# Desperate to get rid of River Rock



## laurencamille (Nov 13, 2020)

I am at a loss for what to do and desperate. I am to the point of loading up my trash can every trash day with 2 rocks for the next 10 years kind of desperate. I need to get rid of river rock that was put in my yard by a shitty landscaping company 3 years ago, that literally just ordered a ton of it and dumped it on top of mesh. It's grown weeds through it and **** I am so sick of looking at it. I wish I had pretty mulch. I have reached out to local landscaping companies offering it for free, I have looked at trash removal services, and posted ads on Craigslist. Do I have any other options before I pay $500 to rent a giant dumpster for the day and load it up? Is that my only option? Can I even load those with river rock??? Please, any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

[Located on the Southeast side of Houston]


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## Half-fast eddie (Sep 19, 2020)

You can load a dumpster with anything that isnt hazardous.


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## 3onthetree (Dec 7, 2018)

There is river rock like <1 1/2", also <4", then there are cobblestones <8", then >8". The little ones surely you can put more than 2 in the trash at a time?
I've given away rock easily - river, cobbles, lava, boulders - on the web. My success is 1) free, 2) washed and piled easy to access, willing to help load, 3) springtime only when DIY mindsets are on landscaping. Try FB Marketplace too. I'm one who has received free sand and rock from others overbuying, so they exist. I've also buried unwantables underground, and "will deny" leaving deposits on dark nights in areas where it didn't matter.

Just a note to ward off the desperation - landscaping _always _needs weeded, whether covered by rock, mulch, fabric, or even grass.


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## Yard Coach (Oct 17, 2020)

Lauren,

It sounds like your landscapers took the lazy route and not the professional route. I apologize for the professional landscapers out there that would have followed the correct placement the 1st time.
Normally, there is a landscape fabric that is placed under the river rock first, then a little pre-emergent for future weeds, then the rock itself. Then weed penetration is minimal at best, except in high wind areas that blow stuff into your yard. In addition, the rock is usually placed at grade or slightly below so it is a little more naturalized to the eye.
Using a dumpster is an option, however, sometimes they have weight limits and certainly cannot be filled above the top rim of the dumpster.
How about a renovation and have a handyman do it correctly for you, or put a sign in the front yard stating "Free River Rock". I would like to know the river rock size. That stuff is really expensive if it is the larger sizes (3"x5", 5"x9" etc.)
Again sorry for the lazy landscaper that did this. We are all not like that.
Any other Qs, check it out if you want.
YC on the Ytube.
Regards.


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## HayesFJ (Sep 25, 2020)

One option might be to get a pump sprayer and kill the weeds with Roundup.


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## XSleeper (Sep 23, 2007)

What I have found is that if the rock is thick enough, whether or not there is fabric under it is irrelevant. It is quite easy to take care of with a garden sprayer and some season long weed killer. (Which basically means spraying it 4x a year.) 

Mulch turns to dirt as it decays, and you constantly need to add more. Then the grade gets higher and higher, often causing the siding to get buried and rot.

Washed rock is the perfect landscaping product. Perhaps you just need more of it. 3-4" is typically just right.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

@laurencamille nice to meet you!

We’ll be able to help you a lot better if you tell us a few things:

Where are you? City and state plenty.

What would you like better?

Show us pictures of your situation.

We’re here to help!


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

HayesFJ said:


> One option might be to get a pump sprayer and kill the weeds with Roundup.


Isn't Roundup a carcinogen, and I see a child in her picture, not a good idea.

Whatever happened to the old "pulling" of weeds, I have pulled tons of weeds in my day.

I suggest, pulling, and then piling the rocks aside, then starting all over again, with proper fabric, weed-blocker, and replacing those rocks again, then every time you see a weed pop it's ugly head, pull it NOW, and there will be no overgrown weeds again. 

Ed


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

Pictures will help. We are giving advice not knowing whether this is pea gravel or rip rap. Big difference, and the word "dump" has a special connotation.


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## HayesFJ (Sep 25, 2020)

de-nagorg said:


> Isn't Roundup a carcinogen, and I see a child in her picture, not a good idea.
> 
> Whatever happened to the old "pulling" of weeds, I have pulled tons of weeds in my day.
> 
> ...


1) According to Wikipedia, the EPA has classified glyphosate as "not likely to be *carcinogenic* to humans."
2) The "child" in the picture appears to have a beard.


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## Mike Milam (Mar 3, 2017)

HayesFJ said:


> 1) According to Wikipedia, the EPA has classified glyphosate as "not likely to be *carcinogenic* to humans."
> 2) The "child" in the picture appears to have a beard.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

HayesFJ said:


> 1) According to Wikipedia, the EPA has classified glyphosate as "not likely to be *carcinogenic* to humans."
> 2) The "child" in the picture appears to have a beard.


Not carcinogenic, then why all the danged class action lawsuit ads on TV, wanting dead people to join in?

And upon closer examination, the child has aged considerable.

ED


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## Mike Milam (Mar 3, 2017)

Can't help with the disposal, but about 10 years ago I cleared everything out of our landscaping, put down two layers of 'good' landscape fabric and then 3 inches of black lava rock. I keep a small spray bottle of roundup in the garage and when a little weed shows up I spray it. Takes maybe 2 minutes a week.


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## XSleeper (Sep 23, 2007)

> why all the danged class action lawsuit ads on TV, wanting dead people to join in?


Because lawsuits are big business.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

XSleeper said:


> Because lawsuits are big business.


For the attorney, not the actual victim. 

I got involved in one many years ago, and won $10,000.00.

By the time the attorneys "nickel & dimed it, I wound up with $.72.

That is 72 cents. And ya'll wonder why I deride attorneys?

ED


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## bmwstephen (Jun 17, 2019)

if you have a neighbor hood community forum or craigslist. post it online and it'll be gone within a week. that's what I did to get rid of river rock


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## ChuckTin (Nov 17, 2014)

You idiots and your River Rock! I hate the stuff, doesn't even look good. Will scatter into joining lawn, rolls under foot and weeds love it!
I've been in two houses now where it's been installed and fabric or not below it, that was/is a disaster!
Last house a previous owner tried to cover it up with more sand. Complete fail.
The stuff is "Oh isn't that purdy!" based on what? Because looked good in a Japanese travelogue - where a "master gardener" had a squad of flunkies to rake and weed daily?!! Give me a break! If it's so great then one of you professional landscapers should be willing to take it off her hands for free. You won't?, didn't think so.
OP there is only one cure - scrape it up and bury it. Sorry

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk


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## SDkid605 (Oct 24, 2020)

laurencamille said:


> I am at a loss for what to do and desperate. I am to the point of loading up my trash can every trash day with 2 rocks for the next 10 years kind of desperate. I need to get rid of river rock that was put in my yard by a shitty landscaping company 3 years ago, that literally just ordered a ton of it and dumped it on top of mesh. It's grown weeds through it and **** I am so sick of looking at it. I wish I had pretty mulch. I have reached out to local landscaping companies offering it for free, I have looked at trash removal services, and posted ads on Craigslist. Do I have any other options before I pay $500 to rent a giant dumpster for the day and load it up? Is that my only option? Can I even load those with river rock??? Please, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> [Located on the Southeast side of Houston]


NextDoor.com is a website similar to CraigsList, but it is neighbors near your particular area.
San Fran based company but they should operate in Houston area as well..

People often post ads in the Free section, and someone just may have a need for all of those rocks ??
Where I am, people will often post ads for free building materials, from rocks, to leftover lumber, and even just dug up dirt.
A landscaper may see the ad, and see it as a way to save material costs on a project ??

Someone building a deck in my neighborhood just let me take the leftover lumber;
Not sure what I'll do with it, but it has been saved from the dumpster for now.


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## John in NC (Aug 10, 2012)

Put an ad on craigslist and one on facebook under the 'free' section. Offer to help load it, free come get it. Heck make a sign and stick it out by the street that says, "Free river rock!"


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## bubblegummom (Nov 16, 2008)

laurencamille said:


> I am at a loss for what to do and desperate. I am to the point of loading up my trash can every trash day with 2 rocks for the next 10 years kind of desperate. I need to get rid of river rock that was put in my yard by a shitty landscaping company 3 years ago, that literally just ordered a ton of it and dumped it on top of mesh. It's grown weeds through it and **** I am so sick of looking at it. I wish I had pretty mulch. I have reached out to local landscaping companies offering it for free, I have looked at trash removal services, and posted ads on Craigslist. Do I have any other options before I pay $500 to rent a giant dumpster for the day and load it up? Is that my only option? Can I even load those with river rock??? Please, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> [Located on the Southeast side of Houston]


Have you tried Freecycle? It looks like they have one in Houston: Posts on the Houston Group | The Freecycle Network


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## StevenS (Mar 13, 2008)

When you post on Craigslist, NextDoor, or Freecycle, you've got to sell your rock, as if there were so many takers you need to charge money. Make sure to take several nice pictures, with the rocks nice and clean (wet rocks look nice). Your picture should look as good as those pictures you see when you browse the online garden center stores. Give a deadline to make people respond faster. (You can always edit the deadline later.) Write your ad in a way that makes we want to drive my truck from California to get your perfect rocks.


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## John in NC (Aug 10, 2012)

You could also stack a bunch of them at the street with a little "FREE I HAVE MORE!" sign.


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

I think a little reality is order. There is no landscape material that will remain weed free without some effort on the part of the homeowner. 

That can be in the form of Preen to prevent germination, a spray to kill what does or the greenies can bend over and pull the weeds.


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## gthomson (Nov 13, 2016)

Use it as a vacation getaway challenge. Load up 50-100 of them on a Friday night, then find a river to camp out near, and toss them in the river while drinking a few beers and checking out the stars over the weekend.
Do you have any future projects where you could use them in other ways? Small accent wall maybe 3' high, pathway of some type, water feature like a pond, stream, etc... - fireplace surround re-do with river rock?
Can you turn it into a side business by turning them into something more than just rocks by gluing/combining together, grinding parts away, etc... to make them useful in some other way? 



Then use the rock dust in the same area to give the future plants more minerals?
We're coming up on Christmas time - package them up nicely and sell them as pet rocks - a new generation of people might buy into that again


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## bubblegummom (Nov 16, 2008)

StevenS said:


> When you post on Craigslist, NextDoor, or Freecycle, you've got to sell your rock, as if there were so many takers you need to charge money. Make sure to take several nice pictures, with the rocks nice and clean (wet rocks look nice). Your picture should look as good as those pictures you see when you browse the online garden center stores. Give a deadline to make people respond faster. (You can always edit the deadline later.) Write your ad in a way that makes we want to drive my truck from California to get your perfect rocks.


No, I'm pretty sure that Freecycle involves just giving unwanted stuff away for free.


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## JDouglis (Sep 7, 2018)

laurencamille said:


> I am at a loss for what to do and desperate. I am to the point of loading up my trash can every trash day with 2 rocks for the next 10 years kind of desperate. I need to get rid of river rock that was put in my yard by a shitty landscaping company 3 years ago, that literally just ordered a ton of it and dumped it on top of mesh. It's grown weeds through it and **** I am so sick of looking at it. I wish I had pretty mulch. I have reached out to local landscaping companies offering it for free, I have looked at trash removal services, and posted ads on Craigslist. Do I have any other options before I pay $500 to rent a giant dumpster for the day and load it up? Is that my only option? Can I even load those with river rock??? Please, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> [Located on the Southeast side of Houston]


I am in Houston area also. Mulch washes out with our rains. So does top soil mulch. The rock works the best, but has it’s own issues. They all get weeds. I’ve tried every weed cloth as well as the newspaper weed block. Lowes sells a natural weed killer in a green spray bottle. Works better than the older chemical ones.
Because most areas of the US don’t get The frog strangler rains that we get a lot of advice really doesn’t work for here. The best tip I ever got about landscaping came from the top landscape architect for Teas Nursery. He told me to put an 18” border of bull rock all the way around our home behind the azalea. It keeps your foundation from washing out under and makes it easier to keep the bushes trimmed and not rubbing against your house. Maybe you could use the rock you have there.


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## StevenS (Mar 13, 2008)

bubblegummom said:


> No, I'm pretty sure that Freecycle involves just giving unwanted stuff away for free.


That's why I said "...as if..." Even if you're giving them away, you still have to "sell" them.



John in NC said:


> You could also stack a bunch of them at the street with a little "FREE I HAVE MORE!" sign.


Or, you could put a sign that says "For Sale", and maybe someone will steal them.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Or said:


> I did just that once, had an old still usable couch on the curb for two weeks, with a FREE sign on it, no takers.
> 
> So added a for sale $10.00 sign on it.
> 
> ...


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