Sorry, can’t agree with you. If you have no weeds then you have your soil in balance and well done you!
The seed bank in soil host many types of seed just waiting for the right conditions to germinate. They are your soil doctor. When they Do germinate, it is an indication that something is wrong with your soil and needs attention.
Don’t treat the symptom, i.e. blitz the weed and probably affect other plant life, treat the CAUSE and rectify the soil.
@wdingus ---- unfortunately all my local walmart has (in-store) is the 5%.
The walmart brand great value white vinegar 5% is 3.52 per gal.
They do list several other higher % options available to be shipped.
There is even a 45% vinegar version of that belle chemical product… yikes… bet that would take your skin off. I may try the 20% version this summer.
although partially true.
Most (annual) weeds are pioneer plants. That specialize in growing in empty spaces almost regardless of soil/nutrients.
The “nature abhors a vacuum (or empty space)” saying comes to mind.
Even if your soil is perfectly balanced. If you create an empty space. Nature will fill it. And it’s primary filler is usually in the “weeds” category.
I think the most natural/organic or ecological way to avoid/suppress weeds is to grow a groundcover. Or have the ground covered (by woodchips or mulch for example)
True that.
Boiling water will kill just about anything.
You just have to plant the thing you actually want growing immediately in it’s place.
Are members of the allium family safe from Triclopyr?
I tried 75% concentration vinegar on Canadian thistle about 10 days ago. The grass around it for 6-8 inches looks mighty scorched. I don’t think the thistles will be coming up again anytime soon.
Do you know the ph of the 75% vinigar? I’m not even sure what that means. Is it 75% acitic acid or vingar that has been diluted to 75%?
Normal vinegar is 5%, this stuff is 75%. Not cheap, but it’s wicked strong. You wouldn’t want this stuff to touch your skin as it would likely peel skin right off.
Yep. Most people forget a “weed” is any plant which competes with the particular plant we are trying to cultivate. For row crop farmers they may grow corn one year, but don’t want any volunteer corn the next year in the same field, when they switch to beans.
Strawberry growers who use a matted row system have to weed out strawberry plants else the strawberry bed gets too crowded, so the strawberry plants themselves are weeds in the strawberry beds.
So “weeds” really don’t have a scientific classification. They are defined by the gardener or farmer as any plants which compete with what they are trying to cultivate.
In short, there are a very wide array of flora that will happily grow in a certain type of soil, regardless of how “healthy” the soil is (Healthy is in this sense is also a relative term.) Certainly there are a some plants with a very narrow range of soil they prefer, but most native plants grow enthusiastically in, well… native soil. Those plants are weeds if we don’t want to cultivate them, and will compete with the plants we are trying to cultivate.
Just because we try to cultivate a certain plant doesn’t mean it’s the only plant that will grow under those ideal soil conditions. In fact, it’s the opposite case. Many many plants will grow in the same “ideal” soil conditions.
In Kansas (where I live) there are over 2200 native plant species. This doesn’t count the invasive plants which out compete the native flora. Healthy Kansas soil may do well to support tomatoes (or any number of crops) but it will also support many native and invasive plants which are much more competitive than tomatoes.
Some of these websites which promote soil diagnosis by weed observation are probably just out to sell more soil amendments. I’m not against soil amendments, but soil testing is a much more accurate way to determine if the soil is suitable for the species of plant intended for cultivation.
A.M. Leonard had a high 5 vinegar solution available. Check their website. I bought some from them some years back.
There’s a commercial product from Bonide called Captain Jack’s Deadweed - I think it may have been called Burnout in the past. It works; its main ingredients are caprylic acid & capric acid, which are medium chain triglycerides, aka MCT oil. I don’t like using is since it makes my nose go numb - but then, so do a lot of plants. It’s an allergic reaction. My husband uses it on weeds that pop up in the grooves of the driveway.
I can’t eat coconut oil, either; I get tremors that seem like hypoglycemia attacks, but aren’t (I wore a glucose monitor). I’m a carrier for the gene for medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency. It’s not supposed to cause a problem in carriers, only for people with 2 bad copies of the gene. So I don’t know what the issue is.
I’ve found sheet mulching with cardboard & mulch to be the easiest weed suppression tactic. I’m a bit concerned about reports of PFAS in recycled content toilet paper - seems like anything with recycled paper content could be contaminated.
Vinegar at 10% or higher works to kill weeds.
Anyone have a simple procedure to make your own 10% vinegar?
This morning at 11:30 on a sunny day… sprayed those.
What they look like now… 6:20 pm.
Toast.
6% vinegar, a little salt and teaspoon dish soap.
Starting with 30% I diluted down to around 15% to knock out some weeds last year.
I found this 6% vinegar at walmart lastweek.
Used it yesterday for the first time… with a little salt and dish soap in the mix.
It worked very well.
Best i remember the cost was between 5 and 6 bucks for the gallon.
Note you need to do that on a sunny hot day for best results.
Thanks Trev. Can you give some rough quantity for the amount of salt and dish soap for how much vinegar?
@Steve333 … That smallish hand pump spray bottle i have (got it at Lowes last year) is 32 oz.
I did not measure… but put around 30 oz of 6% vinegar in there… 3 tablespoons of salt and a squirt of dawn dish soap. Shook it up well and applied on a hot sunny day.
These are the best vinegar results i have had yet… i have been using 5%… the 6% really toasted all grass and weeds i hit with it.
Wondering if some urea/ ammoniun produslct.could be substituted for the salt
