Comments on: Weed Burner

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:52:52 +0000

Hi Trevor,

My computer says you’re located in France, and your email address is in the UK. Since I live in Holland, and purchased mine locally, it’s hard for me to advise you where to buy one.

I am familiar with the Red Dragon products:

http://www.flameengineering.com/Vapor_Torch_Kits.html

and find them of good quality. Note many of their high end torches are very big! It’s not necessary to buy the larger ones in order to get something suitable for weeds. 50,000-200,000 btu is enough for most people.

I think this company will ship their Red Dragon products abroad, but you need to check with them to be sure.

By: Trevor Maddox

Trevor Maddox — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:56:56 +0000

So where do I buy one of these burners and how much do they cost?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:30:53 +0000

Hi Hamish,

That’s a great suggestion, thanks for visiting and leaving a comment!

By: Hamish

Hamish — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:34:52 +0000

With regard to killing weeds between bricks in a path – try pouring boiling water on them from your kettle. Works pretty well, it is cheap the buy a couple of cordless kettles (one can be heating up while you use the other), and it is kind to the enviroment.

By: anne

anne — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:04:54 +0000

Yes, let us hope that means a good idea is never burnt away.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:36:49 +0000

Hi Anne,

Wow, this is really a post from the archives! If you google on ‘weed burners’ (with an s), for some reason this post is one of the first few hits. It’s one of the first posts that made my blog well known. Sometimes when you write about something, you don’t know it’s going to go down in history.

Thanks for the tips with the carrots! I’ll have to try it.

Yes, burning down the neighbors pasture is always an issue! I’m always a bit nervous about this…

I still use and love my weed burner. I recently bought an upgraded model.

By: anne

anne — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:33:15 +0000

Hey Patrick,
flamers work like a charm in carrots; because they take so long germinate, other weeds pop up in the row before the carrot emmerges. Walking along the path with the tank in a backpack I like to torch the row at about 9 days. a few days later the carrots emmerge in a nice clean row. In my experience the flamer doesn’t cook and kill the seeds at all, just the sprouted seedlings. I had a friend who had a unit with 4 torches on a tool bar on his tractor…it was a bit too “manly” for him as he set the pasture next door on fire!

By: John W. Bruton

John W. Bruton — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:10:33 +0000

I have had a weed burner for many years. I use it about twice a year to get rid of the weeds that sprout up in my graveled areas. After burning I spray weed killer. I have the best looking parking area in town. Also, this is REALLY a manly implement and makes a perfect Fathers Day gift.

By: James Young

James Young — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 01:36:10 +0000

I purchased on of these weed burners last fall. I will give it a good workout this year 2007. I plan of using it not as a weed remover, but as a sterilizer.

Hollyhock rust has been plaguing me for the last three years. I burnt the tops off he hollyhocks, and flamed the ground around the plants in October 2006. We had a wet and warm early winter and the hollyhocks grew a few leaves and there was no sign of the rust. This I contrasted with last year when rust was always present.

I suspect the tool is a better sterilizer and seed kller in certain areas. I saw a large tractor driven burner in use in the UK. They run it over the fields in the fall.

Anyway I will experiment and see if it eliminates fungus and stimulates growth.

We lived on a farm when I was as child and we always burned the grass off in large areas when conditions were right in the spring or fall, and the growth of the new grass was truly astonishing.It is worth while mentioning that fire was and is natures way of rejuvinating in many cases.

At first look the weed burner has a lot of merit, and I will truly experiment this summer in the appropiate situation.

Durgan.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 13:25:02 +0000

Hi Rosemary — I’m annoyed by those weeds too. No, I personally wouldn’t use a weed burner for this. A weed burner will only burn off the tops of the weeds, and the roots will survive and keep growing. In addition, unless you have a very powerful weed burner, it will take longer and be more trouble to burn off the tops, than to just use a scraping tool. I don’t have any suggestions, other than the things you mention.

I like using a weed burner for the things I mention in this post, but I think the marketing that often goes along with the weed burners is sometimes misleading. I have tried to use it to melt snow, but have had similar results. Unless you have a very powerful weed burner, snow just takes too long to melt, and other ways to remove it are easier.

These are just my experiences, and if anyone else reading this has other opinions, I hope you will add your own comments here!

By: Rosemary

Rosemary — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 21:26:41 +0000

I am dammed by weeds between my bricks. I even dug up all the bricks and moved them closer then poured stone dust between. I have used roundup, kosher salt, bleach and dug up with a screwdriver and sharp knife, but they are treacherous. I am thinking of getting a weed burner. I only need for each side of front of house. 10 x 10 and 15 x 15. Is it worth it and which prod do you recommend Thanks

By: Reading Dirt

Reading Dirt — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 23:52:17 +0000

A flaming stick o’ death! Perfect! I’ve got to get one of those for the gravel areas and the concrete.