How to Control Weed problems using Vinegar

Buy the right type of Vinegar for weed control. Regular grocery store white vinegar which is 5 percent acetic acid can be used to kill weeds but may not be strong enough to work every time. It can be boiled down to make it stronger but it will usually work for most weed control problems. There are stronger agricultural vinegar solutions available for killing many weeds. Stronger agricultural vinegars are potentially dangerous and if used incorrectly can damage the soil. Go to one of the big box stores and buy the cheapest vinegar, usually around 2 dollars a gallon. Also buy a cheap liquid dish soap, look for one that says detergent on the label but not anti-bacterial. The soap will help the vinegar to stick to the leaves and not just run off. Lastly purchase rubbing alcohol, usually sold as a 70 percent solution. A quart container of it will last a long time. This weed control solution is a cheap way to kill weeds because of how cheap the ingredients are and because of how little has to be used to actually kill weeds.

Mix up the following recipe or find one on the web. There are hundreds of recipes for vinegar based, organic herbicides on the web that include everything from just plain vinegar to orange juice, apple juice, cooking oil, gin, and table salt. Salt is often cited as an additive but it can ruin the soil and gradually leach into the surrounding untreated area to kill plants there. As for the other additives, after doing quite a bit of research and experimentation, I found this basic recipe works very well on nearly all types of weeds. Mix 1 gallon of white or apple vinegar with 2 oz.(4 tablespoons) of the liquid soap, and 1/2 cup of the rubbing alcohol. Place this solution in a garden sprayer and apply it to any plants just to the point of wetting the leaves well. Realize that this solution is a non-selective herbicide that will harm or kill any plants it gets on, including grass. It is also not systemic, meaning it will not be taken up by the plant or carried to the roots. It will only kill back the parts of the plant it is sprayed on and if the plant is young that will be enough to kill it totally. Total weed control is an ongoing process requiring repeated treatments to kill really tough weeds.

Apply the solution on the weeds. For older, well rooted plants reapply the solution as the plants grow back. By keeping the tops killed back the roots will eventually die, but depending on what type of plant it is, this may take up to a year. Weeds like oxalis and woods sorrel often only take one treatment along with very young crabgrass and dandelion sprouts. Vinegar as a herbicide, can kill quickly, in some cases causing the weed to wilt in minutes and be dead within an hour. The pictures included in this article show common lawn weeds before spraying them and what they looked like 12 hours later. This organic herbicide solution acts by dissolving the waxy coating on the leaves causing the plant to lose all the water in its tissue and dry out. Unlike MSMA weed killers, this solution is non-systemic which means it is fairly safe to apply this herbicide around larger bushes and shrubs. It will only affect the leaves and green stems it gets on. As long as any bush is not covered with it, only the leaves it happens to get on will be killed. As a crabgrass killer and for crabgrass control it works best on young sprouts and will kill other grasses it gets on.

Understand the uses of a Vinegar herbicide. Because it is a non toxic herbicide, this vinegar weed killer is great for lawn care spot treatments at any time as it is a pet safe weed killer. Be careful not to over spray the solution onto any grass that's desirable and remember to only use enough to wet the leaves of the weed, not drench it. Using vinegar as a soil drench will kill plants, but it will change the pH of the soil, which will affect what plants can grow in it in the future. This total weed killer can also be used to keep walkways and brick patios clear of weeds without harming the bricks or concrete. Because it kills by drying the plants out, the best time to treat weeds with this solution is when it is warm and they are in the full sun. The killing time will be shorter when it is hot and the plants are stressed from drought.