Resiblock superior

[acechadwick]

Well fame at last! You have been quoted in Saturdays Guardian extolling the virtues of Resiblock Superior

Quote: "described as legendary by pavingexpert .com"

My question is:
A while back I wrote on the forum about horsetail cracking my tarmac. I am currently in a period of grace but in approx. 6 weeks it will be rearing its spiky little head again so

a. According to the blurb this stuff stops weeds. Can I apply it on the patches where the weed breaks through (only certain areas due to a sloping drive and a less deep dig out).
Will it work to act as a barrier?

b. Can you seal tarmac?

I simply cannot go through a summer like that again. From a distance the neighbours were only aware of a seemingly insane woman throwing herself about the driveway uttering cries of "Don't even think about you little f****rs" as if suffering from a bad case of Tourettes...

Thank you

[acechadwick]

I've been promoted! Again! To Top Hand.
How does this promotion thing work exactly?
I seem to have risen through the ranks with alarming speed.
Is it cos I is a woman

[GB_Groundworks]

we.ve got mares tail growing on the sides of our lane, my mum has had us waging full on war against it for a few years

we have tried most things and the mares tail is winning we have

sprayed with industrial herbicide (had to go on a course and get a license to get it)
burnt it with flame thrower
sprayed diesel on the stuff
but the best stuff we found was amicide to kill the stuff but then it just grew in other areas

we have now given up haha

good luck

[Tony McC]

You read the same paper as me, Ace. I normally recoil in horror at the paving advice proffered by Lia Leendertz in the Weekend magazine. I still shudder when I think back to the 'how to lay flagstones' guide she wrote last year wherein she got almost every single fact wrong (spot bedding, dry sand joints, using a weed sheet) so it was a bit of a shock to see the site quoted after the strongly-worded email I sent to her employers.

Sealing tarmacadam (we're not allowed to use the word unless it ends "...adam" as the company which owns the name set their lawyers onto me): Funnily enough, in the US, sealing blacktop is a more-or-less annual chore for the more houseproud homeowners, as it rejuvenates the 'mac and gives a it the shiny black appearance of a brand new driveway. There have been numerous attempts to encourage such habits in Britain, not least by Tarmac Lady (one of the Brew Cabin Irregulars), but it's never really taken off for reasons that completely defeat me.

However, you can get "rejuvenators", such as the excellent Watco BlackTop which, while not quite the same as the slurry seals used in the US, do a very good job of breathing fresh life into tired-but-structurally-competent macadam driveways.

The bad news is that these will NOT prevent the emergence of pernicious weeds, nor will Resiblock. As Giles hinted, nothing short of nastikemmickles or a tactical nuclear weapon can stop Mare's Tails coming up from beneath a driveway. I've had limited success using regular dousings with sodium chloride.


As for your 'promotion', ranks is based on number of posts contributed to the Brew Cabin. Your next boost in status should come with your 50th post.

[Pablo]

This must be my 4th post about mares tail but here goes. Agritox 50 is the stuff to use very effective throughout the growing season and especially effective in spring and autumn. Use it 4 parts water 1 part chemical and spray as normal I have yet to see it fail if done right and only once have I had to do a respray. I've used it to great effect on tarmac and on on case in particular where the surface was full of it it only took one hit and 18 months later it hasn't returned. Monsanto (roundup etc) don't do any chemical that is acceptable and any Glyphos derivative can end up sterilising the soil of bacteria and worms leaving it dead if you overdo it. You'll find the best place for chemicals are agricultural merchants not horticultural or garden centres. Farmers don't mess about and their chemicals generally have a much greater potency. It's a selective killer so is safe on plants/ veg and grass although I prefer to go organic with my veg growing. A quick search and you'll find all the other posts I've written about it.

[acechadwick]

Thanks for that guys.
Pablo,I did read about Agritox on your threads,but I may have mistakenly thought it was a systemic weed killer like Roundup and thus the horsetail would need to be allowed to proliferate until there was enough stem to absorb it. I didn't want to do that because of the obvious damage it would cause.
But you have given me hope!
And I do read the threads (I've seen the rollicking you get if you ask the same dumb questions over and over!)

Giles....Never never never give up....Winston Churchill

[Pablo]

Sorry I wasn't intending to sound short give agritox a try and even at a high strength solution it won't harm any established plants or grass. With regards killing the weeds before they emerge then you need a pre emergence suppressant like Simazine. It is useless on anything that has started to grow but will kill everything at the germination stage. There is no suppressant that will deal with marestail you need to see it to kill it although with Agritox it will kill even the smallest shoot. Beware that Simazine leaves a trace in the soil for several months meaning it's unsuitable for areas you intend to plant or sow and mustn't be used near veg. If you're going to use chemicals yourself then please go overboard on the safety ie good mask/ goggles rubber gloves and no exposed skin. Wash your clothes/ face hands and arms after use and give your boots a hosing too as pets can come into contact with them too easily resulting in organ failure from fairly low doses of certain stuff. Don't let in contaminate water courses and drains.

[Tony McC]

Pablo,

If you give me more info about Agritox, such as availability, dos and dont's, links to suppliers/info, etc., I'll write it up and put it on the main site as a FAQ.

[Iain]

Clever little bleeders been around since the dawn of time and has cottoned on to our tricks. Small tip I picked up of Beachgrove garden tv prog. In small areas rub marestail with gloved hands or on larger areas use brush or roller. This breaks the waxy skin of marestail and allows weed killer to penetrate plant. I've had much more success (although still painstaking) since adopting this.

[lutonlagerlout]

ace,i hope your not after my tea boy position?
its taken me 25 years to get to this lofty position :;):
i suppose an assistant char lady would be useful though ???
LLL

[GB_Groundworks]

tea, milk no sugar please in my thermal cup, can be found rolling around somewhere in the cab of the digger

thanks, got any biscuits?

[Pablo]

Pablo,

If you give me more info about Agritox, such as availability, dos and dont's, links to suppliers/info, etc., I'll write it up and put it on the main site as a FAQ.

I'll put that in my to do pile it's not to big right now only half the desk is taken up by it. I'll throw something together over the next week see what you think about it. Cheers.



Edited By Pablo on 1231843616

[acechadwick]

Simazine.....Simazine....it's sounds like poetry. complete annihilation of any land mass.

Oh Pablo...you rode over the hill like a knight in shining armour, brandishing a spray system and clad in....er....a mask, safety goggles, gloves and disposable thingies over your boots.
Well that's that fantasy shot to hell!
Anyhow a friend of mine is off to some agricultural symposium next week and will be bringing back glad tidings of maybe even more deathly ways to destroy the weed, so I shall keep you posted.

LLL watch your back. 25 years? Pah! you're toast!

P.S Have you heard about the beetle they are introducing to get rid of Japanese Knotweed? (if there is a thread about it I apologise)
Apparently it only destroys JK (does anyone spot a train wreck coming?)

[Pablo]

Yeah bit like the cane toad in Oz I'm sure someone a lot smarter than us knows what they're doing and will keep us safe.