Friday, April 16, 2010

Vinegar as a Weed Killer

I heard quite some time ago that vinegar, full-strength, can be used as a weed killer.  I finally decided to try it on the weeds that are taking over our otherwise dormant vegetable garden.  I'm planning to start planting the cooler weather vegetables next week, so the weeds had to go before preparing the soil this weekend.  I poured vinegar into a spray bottle and sprayed right onto the weeds, enough to wet the weed and soak the ground/roots a little.

Result?  Weeds brown and dead within 24 hours!! 

We tried it on some dandelions as well, but it killed the surrounding grass.  So only use it where you want to kill all vegetation or where there's no grass.

I also read that vinegar will decrease the pH of the soil somewhat, but within 48 hours the pH balance is back to its original state.  So I guess it should be used at least 48 hours before planting anything in that same area.

I'm happy to find such an easy, effective, non-chemical way to kill weeds!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's amazing! Thanks for sharing!

Mom said...

Thanx for the tip, Chris. Dad says thanx, too.

Looking forward to some of your veggies this summer, hopefully.

Love, Mom

Maisy said...

Sounds pretty powerful! That would be terrific to use on the driveway too, if you have nasty weeds coming up in the cracks of the pavement.

sandy headlee said...

Thanks for sharing that tip Chris!! I've got some around our pool area that I have been wanting to get rid of and hate to use the typical chemical weed killer

sandy headlee said...

Thanks for sharing that tip Chris!! I've got some around our pool area that I have been wanting to get rid of and hate to use the typical chemical weed killer

sandy headlee said...

Thanks for sharing that tip Chris!! I've got some around our pool area that I have been wanting to get rid of and hate to use the typical chemical weed killer

Karen Hossink said...

Seriously?
Look out, weeds. Here I come!
*grin*

Chris said...

Maisy and Sandy - it should work great on the driveway cracks or near the pool!

Karen - seriously! :) I was a skeptic at first, but now I'm a believer. It makes you feel kind of powerful!

By the way, the second area that I tried in the garden I just poured the vinegar over the weeds, and it didn't work quite as effectively (some of it survived). Perhaps the plant itself needs to be soaked more. So it seems that SPRAYING is the way to go.