Backyard beekeepers: How do you deal with weeds in your yard?

[brooksbeefarm]

Old rusty full of nail holes metal barn siding does a good job to keep the weeds down. and i set 8 in. concrete blocks on top of it to set the hives on. Jack

[LazyBkpr]

Good idea right there Jack, got plenty of that stuff available.

[Bakersdozen]

Boiling water does a good job if the weeds are shallow rooted and there aren't too many. 

[apisbees]

Gas powered weed eater. Knock the grass and weeds down around the hives 4 or 5 times during the year. 

[lazy shooter]

I'm going to place aluminum blankets over my hive boxes and use napalm.    Like Apis, I use a weed eater a few times a season. 

[apisbees]

Spray roundup when the bees stop flying in the evening and by the time the bees start to fly the next day the sprayed plants will have quite producing pollen and secreting nectar. The water mist will have dried.
Don't be afraid of using her asides and pesticides around their hives, just ask and learn how to do it pin a safe manner.
Thanks for asking the question and starting the discussion on this thread. A lot of useful information has been presented here.

[Bakersdozen]

This product may be overkill for your situation.  Tordon.  But be careful.  If the roots are intermingled with a desirable plant, shrub or tree it could kill it as well.  I speak from experience here.  I tried to use it on Virginia creeper, only to have the Virginia Creeper flourish and it got my Oak Leaf Hydrangea. 

[apisbees]

Tordon it sterilizes the earth put it on and nothing will grow in that area for 10 years except for the most noxious weeds. Here is a story about Tordon and what can happen when used. consider this before using https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/commentary/fast-and-loose-tordon-herbicide-move

[Bamabww]

Believe it or not, I use Round up..
   I mow and trim around the hives, and that night after dark I go out and spray with round up. Make sure no rain is in the forecast for a couple of days and just have at it..

Exactly what I do and have done for almost 5 years. I keep the vegetation dead around my hives, which I know is not an option for everyone. The bare ground seems to keep the ants away as well.

[Bakersdozen]

Tordon it sterilizes the earth put it on and nothing will grow in that area for 10 years except for the most noxious weeds. Here is a story about Tordon and what can happen when used. consider this before using https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/commentary/fast-and-loose-tordon-herbicide-move

Thanks Apis,  "grotesquely curled up leaves" That describes my Oak Leaf Hydrangea.  I might as well go ahead and dig it up.

[riverbee]

"Gas powered weed eater. Knock the grass and weeds down around the hives 4 or 5 times during the year." 

as i said earlier, i have used roundup as well.  my problem is two fold, living in the country, we get all sorts of funky weeds that grow in front of my hives, and they come back at some point, and also the lowest line on my electric fence is 6" to 8" off the ground.  i need to keep the weeds off the fencing, so as a matter of habit, the weeds get whacked down every week, and roundup treatments in the spring and fall.