We live in Temple and have gotten most of ours under control in our very small wawn with just weed and feed fertilizer. But down at our 42 acre rural cabin property in Gause, we aren't even going to try anymore. Just the fenced off yard around the cabin is 1/2 acre so just mowing and weed-whacking the fence line every couple of weeks is pretty daunting (we're in our 70's). And it would be too expensive to hire such things done (that's if we could find anybody to do it). So we're adopting the naturalist approach. We probably have more weeds than St. Augustine and Bermuda down there but hey, weeds are mostly green and when mowed, look close enough to grass for us. ;) Only thing I do is go around and pull by hand the tall yellow blooming stuff I think is mustard cabbage and the spotted monarda that is prolific along our chain link fence. Soil is sandy so that is real easy to hand pull in about 30 minutes.

Thanks so much, im trying the blow torch method come payday. I know propane is expensive so ill see if its more cost effective than chems.

What is the weed that looks like a tomato plant and leafy and has the thorny stocks so you have to wear gloves to grab it? It got me good, i didnt expect it to have thorns on it. It seems to be a form of thistle but its not the one that grows low to the ground, i thought it was a tomato plant when i first saw it.

Perhaps this link of weed photos at one of these sites will help, David. https://aggieturf.tamu.edu/turfgrass-weeds/. https://www.weedalert.com/search-by-region-results.php?region=4. None of them really look like tomato plants to me, however.

Thanks for the links, im pretty sure its pigweed https://aggieturf.tamu.edu/turfgrass-weeds/pigweed/

Look at a young tomato plant and pigweed, they are very close in appearance if your not an educated green thumber. :)

You must grow different tomatoes than my Dad did. LOL Just kidding. Come to think of it, I think I've seen pigweed down at our Gause cabin property, now that you point out the photo. But heck, I have almost every weed pictured on that A&M site around our cabin and surrounding pasture..........with perhaps the exception of Japanese Knotweed..........at least I haven't seen that one yet!

Im thinking about using some salt slury to kill everything on the gravel. My crape myrtles are salt tolerant so ill try different amounts till i can get the slury just right, then just put it in a 5gal bucket and dump it. I hope that will keep them away for years to come.

David, I may be wrong but I'm not aware of any prickly Amaranths that would require gloves to remove. Could it be Carolina Horsenettle, Solanum carolinense? Same family as tomatoes. If you post a picture we can almost certainly identify it for you.

Regarding the weeds have you tried a sharp Dutch hoe? Or the flame weeder recommended by PKPonder?

propane is expensive so it would cost me as much for propain as it would for chems. I am currently digging them up alittle each day then spraying homemade stuff then putting thicker gravel as i go and as i can afford it.

Here are some pics...

more pics

more pics

my current weed mix is 1 half gal vinegar, 1 half cup table salt, and 1 tabl spoon dawn dush soap. what if i added a cup of gasoline to that?

The pictures are too distant and fuzzy to id, I'm afraid. If you can get closer and clearer we can try to help. Personally I wouldn't use any home brewed poisons on my land.

If it was me, I would just let them grow and keep them mowed. Much easier and less expensive and less damaging to our groundwaters.