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Post by dodgesmammaw on May 4, 2020 3:33:20 GMT
Can anyone tell me the recipe for homemade weed killer? All I can remember is it contains vinegar and some dawn dish soap.
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Post by Use Less on May 4, 2020 11:07:00 GMT
I looked online. Seem to run to a gallon of vinegar, a cup of salt or borax, and a TBS of dish detergent. I don't want to add more salt to the soil here, there's already enough from them salting the streets in winter, so I've used just vinegar and a little detergent. Doesn't need to be Dawn. The detergent is a meant to be a sticker-spreader. The best weed killer is a small shovel or a pointed weeder. If it's an edible "weed" you have salad or greens, and if it's not, into the compost it goes.
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Post by mogal on May 4, 2020 14:55:33 GMT
I go easy on the salt as well since it is fairly persistent in the soil otherwise, that's my recipe as well.
It seems to work best when conditions are hot and dry since it causes the leaves to desiccate and the hot/dry slows the plant's efforts to replenish the water. Also, seems to work best on young annuals.
Use Less, we have friends who also have goats. Part of their daily routine is to take the goats out for a walk on the various trails through their 30 acres. Over the years, the goats have cleaned up the poison ivy and multiflora rose but since their time in one area was limited, they didn't bother desirable vegetation much at all.
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Post by midtnmama on May 4, 2020 15:14:02 GMT
I go easy on the salt as well since it is fairly persistent in the soil otherwise, that's my recipe as well. It seems to work best when conditions are hot and dry since it causes the leaves to desiccate and the hot/dry slows the plant's efforts to replenish the water. Also, seems to work best on young annuals. Use Less, we have friends who also have goats. Part of their daily routine is to take the goats out for a walk on the various trails through their 30 acres. Over the years, the goats have cleaned up the poison ivy and multiflora rose but since their time in one area was limited, they didn't bother desirable vegetation much at all. Oh gosh! Now I really want a goat!
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Post by Use Less on May 4, 2020 15:17:18 GMT
mogal, Goats and chickens came with the house when I first moved to the country. Mine were fond of lilacs and apple-tree bark, so no letting them out. I would toss big armfuls of wild grapevines to them, though. I live in the village now, so no farm animals.
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Post by Tim Horton on May 4, 2020 18:06:47 GMT
About 2/3 vinegar, 1/3 water, salt, dish soap.. Disolve the salt in the boiling water, let cool, mix the rest in. Works OK in my experience..
What works better is boiling water.. Where you can use this, just plain boiling water will kill weeds and ant hills pretty well..
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Post by dodgesmammaw on May 5, 2020 0:56:19 GMT
I need it to put on sidewalk crack. I have been pulling and digging weeds. Use Less, you said put them in compost. I have a tumble composter. Would it be ok to put them in composter or will there be weed seeds in soil?
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Post by Use Less on May 5, 2020 1:37:08 GMT
Dodgesmammaw, I don't know for sure. I would think your tumbler heats warmer than my simple wire rings. I don't particularly notice that more weeds grow where I spread compost than where I haven't. Spring weeds don't typically have seeds to worry about. I do put a few things in the trash: wild violet roots and snow-on-the-mountain runners. (Mine has naturalized to all green, and would take over the world.)
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