Update: homemade weedkiller/vinegar whatever

[UTUSN]

Gonna say, after commercial POWERFUL stuff (Roundup allegedly cancer causing & $$$$, Spectrocide cheap works fine),

the internet DIY homemade vinegar/salt/dishwash - *WORKS*

* Really, sprayed the vinegar on weeds today and less than 2 hours later, they were SO wilteded!

[Luciferous]

1. Yep, been using it for years 🙂

[UTUSN]

2. I'm novice on a lot of things, thanks.

[Luciferous]

3. I wish more people would try stuff like that.

I'm surrounded by people who spray their lawns with poison. I like a nice yard too, but I also like to have bees around to pollinate. I just bought a bag of clover to seed into my front yard.

[UTUSN]

5. bees & I luv one another, just am paranoid about wasps

However a condescending person lectured me that they are ALL "honeybees" and NOT "killers".''

[Luciferous]

6. I agree with you about the wasps, I can do

without them.

[vanlassie]

7. I just saw a suggestion to hang a paper bag filled with anything

to make it round and it will cause warps to go elsewhere to make their nests.

[NJCher]

14. here's what I did in that situation

some basic, elementary internet research that gave me enough studies to show that these poisons inhibit reproduction. I think there might have been one or two that said it affected male sperm production.

Oh wow, hot stuff, I thought. Male virility on the line! Yeah! That's the ticket!

So I photocopied the abstracts, highlighted them (the part about sperm highlighted in yellow circled in red), and sent them off in the mail to every offending neighbor.

That ended the spraying, and fast, too.

That was about 15 years ago so I don't know what's out there in terms of research now. However, when a new neighbor comes in and gets tricked into these regular spraying contracts, I do the same thing but tailor my approach. For example, this one couple moved in and I could see they were crazy about their two dogs. I sent them studies showing pet mortality due to lawn chemicals. Again, it ended the spraying.

[Hekate]

22. Well done, you

[NJCher]

23. every little bit counts :)

[Gidney N Cloyd]

37. So does every naughty bit, apparently.

[Bluethroughu]

4. Yes, I use it near my well, and don't feel frightened.

I love it!

[fierywoman]

8. Thank you for this -- my landlord wants to use roundup and I said no way so he dared me to

use my woo-woo stuff -- thanks I'll do this tomorrow.

Do you have proportions that you recommend? I made a mixture with probably too much salt and the salt wouldn't dissolve well ...

[UTUSN]

20. In post #10/LoisB,

Last edited Sat Jun 3, 2023, 02:28 PM - Edit history (1)

I haven't seen this link yet, but the one I saw originally was one gallon of 5% white vinegar, one cup of salt, a tablespoon of dishwash. It said the salt is for sort of *permanent* killing of everything (think, Rome destroying Carthage and then SALTING it forever). So the salt can be skipped for the vinegar to kill the CURRENT weeds and letting other (grass?) grow in. The dish soap supposedly makes the vinegar stick to the leaves? And other DUers have said there is 30% vinegar at the DIY stores, one said "can take your skin off!"

The one I saw said it doesn't matter if the salt is iodized or not, but recommended the most basic type, certainly not specialized things like sea salt.

LoisB's link:
https://nativeplantherald.prairienursery.com/2019/01/how-to-make-a-homemade-weed-killer/

[SunSeeker]

9. Do you have a link to how to make the stuff and how to use it? nt

[LoisB]

10. Here is one

https://nativeplantherald.prairienursery.com/2019/01/how-to-make-a-homemade-weed-killer/

[SunSeeker]

11. Thank you! nt

[LoisB]

12. You are welcome.

[burrowowl]

13. K&R

[Brainstormy]

15. will also keep rabbits and deer

from eating your hostas!

[markie]

16. silly me

I just go out and pull the weeds by hand... thank you everybody for NOT using Roundup and other chemicals!!!

[Scrivener7]

17. Used it on some REALLY stubborn poison ivy. I had to spray for

about a week, every day, but the stuff is dead now.

I used regular white kitchen vinegar, but I have read that you can get a stronger vinegar in the hardware store and it will work faster.

[NJCher]

26. ah!

this is what I was looking for. I saw this thread a few days ago and wondered if it worked for poison ivy, so thanks for the report.

I have the 30% so I will post back about its effectiveness in a week or so.

[Major Nikon]

33. Household vinegar is about 5% acetic acid

I go through about a gallon of the stuff per month as I use it for all sorts of stuff. One of the main things I use it for is as a mild disinfectant. I keep it in a spray bottle for use on countertops, cutting boards, etc. It's very safe to use and you can even drink it or make salad dressing with it if you want.

Hardware stores commonly sell 5% vinegar which is no different than what you'd get at the supermarket, but you can find the 30% stuff as well. Much stronger stuff can also be found at industrial supply outlets. The problem is anything stronger than 5% quickly becomes a pretty serious skin and eye irritant, so it's a pretty good idea to wear gloves and eye protection if you're going to use it.

[niyad]

18. Some years ago, I had a neighbor who was using roundup to kill the weeds around our

driveways and sidewalks, after watching me pulling them by hand. Then, unknown to me, he sprayed it around his flowers, right next to mine, on a windy day. When I started weeding my area later that day, immediately my hands started itching and burning, and I started coughing. He was hortifud when he saw my hands and arms, and listened to me coughing. He promptly disposed of the roundup, and took my advice about dealing with unwanted vegetation. He said he had not realized how dangerous it could be.

I once refused a potential gardening client, when she insisted that I use roundup.

[Prairie_Seagull]

19. Standard vinegar is 5%. We just used some vinegar that is 30 %.

There are some vinegars that are even more potent. This stuff is called horticultural vinegar. As with many things these days if it better for the planet it costs more. One gallon of this vinegar is in the 20 dollar range. It is stronger so less in needed but it flat out works. No need for salt or soap. We just sprayed down a gravel driveway with just about every weed one could imagine and it did the job very well.

Downside is expense but it is worth every penny to us, for this purpose at least.

On edit. Stay upwind, as this shit stinks. Plan you route to stay upwind. Read label thoroughly then get rid of your weeds.

[UTUSN]

21. Thanks, on my way to look for the 30%, but thought it would all be cheap

The 5% worked beyond my expectations.

[Prairie_Seagull]

32. So it appears, for us anyway, that we are having a substantial come back of the weeds.

When we first sprayed, they all died. We have had a couple of good storms dropping some serious rain. maybe this washed away the vinegar. Not sure but next time we will try the full solution, that is with the dish soap and saline, and the 30% vinegar.

Just a heads up.

[rogerballard]

24. I made some this weekend...

I have sprayed twice and will do so again tomorrow, this weed is the nasty one, grows tall with the white top buds, Japanese something or other. 3 small areas popped up out of nowhere!

[UTUSN]

25. Is all over YouTube, well known. Found the 30%, scary and & $10/gallon. A gallon doesn't

go far for my needs. The plus salt is what makes it root lethal (for X time, not forever) and grass besides weeds. After passing on the 30%, had already stocked up on the 5% at $3/gallon, then at the grocery store discovered there is a 9% version and got four more gallons.

It's been raining so I'm on hold for putting it out in dry, sun.

[we can do it]

35. Try adding some boiling water to the salt/vinegar(30%)/ solution, do on sunny day above 70 degrees.

[NJCher]

27. I'm adding this article to the thread

I was trying to figure out how to protect the other plants when I spray. I came up with the milk bottle idea. Here, however, are other ideas, too:

Get Rid Of Weeds With This Clever DIY Spray Collar Hack

Read More: https://www.housedigest.com/1307245/get-rid-weeds-clever-diy-spray-collar-hack-garden/

[UTUSN]

28. Excellent, thanks!

[Phentex]

29. I cleared a path with salt and my husband never noticed...

we have a brick and gravel path that leads to the half basement/workroom outdoors. Weeds would pop up and it was hard to maintain with the gravel there and I think even poison ivy helped itself along the path. So I sprinkled salt a few times and it killed everything. Recently my husband said he was thinking of changing the path and planting things around it and I was thinking well good luck with that!

[UTUSN]

30. Hah!

[we can do it]

36. Borax works in sidewalk cracks/ between pavers.

[highplainsdem]

31. Thanks for posting this!

[we can do it]

34. It does work, I got some of the stronger vinegar from Amazon and it does the trick.

[mopinko]

38. does it kill bugs?

having an ant issue. want to be able to decimate the hordes, among other measures.

[UTUSN]

39. I don't know, but wish it did, have got a SEVERE INFESTATION of snails.

Have had it for years. The beer in the saucer thing didn't work. Neither did some granules thing at the DIY store. The dang snails are EVERYWHERE, on all surfaces - whether plants, wooden walls, plastic, even chain link. Back when the granules didn't work I called that company and they said they had removed a deadly chemical from it because they got "tired" of calls about family dogs dying. They gave me the name of the company for the deadly chemical, but I have a dog so that's out.

Am waiting for an online order of another granule thing that has reviews of killing the snails. Thing is, there is no sign that the snails are chewing on the plants, no leaf damage. And the ones climbing up the walls and such seem to be dead, stuck with their slime. I haven't found anything on the 'net about the life cycle, whether they climb up when they die or what.

A Loungeteer has taken pleasure a couple of times in grossing me out with pictures of snail-porn, disgusting but then ain't it all?