What is a great cheap weed killer?

[lttlmc3]

Preferably one you could make yourself?

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Vinegar works pretty well, poured directly on the weed, but it sometimes takes more than one application.

 

[Taja]

Haven't tried it personally, but I've also heard vinegar works well.

May have to resort to it--the weeds are killing me this year! Had a very wet winter and spring (for us) and we have hearty, nasty weeds! *LOL*

 

[aunties]

I just read online this morning that baking soda kills weeds. It was an article on 10 strange uses of baking soda. I am going to try it this week-end.

 

[Taja]

I just read online this morning that baking soda kills weeds. It was an article on 10 strange uses of baking soda. I am going to try it this week-end.

Baking soda alone or in water? If so, what proportion of baking soda to water?

I want to try it! *LOL*

 

[NVDisMom]

I'm interested in this too. Wet spring = lots of weeds!

I'm looking at the previous posts and wondering if baking soda + vinegar might be the trick? I have heard boiling water works too. We will be experimenting this weekend. It kills me to pay for roundup!

 

[worm761]

My dad always put salt at the base of the weeds. It kills the roots. Regular old table salt.

 

[budbeerlady]

I have used boiling salt water on the driveway and it did work. I tried a spray bottle of vinegar this weekend but I haven't been out to see if it worked for spot kills.

 

[mom2cookies]

i pour bleach on poison ivy, it kills the leaves but not the plant.

 

[labdogs42]

White vinegar works. Just remember, it will kill the grass, too, so it doesn't work for weeds in your lawn, just weeeds in places like driveways and beds with stone or mulch in them.

 

[polineedyan]

you can use these home remedies, but the quantity that it will take make prove more costly than you think.
What flabberghasts me is what you can save using Roundup concentrate. I always see people buying the roundup in the sprayer (that roundup provides..) This is the most expensive way.
Here's what I do:
Buy a typical pump style garden sprayer. 10 bucks.
Buy a SMALL bottle of the Roundup concentrate..13 bucks
That is an initial purchase of 23 plus tax. However, one bottle of concentrate makes about 10 gallons of roundup. You can probably do the whole property on 6 ounces (2 gallons)..that bottle may last you..
And when you need more, all you have to do is buy another bottle of concentrate, not the whole sprayer.
I havent done it in 20 years, but gasoline seems to be the best natural weedkiller..not so environmentally friendly, but pales in comparison to 50,000 barrels of crude..lol

 

[maggieusa]

I bought some ortho weed b gone from big lots for $5.00 one month ago you hook it up to the hose and works great.

 

[Colleen27]

For where? In the lawn can be a little tricky because you don't want something that will kill the grass so I still weed that mostly by hand, but boiling water direct from the tea kettle takes down weeds in sidewalk cracks, between pavers, in beds where there is space between plants, etc.

I would never, ever use RoundUp because of its toxicity and because I have no intention of giving the company that produces it a dime of my money. That stuff is really bad news, especially if you live near any waterways - it is fatal to amphibians and some other aquatic life at extremely small doses.

 

[kellia]

I tried using vinegar to get rid of grass/weeds under the kids swingset where we have bark chips. Didn't work. Our neighbor also commented a couple days later that he couldn't figure out what smelled like vinegar outside!

 

[ajcolorado]

Awhile back, I was trying to figure out a less toxic way of dealing with Russian thistles. I heard about vinegar but it didn't work at all. In further research I read this:

Vinegar has long been used in cooking, cleaning, and for a host of other applications (haven't you ever gotten that "forward" on the internet?) and its potential use as an herbicide is exciting. Vinegar can be produced naturally by decomposing plant products under anaerobic conditions. Household vinegar is usually made from wine (grapes), cider (apples), or malt (grain). The sugars in these plant products are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide through fermentation. This oxidative process forms vinegar.
Source: http://www.moscowfood.coop/archive/VinegarKillsWeeds.html

Here's another bit of information from this article: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Organic-Gardens-728/Killing-bremuda-grass.htm

"Supermarket Vinegar is only 5 percent strength. That's the stuff you use in your kitchen. It's still 95 percent water. Even at full strength, your kitchen Vinegar is not going to do much damage to weeds....
The Vinegar worked best at 20 percent, a concentration sold in farm supply stores that is strong enough to burn your skin"

 

[mousebymarriage]

My crazy neighbor uses gasoline. Yup, you heard it right he pours gasoline on the weeds that grow in the cracks on the sidewalk and on the edge of his driveway. I always know when he is doing it because it stinks and comes right in my windows.