Subject: Use hot water to kill weeds?

From: [email-masked] (Paul Dineen)
Date: 4 Mar 1995 01:28:12 GMT

I attended a talk recently given by a local naturalist.  One piece of
 advice he had for killing weeds was to pour boiling water on the area
 -- to kill the seeds below the first couple of inches.  He says he
 has done this for years and it has worked well for him.  He sits
 outside on a chair reading the paper while waiting for his Coleman
 stove to boil it up.  Any comments?  Will this kill too much other
 beneficial stuff?

 We have a largeish (900sf) specimen planting area in our front yard
 that we want to not use rocks or bark on.  We've tried bark (at our
 landscaper's suggestion), but it all blows away in our exposed and
 windy location.  We already have 50 tons of rock on our lot (1/2
 acre) and would rather not add more.  We'd rather use low ground
 covers in this area, but not if it means we'll be fighting thousands
 of weeds until the groundcover becomes established.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 4 Mar 95 23:03:44 -0600

>  stove to boil it up.  Any comments?  Will this kill too much other

Well, I use spaghetti-boiling water and tomato-blanching water on
sidewalk weeds... but I sure wouldn't like to do it for a big area...
that much coleman fuel would be astronomical!

Is the area already planted?  If not, consider one of the less-obtrusive
landscape fabrics.
>  of weeds until the groundcover becomes established.

The best methods of weed control I know of are mulches and
canopy closure (getting enough plants in to keep the weed seedlings
from sprouting).  Wish I had better suggestions for you.

Kay Klier  [email-masked]