Our weed cloth has been in the ground for about 7 years. EVERY time I pull up a section of that weed cloth, I find weed roots penetrated way through the cloth.

Interesting, I have never tried that.

We have a similar, but much more intense devise, called a weed dragon (google it). It torches the weeds and is kind of fun to use, but it doesn't kill the roots and will cause lots of collateral damage if you are not very careful. The dam weeds in Florida are incredibly resilient to anything but the most very nasty chemicals. They are truly a very formidable opponent that will never let you beat them into total submission. When you think you won the battle, just give them another hot/humid summer growing season. They'll be back!

I have never seen so much use of stone mulch anywhere I have visited except in the arid west. In Las Vegas I visited a friend who had beautiful cacti and succulents in gorgeous white stone mulch. Absolutely striking! They had severe water restrictions so no grass plus the plants needed a rock or sand mulch to avoid rotting problems. Here in Florida pine straw or bark mulch work well. They keep the soil cool and suppress weed growth and replenish soil nutrients as they decompose. The bacteria and fungi organisms proliferate and the plants and trees thrive. It always amazes me that people hermetically seal their poor soil with landscape fabric and then add tons of rocks on top. No nutrients for their plants and they slowly use up all the nutrients that the poor soil has left and then they slowly starve until somebody pours chemical fertilizers all over them and that is not healthy. I have been adding bark mulch for ten years and the soil is very fertile. Very few weeds are evident as I replenish the large pine nuggets seasonally. (ACE loads them in my SUV) I also plant native ground covers such as swamp twinflower, frogfruit, dwarf Walter’s Viburnum, dwarf “Psycho”coffee, etc, etc,, so there is little room for the weeds to grow. I rarely spray as the weeds are minimal plus I have many insects and birds I don’t want to harm. I don’t need much fertilizer anymore as the soil food web of my yard is very active. Bacteria and fungi feed the forests of the world and they can provide a great food source for our yards. There is nothing wrong with bees, butterflies, bats, snakes, possums, etc.. I am a devout gardener so my views may not be helpful to the normal homeowner, but if you want to help the environment and all the native flora and fauna of this beautiful state of Florida skip the Southwest and Mexican rock mulching and use pine straw or bark mulch.

I agree with poster #8 and #15....weeds will come whatever you do. Preen sprinkled every 3-4 months or the newer 6 month application has always worked the best. It will reduce the weeds that come drastically as a preemergent but the seeds already there may still come for a period of time, just pick them as you see them emerge so they don't go to seed. I walk around and pick tiny sprouts and that has made a huge difference. I have mulch by the way and just top dress it every Spring. Easier to pull small weeds than rock(as I know because I pick my neighbors weeds from her rock)

I happen to be a gardener but do not understand this love affair with stone around plants. They get hot in the sun and can harm them. The fabric used under them does not allow the water or fertilizer to go where you want it and weeds grow in the stone anyway, so what have you accomplished? Pine straw is acidic and as much of the soil here is alkaline, it decomposes and creates a neutral balanced soil. Weeds are a problem but can be controlled. Regular 5 or 6 percent vinegar is pretty useless and I would never add salt as it remains in the soil and cannot be removed. Get 30 percent vinegar, cut in half with water to 15 percent and a teaspoon of dawn dish detergent. This kills everything, so do not spray on a windy day. There is nothing wrong with bugs and insects or butterflies. I attract many birds and animals and love that there is so big an array to see here. I suppose a condo or apartment is best for people who do not like nature and plants.

Do it the RIGHT way if you can, hire a landscaper that will remove 90% of the stone. The weeds and a ton of seeds will leave with it, put down fresh FABRIC and fresh stone. Prefer the flat gray Shalimar for best anti-weed results. The river rock in a smaller size is a distant 2nd. If there is a grassy looking weed coming through IN YOUR SHRUBS... I suggest having the them (the shrubs) removed ROOTS AND ALL, and replaced as well. Without seeing, I can't tell if you have invasive weeds that will return pretty quickly.
Follow up with PREEN, 2x the amount, and 2x as often as the package recommends for the 1st year. This method should cost around $4.50 to $6 per square foot.

If this is beyond your means financially. LARGE PINE BARK, at least 6" thick (9" would be better) on top of the rock. Spraying the weeds with round up 1st would be a big plus. I have killed thick burmuda grass in landscape beds by this method. This should cost about $2 per square foot.

Some here may disagree, but I have tried every method deemed reasonable over my 40 years of dealing with exactly this problem, and these are your 2 smartest methods, and both give immediate results, and long term benefits with a minimum of additional $$ and time thrown at the problem in the future.