herp friendly weed killer?

[Colin Vestrand]

sooooooo, my yard is a mecca for frogs and toads every summer but my driveway looks like crap because of the weeds growing up through the gravel.
does anyone know of either a home remedy or commercial product that i can use on simple weeds that won't kill amphibians or reptiles?

[kc261]

I think vinegar works, but for the most effectiveness it has to be more concentrated than regular grocery store vinegar, which is 5%. Pickling vinegar, if you can find it, should be 10%. I can't say for sure if that is strong enough to be reliable on all weeds.

Wild thought: if whatever % vinegar you can get doesn't seem strong enough, you might be able to increase the concentration by simmering it. Don't know if the properties of vinegar that make it kill weeds will be changed by the heat though, but I'd guess not as I know hot/boiling vinegar works well for cleaning things like stained/hard water deposited, etc coffee pots. If nothing else, dumping boiling vinegar on the weeds would probably make them exceedingly unhappy, even if you didn't get the concentration any higher.

[Colin Vestrand]

you know, after i posted this i did find an article that described adding a few tablespoons of salt to boiling vinegar and dumping it on the weeds while its still hot... i'm going to give it a try. thanks for your suggestions!
i cant imagine the salt does much except make the soil a little less inhabitable..?

[starmom]

Another wild though: buy (or rent) a goat. Weeds are gone and you have awesome fertilizer. Earth friendly; fun too!

[Colin Vestrand]

haha, nice... but then i'd have to keep the goat from getting into the street... most of the weeds are out at the edge of my driveway. seriously though, i love goats.

[Blu Mongoose]

I'm a glutton for punishment. I get down and weed by hand still. I figure I'm doing good to even bend over at my age!