The most powerful, most long lasting, best value single dose path weed-killer.

Any thoughts about this annual conundrum?

Every year I buy Pathclear in those fiddly little tubes, it seems really expensive for what it is.

Someone said to me that it has something in it which prevents germination, and that the poison sticks on the path -- I don't know if it's true.

Anyway it's soon going to be that time of year again, and I'm wondering if I can do better.

 

Lucky you if you can still obtain Pathclear! The original formula did what it claimed to. It did contain a seed germination inhibitor as well as a contact weedkiller. Glyphosate will kill perennial weeds but it doesn't stop new ones from germinating. There's a lot of trickery going on at the moment with garden products. You need to read the miniscule print on the side of the box to find out exactly what the product contains. If it's pelargonic acid, forget it! An expensive, ineffective rip-off packaged to look like the erstwhile formerly effective product.

 

This is the Pathclear product leaflet

http://www.hggs.org.uk/infoleaflets/PathclearWeedkiller.pdf

It says its only two active ingredients are glyphosate and dyflufenican, but it also says that it prevents new weeds from growing for up to 3 months by creating an invisible barrier in the top soil layer. How is that possible?

If it’s true, and there’s no similar competitor, then you have to pay their premium price.

 

I've got a gravel drive which I'm quite happy with. Hands up i use industrial strength Rosate tf (glyphosate).
It really is deadly, and works out very cheap when purchased in a 5 litre bottle. Just 200 mls to the 5 litres of water in my sprayer.
I'll apply it once around April/May and once more if needed in August.
The 5 litres will last for many years and i paid around £30 for it on ebay.
I agree with Armandll that the product does need to be used with care and it certainly isn't to be left lying around willy nilly.

 

My pet hate I am afraid, we never have used any weed killer and have a good burner we use at times, our driveway is typical of French ones around here...powered cal underneath and rollered then slightly stony cal on top and then stone size of your choice on top..our is quite fine..nightmare...weeds easy to pull on the whole but grass like from an angle looks like a fine lawn... I can pull out some and put it in my failed new grass seeded area...
These products are killing off our insects also, so that needs to surely be thought about, seriously..maybe getting too late to change peoples ways.

 

The old Pathclear originally worked for up to a year, then the formula changed, so it became up to six months. I see now it is three months. It's still better than the alternatives, though, if the area to be treated contains lots of annual weed seeds. Having re-read your OP, Howard, there's no mention of where you'll be using it?

 

The insects would be the reason that i wouldn't use herbicides on or near my flowers or veg where the bees and their friends are busy.
I've never seen any bees in the couch grass on my drive so in my humble and perhaps deluded opinion I'll continue to use it in a very controlled way.
Be assured (sincerely) if i see bees or other critters on the drive I'll stop.
The spray usually soaks into the green leaves within seconds and goes systemically to the weeds roots.
I don't believe the dying foliage is of any threat or attraction to insects.
I'll keep an eye on this subject however because i prefer being responsible with nature generally.

 

Well your giving some thought to the subject of insects but actually like we do I know are often deepset in our ways and want them blimming weeds and grasses where they belong...not in my Garden... but as a realist anybody using weed killers are destroying the insects..fact..

 

Its designed to be used on paths, most people dont want weeds on paths, and I think you will find that it stops weed seeds germinating.
Which is what people want on paths.

 

Yeah that's why it's called Path Clear.