On Sat, 9 Jul 2016 07:25:41 -0700, "David E. Ross"
wrote:

On 7/9/2016 3:32 AM, herb white wrote:

I have a gravel drive about 10 ft wide and 500 ft long that has some
weeds coming up. What is best to use to control those weeds that will
not pollute the river? Thanks for any info.

Temporarily move the gravel aside. While doing that, scrape away the
existing weeds.

Get landscape cloth. Lay down a double layer of landscape cloth the
width and length of the driveway.

Restore the gravel over the landscape cloth. Add more gravel to create
a depth of 3 inches.

New weeds might sprout, but their roots will not penetrate the landscape
cloth or enter the soil beneath. You can either ignore those weeds as
they will soon die, or you can easily pull them. In the meantime, rain
and other water will go through the landscape cloth.

This works best if your driveway has some kind of edging to keep the
gravel in place and prevent weeds from sending runners under the
landscape cloth.

You obviously haven't a clue about how much LABOR and COST that would
entail for a 500' driveway. I have such a 500' crushed stone
driveway, once a year I hand spray with a weak solution of Round Up...
I choose a hot sunny dry day... takes me about 4 hours, and costs a
gallon of Round Up concentrate. I use a 2 gallon pump sprayer (not
too heavy to carry), I mix Round Up to half strength, 3 oz per gal.
Choose a wind free day, and don't be tempted to spray heavily, a light
application works well... can always go back in two weeks to spot
spray.
Someone would have to be psychotic thinking they can move that much
gravel and then put it back, talking moving over five ten ton dump
truck loads, TWICE! That much commercial grade landscape cloth (5,000
sq ft) would cost well over $3,000, and take two people minimally ten
hours to lay down.
Landscape cloth is used to prevent soil erosion on slopes, not to
prevent plant growth, in fact it's made porous to encourage plant
growth, it's supposed to last long enough for plantings to mature
enough so their roots can prevent erosion. Landscape cloth for a
fairly level gravel roadway is a waste. Only a nut case would destroy
a perfectly good gravel roadway just to eradicate weeds. It cost me
$7,000 to to have a 500' crushed stone driveway installed... very
expensive heavy roadway equipment was used, including a huge
compacting vibrating roller. Lots of people here have gravel and
crushed stone driveways, none would think to destroy their roadways
over weeds... weeds will be back next spring no matter what one does.
I bless Round Up... I use it around all my out buildings that would
otherwise be difficult to mow. Gravel driveways are supposed to have
some weeds, too many weeds simply means it's not driven often enough.
If worried about weeds install a blacktop driveway instead. I paid a
lot of money for this driveway, no way would I destroy it over a few
weeds that a gallon of Round Up can take care of, not that I could
remove all those stones and put them back myself anyway:
http://i63.tinypic.com/2saezy1.jpg
Were I to call any company to remove those stones and put them back
over weeds the men in the white coats would arrive.