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Ask HN: Methods to kill weed, and unwanted insects in your garden

2 points by yeukhon 10y ago

My parents own a garden in the back of the house growing organic fruits and vegetables. They complain insects and bugs (mosquitoes, etc). They also found weed growing everywhere, espeically around cracks. Since we are growing food we eventually going to eat, I want to be careful with the kind of herbicides I eventually use in my treatment. I have read methods such as vinegar to kill weed, or apply concentrated chemical with 2-4-D as active ingredient to kill weed. I see some people recommend Dr. Earth product to kill unwanted insects and bugs. There's even suggestion to just add wood chips to the soil. The most comprehensive studies I could find is http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74113.html but leave me so many options I am not able to decide on a treatment. Anyone experience with gardening can offer your experience?

thatcat 10y ago
Usually in organic gardens the best way to remove the weeds is mechanically, ya know 'pulling the weeds'. Alternatively, there are systems that use liquid nitrogen to freeze the unwanted plants and others that use a propane torch to burn the weeds away.
- yeukhon 10y ago
  Thanks. Just addition info, some weed are in the garden, some are on the sidewalk. We tried to burn but they will come back. We filled with seed and even filled the gap with cement, but somehow they were able to grow back and break a hole.
PaulHoule 10y ago
The answers are not that simple, if you want to use either organic or conventional methods. You need to understand what the unwanted organism is and understand how to kill it without killing the wanted organisms. For instance, 2-4-D is deadly to "broadleaf" (dicot) plants and relatively harmless to monocot (grass type) plants. 2-4-D will kill dandilions in lawn but would be a terrible choice in some other situations. Also the timing of the treatment relative to the life cycles of the organisms is also crucial as some treatments work great at a certain time but would be ineffective or harmful to wanted plants at the wrong time.

2 points by yeukhon 10y ago

thatcat 10y ago

Usually in organic gardens the best way to remove the weeds is mechanically, ya know 'pulling the weeds'. Alternatively, there are systems that use liquid nitrogen to freeze the unwanted plants and others that use a propane torch to burn the weeds away.

yeukhon 10y ago
Thanks. Just addition info, some weed are in the garden, some are on the sidewalk. We tried to burn but they will come back. We filled with seed and even filled the gap with cement, but somehow they were able to grow back and break a hole.

PaulHoule 10y ago

The answers are not that simple, if you want to use either organic or conventional methods. You need to understand what the unwanted organism is and understand how to kill it without killing the wanted organisms. For instance, 2-4-D is deadly to "broadleaf" (dicot) plants and relatively harmless to monocot (grass type) plants. 2-4-D will kill dandilions in lawn but would be a terrible choice in some other situations. Also the timing of the treatment relative to the life cycles of the organisms is also crucial as some treatments work great at a certain time but would be ineffective or harmful to wanted plants at the wrong time.