Bee friendly weed killer

[Beardy]

I’m fed up with weeding the path and drive of the homestead and have decided to wage chemical warfare on the bloody things. However, I only have glyphosate based herbicides in the sheds and as I’m aware that those don’t have a particularly good rep wrt bee 🐝 friendliness I have decided to visit a garden centre and purchase some more modern concoction.

To this end I am seeking opinions, informed or otherwise, on suitable solutions to purchase and apply.

Thank you.

[L CC]

Burn it with fire.

https://flameengineering.com/

Anything that kills plants will also be damaging to insect life. Leave the chemicals out- it's not necessary.

(This rather assumes that you have a house & garden rather than a mansion and estate, but hey, you don't have regular paid work, so stroll around with a blow torch.)

[Regulator]

What are you trying to kill?  Some weeds (e.g. bindweed or mare's tail) really need a systemic weedkiller.

[Beardy]

There’s bindweed, docks, dandelions, assorted grasses, thistles, nettles. The usual really.

I’ve hit some of them with flame and am waiting to see how effective that has been. I’ll probably have to hit some of them with chemicals, but I’ve nothing to lose by giving the heat application some time.

[rafletcher]

For bindweed we use Roundup. Unravel a leader, spray it, then pop it in a food bag to prevent it spreading or getting washed off. Leave for a week or so. Spot spraying in a path is also something I’d do on a dry day. Or get a gas or paraffin burner.

[SoreTween]

^^ Seconded.

For nettles a weak¹ SBK mix will do. The active ingredient is Triclopyr which wikinaccurate says is non toxic to bees. Same mix works well on brambles but I prefer to cut them down to a few inches & paint the stump with 50:50 SBK & water. Time consuming but far more contained.

¹weak as in the weakest of the mixes suggested on the box

[De Sisti]

I use malt vinegar. It works very well for me. It's cheap too.

[ravenbait]

I have been known to use a kettlefull of boiling water. This will take out anything on the plant at the time, as well as on the ground in the surrounding area, so if I'm resorting to that I will try to scare things away with a gentle prod of a broom. Doesn't help the worms, though. I just have to hope that by the time the water gets to them, it has cooled down.

Sam