Playing With Fire

Steve and I have had our fair share of problems with weeds in our yard since we moved into our home last April.  Our neighbors were not too pleased with our brand of yard maintenance, and weren’t shy about letting us know (in an anonymous letter).  And while we tried to convince ourselves that it really wasn’t that bad, we did find some pretty hideous weeds. 

Last year, we finished the task of clearing the major weeds from the yard, and swore we would never let it get like that again.  The idea was we would nip the weeds in the bud, so to speak, and with some frequent low level maintenance, they would never get out of control.  With the recent rains, that hasn’t been too easy.  Our busy schedules limit the time we can spend in the yard, and there haven’t been any weekends recently that weren’t too wet, cold, and yucky to go out and work in the yard.  As a result, the weeds have grown like, well, weeds.  So we find ourselves right back where we started.

Enter the Weed Dragon weed torch. 

The best way to describe it is a mini-flamethrower.  Powered by a standard gas grill-type propane tank, it subjects the weeds to super-high temperatures, bursting the cell walls and killing the weed.  The Weed Dragon consists of the aforementioned propane tank, a handy dolly to transport the tank, and the hose and torch itself.  We also chose to purchase an optional trigger valve. 

The standard weed torch emits a constant flame which can only be controlled by adjusting the flow of propane into the torch.  With the trigger valve, you do still always have a small pilot flame in the torch, but it won’t be shooting out the big flames until you pull the trigger.  We thought this would give us more control and make using the torch safer overall. 

There is one additional essential piece of equipment:

In addition to having the fire extinguisher nearby, we decided that weed torching would always be a two person job, one manning the torch and one with a garden hose to wet down any dry looking areas before torching them and to spritz out anything that did catch fire or smolder after being torched.

Since Sunday was nice and sunny, we were finally able to take the Weed Dragon for a spin.  First, Steve tested it to make sure there were no propane leaks by pouring soapy water over all the connections and watching for bubbles for a few minutes.  When he was satisfied there were no bubbles, he rinsed it off and we lit it up. 

It didn’t take long for us to recognize that just a few seconds of heat from the torch was enough to kill most weeds.  When they wilted and turned bright green, like vegetables do when you cook them, we knew they were toast.  Our test area was a rock-covered area in the back yard.  This is what it looked like when we were done, and then a few hours later after the dead weeds became crispy. 

Notice all the still healthy weeds in the background along the fence.  We didn’t have a chance to get to those, but we did cover a lot of area in the front yard. 

The process was certainly a lot more fun than pulling each weed out by hand.  So far, it also appears preferable to Round Up.  You get more instant gratification because the weed wilts right before your eyes instead of a few days later.  It’s also nice to know we aren’t spritzing all kinds of chemicals into the soil.  Hopefully we will continue to be pleased with it as we get to use it on more areas of the yard. 

General Sherman would be proud.

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