Most of us don’t like weeds. Whether they are harmless or not, they are an eyesore on our lawn. How do we get rid of them?
Since the use of herbicide is prohibited in many areas, what can we do to kill the weeds using environmentally-friendly ways?
[Beside we are not very excited with herbicides which can change a male frog into a female frog.]
By using an organic, or natural, weed killer.
Vinegar
Most people formulate their own organic weed killer. It’s cheap, generally safe and quite effective. The main ingredient used is vinegar (acetic acid). The more concentrated (15 – 20%) it is, the more effective it is. They just spray it on the leaves and the weeds usually die in a few days. To help it better adhere on the leaves’ surface, soap or a detergent can be added to lower the surface tension.
Sometimes clove oil, orange oil, yucca extract, olive oil, garlic oil or gin are also added to the mixture.
Take care not to spray the mixture on the grass or the plants you want to keep, otherwise they will also die.
Be careful when using very concentrated vinegar as it is an acid and will burn. If you are using very concentrated vinegar, you need to exercise safety precautions when handling it. Wear gloves and goggles to avoid spilling it on bare flesh and getting it into your eyes (don’t spray on a windy day).
So do not spray on a windy day or rainy day (the rain will wash the solution away). Do spray when it is very sunny. The heat will evaporate the water and make the solution more concentrated and therefore more effective.
Salt
Salt, or a concentrated saline solution, is another alternative. However it will prevent anything from growing back for a long time as it will also kill off beneficial soil life.
Salt is perfect if you have weeds growing between stone pavements. You can use rock salt directly or dissolve 1 part of salt to 2 parts of water.
Boiling Water
Some people simply pour boiling water on the weeds. However, depending on how big the weeds are, they might not die off immediately. So this method is best suited for a few small weeds in the back yard. Remember that boiling water can be costly especially if you use electricity to boil the water. Water is an enviromentally-friendly solution as it does not introduce any detrimental chemicals into the soil.
Needless to say, be careful not to burn yourself.
Burn ‘em
Some people use a more dangerous method that we do not recommend here: they use a gas torch to burn up the weeds. The leaves are destroyed and the weed plant cannot produce food by photosynthesis.
However this is at best a temporary solution since the roots usually survive and the weeds will therefore reappear in time.
Kill Them Sweetly
Adding sugar or molasses to the weeds will increase the amount of microorganisms in the soil and contribute to the death of the weeds.
The microbes will also eventually improve the soil’s health.
To ward off bugs, add minced garlic or hot chili pepper to the sugar or molasses.
To control crabgrass, use powdered cinnamon bark.
Bat guano can also be used to burn the area and to make the lawn greener.
Weeds can’t grow in the dark
Another effective weed killing procedure is to cover the infested area with black plastic or permeable black cloth for several weeks. Without sunlight the weeds will die.
Here’s our suggestion to eradicate weeds naturally:
For a small isolated area
- Cover the area with black plastic or permeable dark cloth for 3 weeks or more (as long as possible) to ensure that all the weeds are starved to death from the lack of sunlight.
- Hoe the area to remove the roots and recover with black plastic for another 3 weeks. You should have a permanently weed-free area after that.
For a larger area with scattered weeds
- Spray 15 – 20% vinegar with a little detergent added to it directly on the weeds.
- After the weeds die, take them out and put sugar or molasses inside the holes and cover with soil again.
- If the weeds come up again, use a concentrated salt solution to kill the roots.
Let us know if the above 2 methods help to eradicate the weeds in your garden.
For a good sprayer, click here.
For already prepared natural weed killers, click here.
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