How to Burn Grass on a Driveway

Grass can encroach on sidewalks and driveways.

Keeping grass lush and green is a potentially expensive prospect. Unfortunately, an unwanted side effect occurs when the healthy grass begins to encroach into unwanted areas such as driveways. The grass will grow through cracks in the pavement, widening existing crevices. Burning is an effective, environmentally friendly way to kill unwanted grass on your driveway, whereas other methods, including pulling the grass and hoeing, are not possible.

Things You'll Need

• Garden hose
• Propane flamer

Instructions

1. Prepare the site for the procedure by wetting the ground around the grass patches with the garden hose. Keep the garden hose handy and assemble the flamer according to the package directions.

2. Hold the flamer’s wand 1 to 4 inches from the patch of grass. Turn on the propane tank and apply pressure to the ignition switch.

3. Walk to each patch of grass and aim the flame on it for a short amount of time. Only one-tenth of a second is required to kill the grass, reports the National Gardening Association.

4. Continue to target grassy patches until all the grass has been burned. When you're finished, turn off the propane tank. Allow the grass to deteriorate naturally or pull out the burnt grass and weeds.

5. Repeat flaming the unwanted grass every two to three weeks, if necessary. The heat will not kill the root systems of any perennial weeds growing along with the grass, states the National Gardening Association.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid flaming weeds during droughts or periods of high winds.

References

• National Gardening Association; Kill Weeds With Heat; Dan Hickey
• The Organic Gardener: Using a Flame Weeder