vinegar weed killers

[historian]

has anyone heard of or used vinegar, salt and dish detergent as an effective weed killer and stopping anything from growing for several yearss. thanks

[RedEarth]

1. I've used 20% vinegar for several years....

it works just like Round-Up.

[MichiganVote]

3. So 20% vinegar and 80% H20 or something else?

[RedEarth]

12. The kind I buy comes ready to use

so I don't mix it with water. It comes in a gallon container and then I put it in spray bottles for spot spraying. I get mine from a local garden center...not a Home Depot or Lowes.

[southerncrone]

4. Where do you purchase 20% vinegar?

The stuff in the grocery stores is either 4% or 5%.

[RedEarth]

19. At a local nursery...not one of the big chains

[LWolf]

16. Where do you get it?

I looked everywhere last year for 20% vinegar and couldn't find it anywhere.

[colorado thinker]

2. I use vinegar water as a weed killer

Works best if you spray it when it is sunny out.

It kills the foliage but you have to keep spraying for a few days to kill the plant itself, in other words it comes back if you don't get the whole thing. The leaves that are sprayed turn black or gray and dry up.

[Muttocracy]

5. here's one source, looking for more

Usually household vinegar = 5% acetic acid in water solution.

"Although acetic acid may burn off the tops of Canada thistle and other perennials, it does not control the root system responsible for regeneration of plants. Furthermore, acetic acid may not control larger weeds, as indicated by a recent demonstration at the Nashua Research Farm.

Directed applications to weeds (thereby keeping the vinegar away from the crop plant) are necessary to use acetic acid in crop fields. Acetic acid concentrations from 10 to 20 percent controlled 80 to 100 percent of the smaller weeds, as reported in the USDA release. Typical concentrations of acetic acid in most commercially available vinegars are 5 percent and were reported to provided variable control of small weeds."

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/2002/7-15-2002/vinegar.html

(article has lots on legal issue of definition of a pesticide, so I just copied the most relevant part)

[Muttocracy]

8. another source, mentions not killing the roots again

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/thistlecontrol.html#least

[XemaSab]

6. Where do you live?

If you live anywhere arid, don't use salt.

[southerncrone]

22. Thanks. Will look for it. Round-up will be the death of our planet.

[patrice]

7. Very light vinegar water will kill molds and rust on all roses. nt

[Botany]

9. Yes ..... it is called Horticultural Vingar 20% pure acetic acid

It works too but on large jobs it will run you some bucks.



The stuff from the stores will not do the job .... use it on hot days

Salt will kill everything for a good long time ..... bad idea ....
Round Up (Glyphosate) is really better for the environment than
salt (salt dead soil and run off of the NaCl)

Boiling water works well too ... such as weed growing up in patios
and drives.

BTW i do this stuff for a living.

[JDPriestly]

10. Thanks for the tip. This would help in some sidewalk cracks where

weeds grow.

[MichiganVote]

17. Boiling hot water will do the trick in those cracks too.

[SidDithers]

28. That's what my wife uses...

personally, I think she just likes to hear the weeds scream.

Sid

[Mind_your_head]

11. No, but I've used vinegar to stop fungus from growing on my toenail......

I'm serious and can provide pictures if you like.

[hedgehog]

25. I'd stick with the vinegar and stay away from the boiling water and Roundup

for toe fungus!

[ThomWV]

32. Sounds like a plan to me too.

Not sayin' that Roundup wouldn't work on toe fungus, just sayin' ...

[flowomo]

13. here's a good discussion of user experiences:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg0613592720186.html

it shows mixed results.

[RainDog]

14. clove oil solution works too

don't use spray stuff on windy days near your flowers or you can kill them too. also, use when it won't rain for a few days.

[Muttocracy]

15. another one on several products with vinegar and other ingredients

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:I3ox7Ouzc0gJ:www.ipminstitute.org/Articles/IPM_alt-herbicide_news.doc+vinegar+ipm&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=17&gl=us

[Muttocracy]

18. yet another

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/deptmpl.asp?url=/content/dep/ipm/ipmtips.asp

[woodsprite]

20. Yeah, but would it work on Bamboo?

We have inherited TONS of bamboo when we bought our house and it spreads like wildfire. We have huge 40 to 60' tall trees where some jerk many years ago planted this bamboo. I love the screen it makes, but would like to kill off the outside edges of the growth without damaging the trees. I know the standard is to trench down about 24 to 36" and place a barrier, but I don't think that's even an option with the huge trees, clay soil and many many many many rocks.

My FIL suggested chopping off the bamboo and directly pouring Roundup down the tube. We haven't tried that yet, but that's a heck of alot of stalks :(

[earth mom]

29. Put an ad in Craigslist for someone to come thin out your bamboo. Bamboo is expensive. nt

[flowomo]

31. I've planted lots of bamboo...

contain it by kicking over the new spring shoots at the perimeter of the growth... the roots won't spread without fresh culms growing off them.

[shraby]

21. I wonder why the salt they mix with sand

and put on the icy roads in the winter doesn't kill the growth along the sides of the roads.

[Botany]

23. It does kill things .... if you see some pines along a freeway that ...

.... looked burned that might be from salt spray from tires ....

and right by the berms you find lots of "halophytes" salt
tolerant plants such as rip grass and foxtail barley.

[whistle]

24. I think it controls ticks also

[JCMach1]

26. Don't salt your soil... you kill everying!

It's a constant problem with desalinization here. A certain amount of salt and minerals is always present. It is very difficult to grow some things.

[JCMach1]

27. The best weed killer? Mulch liberally and often

[LWolf]

30. I do so, but mulch will not stop

mallow. Or bermuda grass, which I thankfully don't deal with since I moved north.

[ThomWV]

33. I can not overemphisize the value of heavy mulching

Beneficial doesn't begin to describe the effects of even a single season of heavy mulching. Do it 2 years in a row and you become a lifelong believer.