There's quite a bit of moss growing on the tarmac drive outside my front
door. It's on the north side of the house so well shaded. It's got much
worse this year and I want to get rid of it before it freezes while
saturated with water.

The drive slopes down from the house and has shrubs in beds on each side.
Any liquid that's put on the moss runs into one or both of the beds and
anything residual will get trodden into the house.

Given the standard of the rest of the house I don't expect the tarmac to be
of very high quality so I'm wary of using a high-pressure washer.

Is there anything that will kill the moss but degrade on contact with soil?
I want to be safe but don't want to kill the plants.

TIA

--
Sally Holmes
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England

Sally Holmes wrote:
There's quite a bit of moss growing on the tarmac drive outside my
front door. It's on the north side of the house so well shaded. It's
got much worse this year and I want to get rid of it before it
freezes while saturated with water.

The drive slopes down from the house and has shrubs in beds on each
side. Any liquid that's put on the moss runs into one or both of the
beds and anything residual will get trodden into the house.

Given the standard of the rest of the house I don't expect the tarmac
to be of very high quality so I'm wary of using a high-pressure
washer.
Is there anything that will kill the moss but degrade on contact with
soil? I want to be safe but don't want to kill the plants.



Armillatox used to be ok in that sort of situation but is no longer approved
and any off lable use would be illegal. Armillatox is now only sold as a
natural soap - maybe your drive is dirty and you need to wash it?

pk

p.k. wrote:
Sally Holmes wrote:
There's quite a bit of moss growing on the tarmac drive outside my
front door. It's on the north side of the house so well shaded. It's
got much worse this year and I want to get rid of it before it
freezes while saturated with water.

The drive slopes down from the house and has shrubs in beds on each
side. Any liquid that's put on the moss runs into one or both of the
beds and anything residual will get trodden into the house.

Given the standard of the rest of the house I don't expect the tarmac
to be of very high quality so I'm wary of using a high-pressure
washer.
Is there anything that will kill the moss but degrade on contact with
soil? I want to be safe but don't want to kill the plants.



Armillatox used to be ok in that sort of situation but is no longer approved
and any off lable use would be illegal. Armillatox is now only sold as a
natural soap - maybe your drive is dirty and you need to wash it?

pk


Interesting... Also interesting to see the approach they've taken on
their website: http://www.armillatox.co.uk. They almost seem to be
saying what you're saying: it isn't licensed as a fungicide here any
more, but take a look at the international web site at
http://www.armillatox.com. Sounds from the long list of uses that it
will solve the gardener's every problem - perhaps it's really the wompom
that Flanders and Swann sang about ("Hail to thee, blithe wompom!")

Ian

p.k. wrote:
[...]
Armillatox used to be ok in that sort of situation but is no longer
approved and any off lable use would be illegal. Armillatox is now
only sold as a natural soap - maybe your drive is dirty and you
need
to wash it?

pk

I don't think "off-label" _use_ is actually illegal in these cases,
except in certain commercial and public-health situations. It's
generally a matter of restriction on what the product is permitted to
be _sold_ for. You can eat Growmore if you want to. It's not like
nitroglycerin, which you can have without a licence in pharmaceutical
form but aren't allowed to use as an explosive -- not that you
realistically could!

--
Mike.