Question

Hairy Pavers   QUESTION: I installed pavers about 7 years ago in the backyard, but now I realize that I have a problem. There is growth of weeds coming out between the cracks and it looks like my pavers need a haircut. What can I spray/apply on them that is relatively safe but will kill the weeds ? ...or is the real solution to pull them up and put landscape fabric down over the sand and replace the pavers ?

Thank you,
Vic

ANSWER: Hey Vic. Doesn't look that bad to me. Looks like you did a good job laying this out too. Other than the weeds, it is holding out pretty good.
What did you use between the joints when you laid them 7 years ago?
It is pretty much the industry norm to use polymeric jointing sand to keep weeds pests and water away from the cracks.
I need to know if you have polymeric in the joints to give you the proper recommendation from this stage. (What kind would be nice as well) envirobond can be removed pretty easily. Polymers require a little more work.  
What you can do no matter what, is deal with the weeds.
Spray all the weeds thoroughly. (two or 3 times over the next few weeks) Make sure they are all dead. Roundup works well.
We may be able to deal with this without having to rip up all the bricks. We can apply some polymeric to seal the joints after they are cleaned.
The only problem is that polymeric sand needs to be applied to a joint with a thickness of at least 1.5 inches( minimum) with 2 inches recommended. A thin skim over the top will not be effective. This means the cracks must be cleaned very well.  
Landscape fabric is not needed under a patio. Even if you put landscape fabric down, but don't use polymeric sand in the joints, you will still get weeds. The weeds seeds are blown in from above and germinate in the sediment in the cracks.
Get back to me please. Thanks, Kevin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the suggestions. I recently had my gardener get rid of the weeds in the pavers using a weedwacker which worked well as a temp fix. I was going to use Roundup to kill them down to the root but I found out Roundup is very poisonous and not biodegradable. The type of sand I used was Basalite Playsand....didnt know about polymeric sand at the time. It seems it would be a big job to take out the playsand down to 2" in the cracks and replace it with polymeric sand at this point in time. Would impregnating the cracks with some kind of creeping groundcover work ? I have seen this using flagstone and it looks nice.

Thanks,

Vic

Answer
Even if you decide to do planting between the cracks, it will require quite a bit of work. The joints are pretty small on your patio. Other things to consider with planting between the joints.
Controlling the growth and size.
Soil, light, water, requirements (if any)
Sometimes there is no easy fix. I understand about you not wanting to use roundup though. there are alternatives. Boiling water, highly concentrated vinegar, etc. Here is a great article from a friendly site to my own on organic herbicides. Great little article. Great site too on lawn care.
wanhttp://www.lawn-care-academy.com/herbicides-2.html

How about not lifting all the stones to clean up the weeds and apply polymeric? Instead, just work with an environmentally acceptable organic herbicide when needed?

Just another option for you.
Thanks again. Kevin