Weed Controling Vinegar

[kevinkimers]

I was a bit shocked when I was reading on this at gardenguides.com. Turns out scientist have been studying the idea of using vinegar as weed control for gardens. Here is a link to the article on this. Do you think it works?

Vinegar As a Weed Control

 

[Chuck]

I was a bit shocked when I was reading on this at gardenguides.com. Turns out scientist have been studying the idea of using vinegar as weed control for gardens. Here is a link to the article on this. Do you think it works?

Vinegar As a Weed Control

Vinegar as an organic weed control has been around for quite some time and it does work.........somewhat. When used in hot sunny weather it burns back weeds quite quickly, often times killing the offensive weed, but on many weeds and especially grasses, all it does is burn back and and kill the foliage, meaning that you have to do repeated applications. Most vinegar is 5% and pickling vinegar is 10%-12%. Horticultural vinegar is 20%. The correct and most effective way to use any vinegar as a weed killer is to mix 1-2 oz of orange oil and a squirt of dishwashing soap per gallon of vinegar

 

[Kansas Terri]

I have tried vinegar and it did not do well at all. Then again, I was using it on grass and I had no IDEA that is did not work well on grass!

I will try it again, I suppose.

 

[IcyBC]

I was a bit shocked when I was reading on this at gardenguides.com. Turns out scientist have been studying the idea of using vinegar as weed control for gardens. Here is a link to the article on this. Do you think it works?

Vinegar As a Weed Control

Thanks for sharing the article that you found! I have used vinegar on creeping Charlie and creeping Myrtle for years, but it doesn't work on these two ground crawling and stubborn invader. I think these two had embeded too deep in the ground for anything to work. I also used hot boiling water on them and it is like water on a duck's back.

 

[IcyBC]

Vinegar as an organic weed control has been around for quite some time and it does work.........somewhat. When used in hot sunny weather it burns back weeds quite quickly, often times killing the offensive weed, but on many weeds and especially grasses, all it does is burn back and and kill the foliage, meaning that you have to do repeated applications. Most vinegar is 5% and pickling vinegar is 10%-12%. Horticultural vinegar is 20%. The correct and most effective way to use any vinegar as a weed killer is to mix 1-2 oz of orange oil and a squirt of dishwashing soap per gallon of vinegar

Thank you Chuck for this recipe! I will have to use this when the warm weather comes around. My back garden is always full of weed. Some grows pretty flowers but I had enough of them these past few years. The weeds grow in the tiniest crack they can find.

 

[ChanellG]

The best defense for managing weeds in the garden is a good offense. If they are coming up in your lawn you can use something like weed and feed, but if they are coming up in your flower beds just dig them up. You can compost them and turn them into plant food. You can toss them in a bucket, cover with water and make liquid plant food.

Alternatively, you could identify them and potentially use them as food or medicine. As for the vinegar with orange oil solution. you could make your own citrus vinegar by soaking orange peels. Saves on buying oil, but again, just dig them out with one of these:

 

[kevinkimers]

I have been trying to locate another recipe that I had seen a while back that is suppose to be more effective then vinegar. I think it had witch hazel in it, but I can't remember. I read about it 6 years ago and it is suppose to be very effective in killing weeds, but be careful... it will kill your plants and grasses too if you get it on them. I wish I could remember what it was.

Thanks for the citrus tip. I would assume that would work because of the acidity. I wonder if lemons might work better because of the higher acidity?

 

[Chuck]

I have been trying to locate another recipe that I had seen a while back that is suppose to be more effective then vinegar. I think it had witch hazel in it, but I can't remember. I read about it 6 years ago and it is suppose to be very effective in killing weeds, but be careful... it will kill your plants and grasses too if you get it on them. I wish I could remember what it was.

Thanks for the citrus tip. I would assume that would work because of the acidity. I wonder if lemons might work better because of the higher acidity?

It is not about the acidity, it is about the oil and how it coats the leaves. Take Neem oil for instance. You never apply Neem oil in the bright sun, only in the morning or evening or it will burn your foliage

 

[franpj2]

Vinegar as an organic weed control has been around for quite some time and it does work.........somewhat. When used in hot sunny weather it burns back weeds quite quickly, often times killing the offensive weed, but on many weeds and especially grasses, all it does is burn back and and kill the foliage, meaning that you have to do repeated applications. Most vinegar is 5% and pickling vinegar is 10%-12%. Horticultural vinegar is 20%. The correct and most effective way to use any vinegar as a weed killer is to mix 1-2 oz of orange oil and a squirt of dishwashing soap per gallon of vinegar

What a wonderful find. This information, I mean. Until I get moved this year, I'll use this formula out on the driveway. That way, it won't poison all the neighborhood cats that come over.

 

[ChanellG]

Thanks for the citrus tip. I would assume that would work because of the acidity. I wonder if lemons might work better because of the higher acidity?

Remember that you're only using the peel. Any citrus peel will create citrus vinegar, and you can use it for cleaning the house as well, especially combined with baking soda. There are a bunch of items on Pinterest for doing it, but you have to be careful with homemade sprays.

 

[Chuck]

You CANNOT just dump a bunch of citrus peels into water and make vinegar. Making vinegar is a drawn out fermentation process starting with the addition of brewers yeast to liquid citrus juice. The brewers yeast converts the sugar in the juice into alcohol. Free bacteria then converts the alcohol into acetic acid. The only thing citrus peels do is contain a chemical named Limonene, of which citrus oil such as Orange oil is derived. An no, you cannot dump a bunch of lemon peels into water and make Lemon oil nor can you do it with oranges either. Limonene is extracted from the citrus peels by a complicated steam distillation process. And no, you cannot boil a bucket of water with citrus peels in it and make citrus oil with it either

 

[headfullofbees]

From what I've read here, vinegar would seem to make an excellent LAWN weedkiller.
Kill the weed, but only temporary damage to the margin round it.

 

[Chuck]

From what I've read here, vinegar would seem to make an excellent LAWN weedkiller.
Kill the weed, but only temporary damage to the margin round it.

Thats what most folks use it for. Spot treatment in lawns and flowerbeds. It isn't all that great but when the alternative is RoundUP it is not so bad

 

[Smartmom]

I have tried the whole vinegar and water thing. I feel that it works. I tried it last year and noticed a huge change. This year I haven't gotten that far but I will use it again. I usually add water to the mixture because vinegar is pretty strong. It's inexpensive and really works.

 

[Claire]

I'm having the most success with mulch as a weed deterrent. Honestly, I haven't had an issue with weeds since downsizing to smaller gardening spaces, and thoroughly mulching. In fact, my approach has been that when I see a weed pop up, I throw more mulch on that space. I was a little sparse this year and am seeing more weeds than last year, so I plan to get out there this week and take care of it.