Over 25 years ago I built a basketball court at our farm.
We would spend a good part of the summer at the farm and having a place for the kids to practice was essential. Hoops has always been a game that has been enjoyed by our family, dating back to my Dad who played semi-pro basketball.
Since paving the basketball court, the only blacktop found in our town of dirt roads and driveways, keeping the court free of moss has been a constant battle. The green living carpet gets as slippery as ice. It is not ideal for playing hoops, roller skating, riding scooters, or learning how to ride a bicycle, all of which occur when our children and grandchildren visit.
Every other year this situation needed to be rectified and I felt like I was fighting a losing battle. I've tried many different products that were guaranteed to kill the moss, just apply the stuff and walk away, total horse shit.
The only way that worked was to power wash the entire court, which would take several days. Power washing the moss would work pretty well, but it didn't kill the moss. By the following year, a green haze would start to appear and by the next spring, the court would look like I never did a thing. The green carpet would be back.
This year, I needed to address once again, the slippery moss.
After spending a few hours power washing the court one square inch at a time, frustration set in. With the gas can full and ready to fill the power washer, I wondered if I could kill the moss with fire. I poured some gas on an area that looked like a shag rug, lit it up, and let it burn. After a minute or two the fire burned out and the moss was completely eradicated. Setting the entire court on fire might be a little very dangerous, but using a torch fueled with propane should work without causing a forest fire. In the past, I've used a blow torch just like the one in this pic when I was in construction. The blow torch was used to apply roll roofing that needed to be heated to be installed.
The process still took a lot of time, but not nearly as time-consuming as power washing, and I felt that the moss would be gone for good.
Since the basketball court was built years ago the trees surrounding it have gotten much bigger.
The shade the trees provide is a good thing on hot summer days, but a lack of sunlight reaching the blacktop provides an ideal situation for the moss to grow. Step two in ensuring that I don't need to clean the court every other year was to remove some of the trees.
