Burning weeds with a propane / fuel torch?

While I posted on the Invasives forum, I hope it
is alright to post this here, as I think there must surely
be someone who has a weed burner on the general forum.

In brief, this is what I'm curious about:

I have a great number of rocks which I use
to line garden beds, walkways, etc.

Not one to spend the summer spraying
chemicals about the gardens, I was trying
to come up with other weed prevention
ideas besides moving the rocks, digging
the weeds and putting the rocks back.

I seem to recall seeing a stick of some sort
which torches the weeds, literally burns them
to death. Does anyone know of which I speak,
or have experience with such a tool?

Many thanks,
Karen Marie

Then I found these great things:

http://www.yardener.com/FlamingWeedTools.html

But look at this one, now THIS is right up my alley!

http://www.flameengineering.com/Weed_Dragon.html

2 things WUVIE. First 100,000 BTU thats a mighty gas eater. It aught to burn up your weeds and your little dog too. Second; get your propane from a propane supply and not the grocery store, supplier about $2.50 a gallon at the grocery store $7+ per gallon. The quality of the propane at the tank depots is very poor quality with a lot of sulfur in it. Buy from distributors is your best bet.

Don

Hi Karen- we use a propane torch weed killer- the "flame dragon" from flame engineering, the second link you posted. I have a small landscape business, and it is useful for the very thing you talk about it- it took some practice to get it down- its a lot of heat, and you have to get the distance of the flame from the weeds, and speed that you move down, and then how to gracefully roll the propane tank in the direction you want to go without burning everything up. However, for peoples walkways, gravel driveways, and places like that, I really wouldn't want to be without it now that we have one. about every 3 weeks or so, its good to go over the same areas again, some roots seem to survive the blaze, but its a lot quicker than other methods. We have some big areas to cover, and I remember other folks talking about using it for managing fast growing invasive plants... if the area that you want to keep clear is small, and there are precious plants right near by, you might want to get that smaller torch from the yardner link. you can only come so close to a garden edge with the larger torch!

Thanks for this thread. I've also been thinking about something like this. How does it work on poison ivy and blackberries? What about a danger of starting a grass fire....or worse?

there was a thread in the "garden shed" forum- i'd say spring last year- about this tool- i think the post was something like favorite tool... mentioned at that time, which was a good reminder- its not a good idea to burn poison ivy and create a lot of smoke- some people can get poison ivy in their lungs from the smoke- which sounds just horrible. though perhaps in small doses, because the torch doesn't really create very much smoke, it might work. as to the question of fire hazzard, when you work on green plants, there is no danger of grass fire. its a good idea to be a bit more careful in the fall when things are dry.

Sjms,

Many thanks, I did find the thread:

http://davesgarden.com/place/t/553897/

Off to read. Thanks again!

:-) Karen Marie

Doesn't it leave black marks on rocks and patio stones ? or does those fade ? This has to be better than mixing Roundup.

Maybe if you just singe them instead of frying them, the surrounding material won't become discolored. I don't really know....just guessing. If I guy this thing to get rid of weeds.....I am going to want it to really do the job.

i've never noticed discoloration- you really don't hold the torch still in one spot- really, nothing looks burned- just the weeds. you'd have to be careful of wooden barriers- but actually, one place we use this tool is in a raised bed area surrounded by gravel paths, and even the wood used for the raised beds doesn't show any burn when we come close enough to get the weeds in the gravel. really, what you have to be most careful of, is other plants that are say spilling over an edge- you don't want to get the torch near other plants- or too close to bushes- we have singed things that way- at first you might not notice nearby leaves curling a little from the heat...but that is already an indication of damage- its something you get the knack of after a few mistakes!

I am buying a torch....... it has to be better than buying and mixing gallon after gallon of roundup ......

Thanks for the info everyone.....