# Ortho ground clear safe for water well?



## damian51 (Jan 28, 2012)

I have a gravel driveway I would like to kill all the weeds/grass growing in it. I have used round up but as you can guess, week later it's all back (I live in southern Louisiana). Well I have a water well ~200 feet deep and about 100 feet away from the driveway....is ortho ground clear safe for the water well? I also herd about mixing salt + vinnegar + dish soap....would this work as well?

Looking for any advice really on something to sterilize the soil but won't contaminate my water well at the same
Time.


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## tylernt (Jul 5, 2012)

Potable water wells are supposed to have casings to prevent surface water from contaminating the well. Even so, to be safe, I might avoid using chemicals within 10ft of a well head... but 100ft, no problem.

I've tried vinegar. Used on two to three successive mornings on hot, dry days, it does effectively kill foliage. Won't kill roots, but hopefully with no leaves the weeds will die completely.


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

tylernt said:


> Potable water wells are supposed to have casings to prevent surface water from contaminating the well. Even so, to be safe, I might avoid using chemicals within 10ft of a well head... but 100ft, no problem.
> 
> *I've tried vinegar. Used on two to three successive mornings on hot, dry days, it does effectively kill foliage. Won't kill roots, but hopefully with no leaves the weeds will die completely.*


Ayuh,.... Bleach,.... It's cheap,... it Kills, everything,.... 'n it dissipates reasonably quickly....


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## notmrjohn (Aug 20, 2012)

Your well is pro'lly safe at that distance and depth. RoundUp (glyphosphate) only kills activly growing plants, that's why in a few weeks new plants grow from seed, mebbee a few from roots the roundup didn't kill. It ws developed to clear out fields before planting crops, it kills so fast and impresivly that non farming folks started using it as a general weed killer, and it is sold as such, but that's not what its for. GroundClear is basically RoundUp with imazapyr, a pre-emergent that keeps seeds from germinatng. Plants could still come back from any unkilled roots. Both have "inert" ingredients, a 'surficant' to help wet the plant so the active ingredient flows all over it and mebbee sticks a while when the surficant dries. That is what the soap you mentioned is for.

Bondo reccomends bleach, it will act just lik Roundup, as will vinegar. They dissipate and don't effect seeds. bleach may kill some roots if you really pour it on, but both basically burn up the foliage as tylernt sez, strong sun and high temp make the burn quicker and if you're lucky or reapply often and frequently enuff the root may die from lack of food. You want horticultural vinegar its 10 or 20% acetic acid, household stuff is at best 5%, not strong enuff. there are other things folks use that act the same way, sometimes just because they have access to them, ranging from alcohol (expensive), gasolene ( there's a real good eco choice (eco+ green and economic) but then you could let it sink in and toss a match, that'd get them roots and maybe fuse your gravel into a solid surface, and boiling water,enuff will kill roots. I can see you rushing back and forth from the kitchen with a tea kettle. But Lousiana? Mebbee you can get a steam boat to pull up and run a hose, an insulated hose. 
Salt, now you're talking weed killing of Biblical proportions. It will stay there and keep working a while too, maybe unto the 7th generation. Sow your drive with salt, use a hopper type fertilizer spreader, the kind where salt would come out bottom not a whirly type.The chapest salt you can find, I dunno where you get a load of road salt in La. Wait,you got salt mines or wells, mebbee over at that sink hole, or mebbee it'll come to you. The salt won't work immediatly but will work down into the gravel, first rain, or sprinkling, it will start working, and should keep working, may bleed some into near by areas tho. A real strong brine solution could be sprayed, and you could add vinegar to it, heat it to boiling.


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