Natural Weed Control
Weeds rob your beautiful lawn and garden of water and nutrients from the soil; putting undo stress on your grass and plants. They are not only unsightly, but if not eradicated they will soon take over, and your hard work will become a wilderness. For the sake of children and pets, you should consider organic weed killers, not harsh chemicals for controlling weeds.
Safe organic weed killers
More people are becoming informed and concerned for our environment which has caused local nurseries and hardware stores to stock many safe organic weed killers. There are also several home mixtures available that work as well.
Most recipes use vinegar (acetic acid) and sulfur. The vinegar and citrus oils are highly acidic and will draw out the water from the plant causing it to dehydrate. Here are several solutions you may want to try that have proven to be excellent weed killers:
- Mix up a solution of 1/8 soap, 1/2 vinegar and 3/8 water. Pour into a spray bottle and mist those weeds on a windless day. The soap helps the vinegar cling to the foliage, and the top of the plant will soon begin to die.
- Pour hot water on the unwanted plants and they will die quickly.
- Using a spray bottle, mix 50% bleach and 50% water and spray the unwanted weeds, using caution not to get any on the good plants.
- Rubbing alcohol acts like a contact herbicide and burns the leaves but does not kill the entire plant, you will also have to use vinegar to achieve eradication.
- When using a 50-50 mixture of dish soap and water, you can suffocate those unwanted weeds.
Caution: You may want to consider wiping the solution on leafy parts of the plant if you are concerned about getting the vinegar solution on your desirable plants. If you choose this method, be sure to wear rubber gloves in order to protect your hands from the acidic affects of the vinegar.
If you feel uncomfortable using these formulas, then you can always rely on the tried and true method of hand-pulling your weeds. This is quite a chore; however, eventually the weeds lose the ability to create enough food for their roots to continue to grow.
Protecting family and pets
By using a bio-degradable, homemade weed killer, you are not harming your family and pets which can happen with the commercially available weed killers on the market today. Fertilizing feeds your healthy lawn and plants which will control the weeds. Again, you want to use an organic fertilizer such as cow manure, which can be purchased in liquid form and works very well.
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