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While vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and boiling water can work to kill annual weeds, they won't work against some of the tougher, perennial weeds. You can still stay organic, but it takes some extra work on your part. Homemade weed killers are generally non-selective solutions—they kill whatever plants they touch including lawn grasses. They can also alter the composition of the soil when used repeatedly. Few things give a garden a more untended look than weeds. One way to deal with pesky weeds is to kill them with commercial herbicides.
At a glance, knowing how to get rid of weeds with this method may seem faultless. After all, it uses accessible, nontoxic ingredients that you may already have in your kitchen or bathroom cupboard. However, there are some things to note before experimenting in the garden. We’ve tested a variety of natural weed killer recipes that you can use to control weeds naturally, and we’ll show you what worked best in our gardens.
How to Apply Vinegar as Weed Killer
Pulling weeds at the root is one of the easiest and most natural ways to get rid of them for good. "Ideally, you should dig out the weeds as soon as possible so you can prevent them from seeding and multiplying further," says landscaper Peter Miller, founder of Gardening Stuffs. Many experts suggest using white vinegar to rid your land of weeds. Rooted, a New York City nursery that ships nationwide, swears by a weed-killing concoction that contains the acidic ingredient along with other common household items. Any herbicide you choose, whether it's an organic (sometimes called "natural") compound or a synthetic one, has its benefits and drawbacks.
So make sure you aim your sprayer directly at the weed and use the stream setting so as not to hit a nearby lettuce plant. If you keep borax around the house for cleaning, then you already have a powerful weed killer right at your fingertips. Adding a little dish soap helps break down the weed’s protective barrier and helps the mixture stick to the plant. Like other mixtures, avoid getting this on the plants you want to keep alive.
How to split and propagate your plants
If you do use mulch as a natural weed killer, just be careful to only use it on the top layer of your soil's surface. Placing the mulchin your soil could cause old weed seeds to resurface and sprout. Household vinegar doesn't work as well on older weeds or perennials.
Just when you think you've discovered every possible use for vinegar around the house, a new one crops up - but this time, it's in the garden. As it turns out vinegar can be used as a weed killer, too. Deb Wiley's goal as a writer and editor is to bring the joy of gardening to readers by cultivating their relationship to growing and planting. Since starting her freelance career in 2008, she has been a highly sought-after writer, editor, and creative project manager for a wide range of magazines, books, and online garden articles. Where she brings personal experience as well as deep connections to specialists in the world of horticulture. You can then spray on the areas where you want to kill weeds.
Natural Weed Killer Recipes to Save Your Garden and the Environment
Instead of using an herbicide like Preen, which is chemical-based, cornmeal alone, when applied directly to the soil, will stop a weed’s seeds from germinating. In fact, it can kill everything from dandelions to chickweed to spurge and more. Multipurpose borax can kill weeds, control unwanted insects, and boost laundry detergent—and it’s the sole ingredient in Earthborn Elements Borax Powder. Borax, short for “sodium borate,” is a natural mineral mined in desert regions, including California’s Death Valley. This industrial-strength formula contains only pure and natural ingredients that are environmentally safe. It’s a nonselective vegetation killer that’s well suited for lawn edging and removing weeds from fence lines, between sidewalk cracks, and among patio pavers.
You can cut small holes around your existing plants to allow them to continue to reach the deeper parts of the soil. Keep weeds from overrunning any garden with these natural solutions—all of which are effective alternatives to chemical herbicides. Distilled white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or cleaning vinegar. To be the most effective, the acetic acid concentration in the vinegar should be above 11% to burn and kill the plant. During the heat of summer, place thin clear plastic across any area where you want to kill weeds.
This Natural Armor weed killer can also be used to clean mossy stone garden statues and outdoor ornaments. Keep your garden healthy with these natural, effective weed killers. If you'd like to avoid using harsh chemicals of any kind in your garden, first try these natural ways to kill weeds.
For them, mere weed control isn't as important as achieving weed control without harsh chemicals. Some choose to tolerate weeds like wild violets rather than fighting them. Common distilled white vinegar is useful in the spring if you are hoping to kill newly-growing weeds. It isn’t as effective on tough, older plants, however. It’s best to spray your concoction onto weeds on a warm sunny day. That way the sun will work with the spray to dry up and kill plants.
Keep in mind that the salt is not the best thing to add in garden beds because it can kill good plants as well. It’s excellent in areas where you want to clear out plant life or kill plants in the cracks in cement. Be sure to pour the boiling water slowly to avoid backsplash. I use a tea kettle since the spout helps me control the water flow.
Other beneficial ingredients include soaps and essential oils, such as cinnamon or clove. To control weeds without spending a lot of cash, consider this Natural Armor concentrate. Available in a 1-gallon jug at an attractive price, this organic weed killer contains vinegar that’s six times more potent than the household variety. It can be applied using the attachable trigger sprayer, by pouring it into a smaller spray bottle, or by using a pump-type garden sprayer.
As an added tip, try to apply when it is sunny out to help dry out and shrivel the weeds. The combination of the weed killer and the sun will attack the root systems of the weeds and speed up the killing process. To qualify as a top pick, an organic weed killer should be potent enough to kill the weeds causing the problem. It should also contain chemical-free ingredients that will not contaminate fruits and vegetables or leave harmful residues in the environment. Several of our recommendations are vinegar solutions of varying concentrations because vinegar is a highly effective and natural weed killer. Depending on the specific weed problem, either of our 20 percent or 30 percent concentrations will be appropriate.
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