will not shut up.
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