On Sun, 16 Apr 2006 09:53:15 -0500, "RobertM"
wrote:

I have a gravel driveway and would like to permanently kill everything that
grows there. I saturated the area with Roundup which killed some of the
weeds but not all, and after two weeks everything was growing again. I
sprayed it with Green Thumb Weed and Grass Killer and that also killed only
some of the weeds. Has anyone had any experience with anything that will
permanently and totally kill weeds and grass and prevent regrowth for an
entire season?

Most garden stores and big boxes (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) sell total
vegitation killers. These do work pretty well for a single season, but
they have disadvantages as mentioned by others. They are not
environmentally friendly, and the chemicals can flow downstream and
kill other stuff. If there are trees or shrubs near the drive, I would
be reluctant to use a total vegitation killer for fear of hurting the
shrubs.

I have found a combination of round-up and preen works pretty well.
Roundup kills the currently growing stuff, but won't hurt anything
downstream, because it has to be absorbed through the leaves. Preen
keeps new germination from happening, but doesn't kill anything that
currently exists, so again you don't risk damaging existing plants.
One application probably won't work for the entire season, but two or
perhaps 3 applications per season should do it. You might be able to
get away with a first application of both in spring, and then just
preen in mid-summer.

Both roundup and preen are less damaging to ground water and the
environment than a total vegitation killer.

If you already have a fair number of weeds, you will need to use 2
applications of round-up, about a week apart. Despite what the bottle
says, in my experience round-up does not kill everything in one
application. Round-up works best when things are growing, so it's
effective in Spring.

Otho and some others are selling combination chemicals that seem to be
a combination of round-up and a preen-like substance. I haven't tried
them (I've just used the two products separtely), but they might be
worth a try.

Terry