Weeds In The Rock Garden
 

I know, I know, all Villagers complain about weeds, just as we complain about having to drive 15 minutes to get somewhere.
This is different. Something is radically wrong here. I have the conventional rock landscape around the house with weed mat and flowers. IF I DONT WEED DAILY...the weeds begin to take over. God forbid, if I miss a day or two, you can't see the rocks for the weeds. Recently I dumped...not sprayed...half a huge container of Round Up on a particularly difficult area. And yes the weeds are back.
I beginning to wonder if my landscaping is too wet underneath.
Thanking you in advance, I appreciate any and all advice you can offer from your vast bank of wisdom, expertise, and experience, including names of reliable contractors or any other success your had in this weedy battle.

Ron Rufrano

Vinegar with a little salt and a squirt of liquid soap is a safe alternative to Round-Up.

Are you using Round Up with preventive? Get the Round up that prevents weeds from returning, not the regular just kill stuff......Sounds like the weed mat used was not very effective. Might want to give the landscaper a call to come check their work.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Roundup-...0605/302681458

Some say the salt is not good for the soil.
Oh wait... what soil.

What happens is the weed block fabric under the stones breaks down after a while and the weeds poke through.
I have the same problem. One solution is to remove the rocks and replace the fabric. Then put the stones back (big job).
This is stronger than regular RoundUp.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/ORTHO-Groun...Killer/3827749

We share your pain. It is next to impossible to keep out weeds without spraying them with Nast stuff. We hate to use chemicals and tried for a few years to avoid them, but have grown sick and tired of wasting our precious Villages time on our hands and knees pulling weeds. We finally gave up and now pay our lawn guy to spray the weeds and spend our time in the Villages doing much more fun things.

Agreed! Vinegar & salt are better weed killers :boxing2: & significantly less harmful to environment (water table). :bigbow:

It works for me. I buy the Epson salt and vinegar from Sam’s.

The good thing about all of the rain we have had recently is that it makes the weeds easy to pull.

Weed-pulling can be quite therapeutic if you don't think of it as a chore.

Do you have other plants in there, to try to block out the weeds?

I've never seen it worse than it is this year. There is some lacey looking stuff, some green and some reddish in color, that seems to show up everywhere. What is this stuff and where do all the seeds come from?

Roundup has a pre emergent which works fairly well. Use it only in your gardens! We had a landscaper use it and it worked well for about 6 months. I reapplied and used it other areas not done by the landscaper. I still have a few weeds, but a lot less than before.

I'm going to give the Vinegar method a shot. I don't know if this helps the OP but for the first time in 3 years, the grass growing in the decorative stone is outta control. I would think it has to do with the heavy rain lately.

We bought the best Weed Block and crisscrossed it and added a third level where needed and still, grass & weeds. We are living in Jurrasic Park. Good Luck.

Here we go....
There are many grades and types of 'weed block'. Commercial grades take decades to break down a little bit.

Most of your weeds are not growing "up through" but DOWN through from seeds on top.

Different types of stone keep weeds at bay better than others. Deeper stone is BAD, and increases the ability of the weeds to grow.

No plants in the bed give weeds more light and water to grow. Good landscape design and practices trumps the wreck n ball /throw in whatever you think looks good , method.

I HATE chemicals...but...PREEN PREEN PREEN! Use more, use more often... it works.

NO WEED KILLER EXISTS that will work better than PULLING weeds on a REGULAR BASIS. Dead weeds are dropping seeds, and are just as ugly as live weeds.
You can get bad infestations under control in about a month pulling once a week and applying preen after each removal session. Then good luck finding a maintenance company that will actually pull weeds, seems they are just as lazy as we are, and prefer to believe there is a magic spray somewhere that will work better.
Weekly round up and regular Preen applications do work, but most do not know how to use Round Up without major overspray damage to your shrubs and lawn.

MOST IMPORTANT... anyone pulling weeds without a 'dibbler' or some tool to work the roots out...are wasting their time.

Good luck !
Ozz

Sometimes I wish I were as strong and resilient as a weed.

Trust me. I understand. We pulled weeds on Thursday evening and the weeds are back already. I didn't spray anything when I was done. It started storming over here really badly. I hope the Vinegar works. Environmentally and breathing those chemical treatments are not good. I'm skeptical but willing to learn. :pray:

Formula for vinegar solution:

1 gallon vinegar
1 cup salt
1 tablespoon dish detergent

Do NOT spray near plants you want to keep. Ultimately, the runoff will kill them. This is a not a contact kill, it is get to roots and kill (and even then the weeds will come back).

FYI, almost every time you step on to your rock landscaping, you poke a hole into the weed mat. Add the holes to the dirt that accumulates between the rocks and the mat and you have very happy, very healthy weeds. Rock landscaping needs to be removed about every five years and the mat replaced. The rocks should get a good hosing before putting back down, with additional rocks added as needed.

If you ask me, the weeds are a bigger issue than snakes, bugs, snowbirds and roundabouts. I can at least tolerate the others. I loathe the weeds!

Agree with the above post, but for part time residents keeping on top of weeds is impossible. Every time we come to our Villages home we seem to spend have of our precious Villages time on our hands and knees pulling weeds. Not any more, we pay to have them sprayed on a regular basis and when we show up at our house there are almost no weeds and we spend our time doing much more enjoyable things : )

Hint
 

As you read all of these suggestions, realize everyone has weeds.
The best you can do is control them-perfect is simply not possible.

You mention that you've used preen. First of all preen only prevents weed seeds from sprouting and it is not 100% effective.
Weeds, some spread by runners such as grass. Preen will have no effect.

You mention you have landscape fabric. Again it is only partially effective and it prevents you from using traditional tools such as a hoe, a dutch hoe, or a hand cultivator.

Opinion-others have mentioned using vinegar, salt etc. They are very old methods and they do work but they can and do damage your other plants and now that you've killed the weed you still need to pick it up-you might just as well simply pull it out by hand. Again, the rocks and landscape fabric will prevent some weeds but the ones you will get, and you will get some are harder to pull.

The weeds sprout above the weed mat in dirt that has collected in the rocks. The roots are thus very shallow and the weeds are easily pulled up. Or use a hula hoe to easily take care of larger areas.

More aggressive plants like Mexican Petunia's seek out seams in the mat and come up there with deep roots that are more difficult to pull.

Anyone tried Groundclear? Supposed to kill everything, but I have read conflicting instructions about if you can spray it under existing trees or not.

Scotts says this will stain your decorative stone and they do not recommend sprinkling over rock beds.

Rocks do nothing to build up your soil and once the weeds start growing in the rocks it is a major problem to get rid of them. You will not see any beds in TV with rocks, they use mulch.

We started with rocks and then gave up, removed them and now have used mulch for years. The weeds are so much easier to get rid of with mulch.

Good thing with vinegar it will lower the ph in the soil which is 8 or higher in my area. I use it in my pots to get the ph level down to 6 or 6.5 . Which is pretty hard even with store brought compost which is neutral out of the bag.

IMO mulch draws termite’s especially against house.:shocked:

Weed chemicals
 

Realize that you can buy almost all of the advertised products under their chemical names for lower cost. Roundup a highly advertised product is Glyphosate. Broad leaf weed killer is 24D often mixed with other listed weedkillers.

As to using a named product under trees. I would read the label to find out what chemical or chemicals are in it and research on the internet. People, including me, often do not read ir follow instructions. The 24D for example says don't use at temperatures higher than 80 degrees. Both Glyphosate and 24D are absorbed through the leaves not the roots but your tree could well be more sensitive to the chemicals or could have suckers coming up from the roots.

No matter what you do, you will have weeds. Nature hates empty spaces. When, you properly pull them, it is quick and it is done. Many weeds will grow from the piece of root you leave behind. You need to use a tool and remove as much of the root as possible. Landscape fabric prevents the use of tools.

Used your head. It is HOT. Weed in the morning or my opinion around 3:00. In the morning we have dew so you will get wet and muddy. Armed with the right tools and a small bucket to throw the puled weeds into I do my entire place in an hour filling the bucket two or three times. Yes, if you look hard you will find a few weeds after I am done-I will get them next week-maybe.

1 gallon of vinegar, 1 lb of Epsom salts, 1/4 cup of blue Dawn. Mix well, buy a spray bottle from Home Depot and fill up as needed. Works fantastic. Spray in the AM, and by PM weeds are gone, dead. I keep a spray bottle filled and handy and take a walk through the beds. Weeds will always come back. No such thing as bad weather for weeds to grow.

Round up

People assume that the rock and landscape mat will create a weed free environment. Quite the contrary, it creates the opposite, a perfect environment for weeds to germinate and grow. Especially the spurges. Dust and organic matter get between the warm rocks
and the weeds take off growing with out any problem. Try using Preen for southern lawns. It is a granular product that been formulated for our weeds. They will prevent the weeds from germinating. Buy a big bag or box and read the directions.

At Lowes this gallon of weed killer is $7.98 and a gallon of Roundup was $11.98. I used Spectracide last week and everything I sprayed was dead in 3 hours. Their webside said they have 190 in stock, but you cannot buy it right now due to the weather conditions.

https://mobileimages.lowes.com/produ...77.jpg?size=xl

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Spectracide...ler/1000373169

If you want to make your own mixture, this one gallon sprayer at Lowes is $9.97 and they have 56 in stock at 466A store. Two gallon sprayer is $16.97.

https://mobileimages.lowes.com/produ...02.jpg?size=xl

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Chapin-1-Ga...yer/1000176199

interesting and good advise, thanks.

So is there any ratio of the mixture you use to make up to make this spray?

Try Ortho Ground Clear. Works for me.