[clairebeau]

Pesky paths are built from mud and weeds and I'm putting up with it no more I've made my choice of weapon...yes it's a REAL war...I'm fed up of the blighters and I want them gone. I just need to know where to get it from...chemical warfare at it's finest, well, allotment finest that is.

I have docks, creeping buttercup and I don't know the name of it but that dark green tall spikey plant that grows in wet conditions, really hard to describe it for you...the leaves are like raw spaggetti but glossy dark green and all stand up in bunches.   I wish I could find it on a picture for you...anyhow, it's all getting me down and I trip up over them, I'm constantly muddy and I definitely don't feel proud of my plot when actually it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for these beggering paths!  

Now I've ordered heavy duty membrane and pegs and once I've nailed the weeds I'll put that down and hopefully I'll be able to get some free wood chip stuff to keep us a bit dryer and more pleasing on the eye than sloppy mud.

Now here comes my question (why is it that I'm the kind of girl who tells a whole story rather than just get to the point?  Sorry folks  )

...which kind of weed killer should I use for my kind of weeds and where do I get it from? Garden centres and B&Q or hardened drug dealers specialist place?

Thanks for reading (albeit a 'round the houses' kind of way!)

[BabbyAnn]

The dark green spikey spagetti is most likely marestail - not the easiest of weeds to get rid of as it has had millions of years to evolve!  It has an almost silicon coating which most weedkillers cannot easily penetrate and even then only kills off the top growth.  Glyphosate based weedkillers which normally kill off the roots only have a marginal effect and a lot of the extensive root system remain viable.  Putting weed suppressant down also does not work - years later when you lift it up, the plants start to regrow again ... and worse, the roots throw out shoots outside of the sheet and probably into the beds.  As it is a footpath, you could try a combination of strimming and using weedkiller on new growth and eventually it will weaken it (I have the exact same problem and it is slowly working)  As you put weedkiller down, walk over it to damage the leaves and some of the weedkiller will penetrate the coating.  The alternate is to try and dig as much root out as possible and thereafter keep on top of it.

As for other weeds, a glyphosate based weedkiller will easily get rid of them (it may take about 2 weeks to start working) but remember that once top growth is removed, this allows light to the soil surface and years of seeds hidden in the soil will germinate and usually with a lot more vigour than the ones you just killed off.  So be prepared to do several treatments over the coming months (especially in spring when there will be a fresh crop) 

[Growster...]

Claire, I fully understand your predicament!

Although it's a bit of extra work, we have paths like yours, and I mow and strim them every week, and they actuallly are beginning to look quite tame now - even the dandelions are getting a nice knot of greenery to walk on!

I've got more paths than most, as we took a big patch with a need to cultivate straight away, hence the individual beds, so, this winter, the paths will be cut back a bit more, and the beds made about 6" wider.

[DD.]

The dark green spikey spagetti is most likely marestail

I don't think so. From the description it sounds like a type of rush/reed that you get with poorly drained land.

A bit like this, but not quite as much and without the water!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sh0rty/2543129684/

How it reacts to weedkillers, I don't know.

[SG6]

Assuming glyphosphate based try a Wilkinsons, they do the normal stuff, they also do a "concentrated Tough Weedkiller" variety. 

This actually reads as if it is simply a more concentrate variety of the normal stuff, but 5 or 10 times as much of the useful stuff in it. 

After that it is something like Sodium Chlorate, the problem being I am not sure if that is available these days. Haven't seen it for some time. I assume that it can leech in to good soil and kill off anything close to where it was applied also. So maybe not a good option even if you can get any.

Could search for napalm, but you may have to buy it in bulk. 

[DD.]

Sodium Chlorate has been banned, with good reason, for a few years now.

[JayG]

Guess what - sodium chlorate was banned by the EU in Sept 2009 (remaining stocks to be used by May 2010.)

Shame really, as I remember having great fun making improvised bombs with it as a youth.  
 
It is an effective, albeit rather unsubtle, weedkiller, although until it degrades into common salt any treated weeds are a definite fire hazard when dry, and unlike glyphosate it is not inactivated by soil contact.)

[GrowinGrowinGone]

Woodchips to smother the paths would work, and chemical free.  Put a layer about 6 inches deep, those weeds won't be showing up for months.  Then just add more when they do.  Of course this will all depend on whether you have access to woodchips for free?

[stompy]

The last sodioum chlorate i had had 5% fire retardent, this was easilly removed though by washing with meths 

Back on topic,
How about putting 2 layers of cardboard down and then either wood chips or grass cuttings?
The cardboard rots down over a year or so and can be replaced cheaply/freely when needed, this will eradicate even the toughests of weeds apart from marestale which would have to be dug out or poisened over a full season to get rid of it.
Also at the end of the season you could clear the paths of the cardboard and grass cuttings and either put them in the compost bin or dig them in to the beds then lay a new path!

[gavinjconway]

Oyi Lady Claire - when are we going to have a Brambly Corner update... ?

[SG6]

As I said I didn't think it was available these days, but I don't read every EU directive.
Bet you can still buy it in France. 

[DD.]

You don't have to read EU directives to know that something as nasty as sodium chlorate is banned!

[clairebeau]

A big thank you all for your help  Although I still don't know where to go and for which weedkiller  :blink:

The weed I can't describe very definitely isn't Marestail, I think it is that marsh reed DD, or of the same family anyhow. It's very common, I've seen it around watery areas (my plot!) so that's what I'm on about, along with the docks etc.

I won't be going down the stim every week route as I don't have the time to spend on those kind of jobs. The mud on my paths is terrible hence why I wish to kill off the horrid bits and then lay some better kind of path. I maybe should've added that it's just me doing this job and although I try my hardest to manage alone it's tricky (little and fat and girlie!) so this appears the better option. Plus, by using the membrane I'm hoping the paths will last a little longer than without. It's just getting the paths ready. Having always just dug weeds out I'm worried about choosing the right spray for the job, if only to weaken them so I can get the worst ones out.

To be able to visit my plot and not come home looking like some mud bathed monster from the deep and not to trip up over these stupid stubbon weeds each time would be bliss!  It's got me down over the last few months and even put me off going at times.

Thanks for reading xxx

[Yorkie]

I would go to Wilkinsons or a local garden centre / B&Q type outfit.

They will all sell glyphosate based weedkillers.  You can compare their strength by looking either at how much sq.m. they will cover, or better by looking on the back for the grams/litre (I think it is) indication.

It doesn't have to be a branded version; the best known is Roundup but it can be costly.

An alternative is Resolva, which also contains a contact weedkiller so you can see within 24 hours whether you've missed any bits!

There's no need to overcomplicate it 

[stompy]

I always used Wilkinsons Glyphosate.
It's around £5 for a 1lt bottle i think and it's concentrated, i think you dilute it 50ml to a 1gal watering can or 50ml to a 1lt sprayer (it's in a bright yellow bottle).

After 2 weeks all the grass you've sprayed will be dead and the docks (etc) will be very weak and a second aplication sees thes out to.