Hot water/steam for weed control

B

Bjoernar

New member
Have anyone in here ever used hot water or steam for weed control? Here in Norway I belive it might take up alot, as there is alot of dicussion about cutting down on the use of herbicides especialy in parks, schools etc.

What kind of machine and nozzle do you think is used in this video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_py-nzI_ozY
 
I have read that after first treatment, one should do another after about to weeks. It should than last longer before next treatment is needed. They say it kills seeds in the soil around the weeds as well.

I am curious about whats needed to build such rig. In one of the videos they say the steam is at 400 psi. Guess you dont need much flow?
 
I have actually seen a system like this. It had a bell shaped cover, imagine a stainless steel bowl, with the hose running in the center of it. I do not recall there being any nozzles, just an open hose end with a gun to control the flow. The landscaper that I saw that had it said it worked well.
 
Well I do have weeds so give e 10 min.
well a 3.5 gpm hot water machine with a soap tip doesn't get hot enough. guess i'll have to use SH
 
A pressure washer will blow up soil and gravel if you were to treat weed in gardens, parks etc. It must be low pressure and dont need high flow.
 
I think if we put an inline restriction so most of the water would be bypassed back to the tank, the water would get hot enough for saturated steam. Then have an open tip on the end of a lance so there is low flow with no pressure.

I think that would work but, I have not tried it out, I was in a pinch one day and had to use a restrictive hydraulic fitting for my hose reel whip line, and a lot of water was going back to the tank, probably 3 gallons or so out of 9 and the water was noticeably hotter!
 
The best for me would be to have a water broom with large orifice nozzles sitting close togheter, like the one they use in the last video I posted. If i could get water in the high 90 celcius with no pressure with this it should be pretty effective. In the video they claim that the water is at 98 celcius, which is 2 degrees below boiling.
 
Yea, it shows that this method can be very effective. For larger areas the steam nozzle in that video will be slow. Say a 10-15 inch water broom with water at 95-98 celcius at the nozzle will help you cover larger areas. Might need a boiler for that?
 
Ron, those are the videos I linked to in the first posts. Its very Nice that the resultat are pretty instant. With roundup etc it takes a week or two before the weeds are dead. Could be a ok add on for slower periods.

Is there any restrictions on the use of herbacides in the US?
 
Ron Musgraves is diggen it! Must have some bad weeds down in AZ.

Ontario Canada has some of the most restricted pesticide laws in the world (thankfully! ) and this could be very useful. I actually have my Pest control operators license and moonlight as a mosquito killer. I could see this as a potential add on.

There are currently no effective herbicides legal in Ontario that actually kill the plant, just iron based herbicides like Fiesta that weaken the plant.

As a loophole to the pesticide ban homeowners can still buy roundup if its for poison ivy control but no commercial applications are very effective.
 
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