The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Controlling weeds using a flamethrower

11.7 years ago flaming, weed flaming, weed prevention, weeds

Ok maybe a flamethrower is a bit of an exaggeration but just got done weeding my small yard in about 20 minutes and never had so much fun.  The product I used was the Red Dragon (Weed Dragon 100,000 BTU) Vapor Torch which I picked up at Amazon for $50 with free shipping.  Not only is this 2000 degree Fahrenheit blast to use it also is a much better alternative to using chemical herbicides which can make their way into our fishes and our very own drinking water.

The torch simply attaches to the same propane tank I use for my BBQ and you can control the intensity of the heat with a simple valve at the end of the handle.

This torch definitely exceeded my expectations, when I bought this I was really expecting maximum flame like seen below but this is about as low as it goes.

As you can see from the video below this baby pushes out quite a bit of heat when you turn it up and also kills the weeds by exposing them to the extreme heat causing the cells to explode, eliminating its stores of water thus causing a quick death which should be apparent in a couple hours.  Now personally I found more pleasure burning them to a crisp with an evil laugh (kept in my head to not freak out the neighbors) but if you have a larger area to cover just a fraction of a second exposure should be enough to eliminate the weeds and possibly having to come back for a second application.

Flaming weeds in general is most effective when weeds are not quite established (1-2) inches, more established weeds may take a few more applications to finish them off.  Personally I pull established weeds by hand so using them in the remaining small and tedious weeds seems a like a great option. 

Flaming weeds is also less effective on weeds that have a considerable amount of water stores underground for my yard this would be my annoying horsetail and grasses which are much more effective in killing using weed smothering methods.  Though I still get some pleasure hitting them with the torch while I killing other weeds.

Now the manufacture has also come up with some pretty awesome uses for this torch other them simply taking care of your of your weed problem which the detail below:

The Weed Dragon is not just for weeding – hundreds of other uses year round: FLAME weeds in your yard, garden, concrete cracks, rock gardens, driveways and along fence lines. Perfect along chainlink fences. Flaming reduces or eliminates spraying chemicals and is a lot more fun than pulling weeds. BURN heavy weeds and brush, stumps, debris and more. Perfect to burn off irrigation ditches, fields, culverts, pond edges etc. Start charcoal, campfires, burn barrels and back fires. THAW frozen water pipes. MELT snow and ice off steps, sidewalks, driveways and any nonflammable surfaces. HEAT metal castings, pipe and tubing, branding irons, pots, kettles, tar, asphalt and roofing materials. STERILIZE bird and animal cages, pens and other nonflammable confinement areas. REMOVE paint, grease, oil, plastic and other residues from metal, concrete and other nonflammable objects.