Seeking comments on water-powered weeder

[Frank Pellow]

Having spent about two hours this morning digging weeds out of our front lawn :( , I was very much atracted by this item: http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&cat=2,2160,40706,10418&p=10418
in the Lee Valley catalogue.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has tried it.

[Christopher Stahl]

Frank,
I've never seen this before your posting, but I think it looks pretty darn cool. I'm tempted to order one.

[Ed Lang]

I bet it would work, but have never seen one.

I am cheap. I would buy a supply line and valve at the borg and connect to my garden hose for about $4.

Be sure to let us know if you get or make one.

[Joe Pelonio]

If it didn't work on the weeds it would sure be great for deep root watering of trees, and maybe flooding mole tunnels.

[Jim Becker]

Very interesting...

[Mark Pruitt]

I've met some hard clay that would give that lil' gizmo a run for its money!

[Frank Pellow]

I've met some hard clay that would give that lil' gizmo a run for its money!
That's what I am afraid of. My "soil" has a high percentage of clay.

[Bill Lewis]

2-4-D in a towable sprayer! Now that's weedin'

[Frank Pellow]

2-4-D in a towable sprayer! Now that's weedin'
But, quite illegal in Toronto. In fact, any weed/pesticide sprays/pellets are illegal here. I approve the ban, but it does make for more work.

[Norman Hitt]

Frank, I've not used the Lee Valley version, BUT.........I have always made my own and for many friends. I currently don't have a trigger valve, (couldn't find any at the hardware store that day) so I just have a 90* brass valve that a garden hose will screw into, and I use a piece of 1/2" hard copper pipe, with a compression fitting to attach it to the outlet end of the valve. On the other end, I just flatten the pipe almost closed and stick a finish nail in each corner of the flattened opening and finish hammering it closed and then pull the two nails out leaving two small holes as a nozzle. I've been making & using these for over 40 years and it is the only way I've been able to get rid of wild onions and some other stubborn vegetation where you MUST get all the root out. I also use it to deep water things, and have at times attached a siphon jar to deep feed. With the two nozzle holes I can even get it to go into extremely hard ground by turning it on and twisting it right & left as I press it down into the soil. I think the last two I made cost me about $7.00 each with all new parts, and I even put them together at the hardware store as I walked around the aisles collecting the parts, (after the sales clerk cut the lengths I wanted). I currently have two of these, one with the pipe length about 4' long, and the other that is about 18" long, for working while kneeling to lift out the wild onions.

I have even made them for washing down the patio/driveway, and blasting the algea loose in the turtle pond, by just hammering the end together flat with a piece of thin metal flashing in the end and then pulling that out which leaves a thin knifelike spray pattern which cuts off bird stuff, and even loose paint. I've even used them for loosening the hard ground for digging postholes & ditches which really speeds things up.

[Frank Pellow]

That sounds good Norman and I think that you have describerd it well enough that I can try to make one. It will be a lot less expensive than the Lee Valley version and so worth the cost to experiment.

I will try to find the time to get the parts and to make one within the next week, then will report back.

[Norman Hitt]

That sounds good Norman and I think that you have describerd it well enough that I can try to make one. It will be a lot less expensive than the Lee Valley version and so worth the cost to experiment.

I will try to find the time to get the parts and to make one within the next week, then will report back.

Hey Frank, give it a try, and if you're like me, you'll be making them quite often, 'cause every time one of my friends has seen them, they say "I've Gotta Have One of Those", and I usually just end up giving them mine and making another one.:D

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Have you tried applying amonium nitrate? It's great for the grass but tough on broad leaf weeds.

[Frank Pellow]

Have you tried applying amonium nitrate? It's great for the grass but tough on broad leaf weeds.
I want to get rid of the weeds without using chemicals.

[Bill Lewis]

I want to get rid of the weeds without using chemicals.Try using white vinegar then. Best to use the highest concentration you can find.