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I've been using strong vinegar for weed control on my property for a few years now. You do have to be careful about applying it and watch the over-spray becaus
by buildsjets 2y ago
I've been using strong vinegar for weed control on my property for a few years now. You do have to be careful about applying it and watch the over-spray because it is not a targeted herbicide like Roundup, it's going to kill grass and broadleaf plants alike. Sometimes I lay down a tarp to mask off the grass border, for example. But if you have a general weedy area that just needs to be knocked down, or a gravel path/driveway to keep clear, I have found it is just as effective, quick-acting, and long-lasting as the synthetic herbicides, with the side effect of smelling like salad dressing, instead of smelling like cancer.
I buy 30-45% concentrate depending on what is on sale, and dilute to around 10% for new weeds and 20% for full grown weeds. A little dish soap in there helps it wet down the leaves. For lawn weeds, once they are under control, I've been able to keep up with a 1/4 acre lawn with just manual weeding. Good tools help, I have tried a lot of weed pulling gadgets. Using a push mower means I go slow enough to spot them, and if they get too big they jam the mower so I am motivated to pull them while they are still small.
- singleshot_ 2y agoCurious person here with a warning: don’t smell 30% vinegar. You are missing nothing gods by skipping this. I promise.
- yumraj 2y agoI hope you know that this’ll make more people want to smell it, not less. ;) At least I’m curious now..
- ridgeguy 2y agoAn olfactory Streisand Effect!
- marcosdumay 2y agoIt's ok to be curious. Just don't do it. People have been avoiding learning the smell and taste of several kinds of poison with a great amount of success for thousands of years. Be one of the successful ones.
- generic92034 2y agoIs a cup of 30% vinegar poisonous? That would surprise me.
- marcosdumay 2y agoQuite likely. I'd guess in very small amounts it's still fine, but that's a guess. Anyway, I don't think anybody ever tested that, because that will hurt your nose before you get the chance to drink it.
- generic92034 2y agoOh, I guess you are talking about the acetic acid concentration, then. Because vinegar as bought in the shop is fit for consumption, especially if diluted to 30%.
- dvh 2y agoIn great Czech movie "Obecna skola" (The elementary school, 1991) principal warns students over PA not to lick metal railings in winter and of course students try it and get stuck. He complains about it to a new teacher who responds "Students are young, they want to try everything". Principal then asks "are you telling me, if I say - Don't drink sulphuric acid, it will burn your intestines - that they will drink it?" And the teacher says: "I don't know, but better not say anything over PA".
- singleshot_ 2y agoI’m thrilled to be part of a community which is so curious and so distrusting of authority.
- yumraj 2y agoNah .. I'm not being anti-authority, merely curios. :D
- chankstein38 2y agoAbsolutely my first thought was "Huh, I wonder what it smells like"
- singleshot_ 2y agoIt smells exactly like acetic acid, only a lot stronger than you’re used to. You may find after a few tries that it smells just like the split second before vomiting.
- IncreasePosts 2y agoYup, my neighbor uses strong vinegar to kill weeds and our yard smells strongly of vinegar for about 12 hours after. He does this 2x/week. I'm glad we're moving.
- kyleee 2y agoBetter than bathing the land in poison. You never know with moving, you may look back fondly on this current neighbor depending on the proclivities of your new neighbors
- IncreasePosts 2y agoBetter than bathing the land in poison, worse than just pulling out weeds when you find them.
- lukas099 2y agoIt is bathing the land with poison, that’s why it works.
- jemmyw 2y agoI've used the same, and it seems just as, if not more, effective than the roundup available from the garden centre. The only problem is that vinegar destroys spray machines. Even though I rinse through after every use.
- devilbunny 2y agoHave you tried running some baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3) dissolved in water through it after each use?
- RaftPeople 2y agoThe other option is boiling water, I've used it and it's very effective.
- jamiek88 2y agoAnother vote for this, especially on pathways and between bricks etc.
- ssttoo 2y agoSalt too. I saw professionals use salt during a trip recently and looked it up and tried it. My driveway cracks are devoid of life now.
- Grimblewald 2y agothe problem with salt is it is difficult to get rid of, and non-specific. For driveway cracks it might be ok, but boiling water is still much safer and harder to fuck up. Boiling water is really useful too, since the boiling damages the plant in a way that pathogens can enter the plant, which then eat/destroy the roots which usually result in regrowth.
- daymanstep 2y agoDoes that not kill the valuable bacteria and other microorganisms that make up topsoil ?
- lukas099 2y agoBacteria repopulate in like no time at all.
- kleiba 2y agoThat's interesting that many people here seem to have had good experience with using vinegar. I tried it once with some weeds growing in the cracks of my front entry brick path, and it didn't really work for me.
- dimator 2y agoMeta: I love hearing about people that take pride and care of their lawns/gardens.
- pvaldes 2y agoIn an area of the lawn we needed to bury a pipeline. Soil was removed and I designed an Iris bed with stones. Weeds soon invited themselves to the composition. The rigid leaves of the Irises are now mixed with serrate leaves of Mercurialis, soft tones of Stellaria and rounded Umbilicus. I like the result, so I will tolerate it, for now. Just today, in that area, two silvery eyes where looking at me. They weren't followed with an animal face or body. Just a weed background, like if an invisible master of mimicry were hiding at plain sight. But if was not an animal, it was a weed. A weed with eyes. True history. The world is full of surprises. The deploying leafets of an Aquilegia created perfectly symmetrical cups at each side of the stem. Sit in the cups, two identical balls of pure dew looking at me like a baby. It was just a seedling in a crevice when I picked it by a tiny leaf and found a new home for the poor thing. Today it rewarded me with some magical seconds for that. I would loathe having a garden that smells like vinegar and melted rotten leaves. Things don't need to be like this. There is a lot of fun waiting in the unplanned and untamed.
- ohthatsnotright 2y agoUntil you're dealing with invasive non-natives, or bindweed. Nothing is fun about those.
- lukas099 2y agoRoundup (glyphosate) is not targeted either, except for not killing roundup-ready crops.