Where can I get Sodium Chlorate?

I hear sodium chlorate has been banned. It was the perfect weedkiller for my 630sqm gravel driveway.

These TV marketed brands such as Roundup & Weedol come in liquid form in a small hand squirt bottle and very expensive making them impractical.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can get sodium chlorate or suggest a practical alternative that can be used in a power sprayer?

 

We're definitely in the "nanny state" now.
When I was fifteen and at school in the late fifties, we used to make our own fireworks.
The potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur, I used to buy, believe it or not, over the counter in Boots the Chemists.

Until recently you could buy formaldehyde used for pond treatments in a chemist, quite cheaply. Now you have to buy the diluted stuff at silly prices in aquatic shops.

 

Hi, been doing that and found many false hopes. An Amazon seller's website was interesting...

 

You can buy roundup undiluted

 

Go to farmers' co-op and buy a brand such as Touchdown, ½ the price of Roundup.

I bought 20 litres of Touchdown concentrate (which is the identical chemical to Roundup for â?¬110 as opposed to â?¬250 for the same quantity of Roundup concentrate. That drum'll do me for years and years and years.

And when it gets banned I'll still have some. :gnthb: :gnthb: :gnthb:

If I've done my sums right, I have 1,000 litres of product (when diluted) for 11 cent a litre. That's based on 100 ml of concentrate to make up 5 litres of solutiion.

 

You can use a strong salt solution. I use this on the car parks at work. Very effective over a long period of time.:wink: Longer than Sod.Chl. because it poisons the ground. The cheapest way to buy it is in the granulated form that is used for water softeners. Use warm water to disolve it, it's quicker that way.
Personally, I'm stocking up on SBK, just KNOW they're going to ban that. :(

 

salt? as in dishwasher salt?

 

Hi Millwall. Not sure about "dishwasher salt" as the only dishwasher in our house is me.:lollol:I buy it it in 25Kg bags, about £7.00 a bag. It's advertised as salt for water softeners, try looking in the "trade" section of a local paper as it's usually used in hotels/pubs/restuarants etc.:wink:

 

The least expensive way is to use a diluted solution of cheap bleach in a pressure spray. Use a coarse setting ,so you don't get any drift onto plants or grass.

 

Hmm! Of course bleach works. Tried that. It kills the top growth. With persistent weeds you have to kill the tap root or the root system. If you don't do that, they keep coming back.

 

We used to mix sodium chlorate with ...(a common kitchen ingredient) and pack it into metal tubes to make rockets. We used a really high-tech form of ignition by using a few strands from a brillo pad, a long two strand cable and a motor cycle battery.
Real practical science!

 

Tate and lyle treacle tin full of said mixture thrown into a remote bonfire was pretty spectacular.Still have a few tubs of the flame retardant stuff in the shed along with a 25kg sack of potassium nitrate :wink:

 

Ive ordered two sacks of this: http://www.watersoftenersaltuk.co.uk/products/granulite_water_softener_salt_granules.php

Lets see how it works as a gravel weedkiller, but I'll bet it'll keep the slugs away,

 

Update, you are not going to believe this! My partner was spring-cleaning out kitchen cupbaords and under tyhe sink was - you guessed it! - 1KG of sodium chlorate - price £2.99.

It frightens me to consider using it knowing I will never be able to get any more.