Terry Pinnell wrote:

I'm fighting an ongoing battle against weeds growing through the
sand-gaps in out brick paths and patio. I spent the weekend clearing
them, this time with a high pressure hose, and refilling with fine
sand. So now I want to do whatever I can to PREVENT their
reappearance. Or at least postpone it for a long time.

But I could find nothing that appeared suitable on the Homebase
shelves this morning. Products like PathClear seem to require the
weeds to be present and growing! So I am hoping someone here can
recommend a product that I can soak into the sand that will STOP the
weeds actually growing. Surely there must be something potent enough
to do this please?


You could try sodium chlorate. I sssume the gaps are too small to rake
out and use a weak sand/cement mix? Ive mortared my stones in for just
the reasons you quote.

If you use chlorate be aware that its a long term soil poison. And it
stays poisonous as it washes away. What seems to happen in practice is
that weeds near the surface die fairly quickly - days - and as the rain
comes it penetrates deeper and kills longer term perennials with deeper
roots. Ultimately it kills everything, but usually - unless subject to
surface water run off carrying it into beds and lawns - it is too weak
to do much harm.

The other technique that used to be used as lot, but seems less popular
now but should be highly effective on brick, is to use a flame gun. This
essentually sterilises the soil locally and completely kills un
germinated seeds. You could for example takee a blowlamp to the cracks
and do each one by hand. If a flame gun is not available.