- 5 out of 5 leaves
Spring has arrived, and new sprouts are springing up everywhere. Unfortunately, many of the happy new plants are weeds. There are many strong and scary chemical poisons available at every home and garden store to take care of the weeds. Could natural, cheap, and safe vinegar be just as effective?
The Good
- Better for the Earth – no nasty chemicals seeping into the water ways
- Better for You – safe to use around kids and pets
- Saves Money – White Vinegar is super cheap, especially when purchased by the gallon
- Amazingly effective – kills weeds so they don’t come back
The Bad
- Could damage wanted plants if sprayed too closely
My Experience
Old Faithful ($2.39 per gallon)
Now that it’s spring, my sidewalks cracks are springing up everywhere with little weeds of many varieties. After seeing that vinegar could hurt grass during my vinegar vs mildew challenge, I decided to see what it could do for weeds. I used my vinegar squirt bottle to give the weeds a good hose down. By the next afternoon all the weeds had turned brown and crunchy. I gave them a couple more squirts on the second day for good measure.
Before (happy weed) and one day after vinegar application (dead!)
After three weeks and three soaking spring rains, there are still no signs of life. IT WORKS!!! White vinegar kills weeds!
What amazing things have you had vinegar do for you lately?
Shared at Sunday School, Monday Mania, Homestead Barnhop, Better Mom Mondays, Teach Me Tuesday, Titus 2sday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Women Living Well, WIldcrafting Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Rural Thursday, Your Green Resource, Farmgirl Friday, Frugal Friday
I have never heard that before!
Yay!! I am trying that here this year! Maybe I can get my hubby to stop using chemicals then!!
I love this! I have heard about it before, but haven’t tried it yet. Of course, our driveway is in serious need of it, so hopefully this weekend I will be out there soaking away!
Does this work on dandelions?
Yes! The pictured plant is a type of dandilion. However, I would caution using it on dandilions in your lawn, as it may kill the surrounding grass as well.
Excellent! Lots of things grow through the cracks of our driveway; sounds like this will take care of them! Thank you.
That’s impressive! I may have to try this.
Thank you so much for sharing at Rural Thursdays. Have a wonderful weekend!
You could also consider doing some investigation and find out you could have eaten your “weed” before killing it. Some “weeds” like nettle, raspberry leaf, dandelion, etc are rich sources of nutrients and can be added to a salad or made into a tea. Just a thought.
I’ve just done a few google searches on nettles. I think you’ve sent me on a whole new mission.
I’m glad it’s still early Spring here in the mountains. I bet I could get the kids to harvest dandelions with me.
That’s a great idea Audrey – thanks for the tip!
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I’ll have to give this a try. I love using vinegar to clean around the house, but never thought of using it outdoors. Thanks for the tip!
This is awesome! What a helpful thing to know =)
Thanks for sharing!
L
allglorious-within.blogspot.com
Great tip! Thanks for sharing it on the Barn Hop!
This is revolutionary enough to change my life!! I normally dump kettles of boiling water on unwanted greens, but that’s time and energy consuming. I am going to rush out to my patchy green sidewalk with vinegar (when this rain stops). Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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I use this on all broad leaf weeds – works well. I especially like killing weeds from under birdfeeder using vinegar, don’t wan the ground feeding birds to come into contact with chemical weed killers
Vinegar works in our garden. Even cheaper is to pour leftover pasta water or other already hot water (be careful, use a pitcher) on weeds growing in the sidewalk/driveway cracks, etc. Doesn’t have to be 212 degrees, just hot to work.
Pros
absolutely free
reuses water that would otherwise go down the drain
food particles add nutrients to the soil
works with only one application
no harmful residue
Cons
need to be careful
Like chemical herbicides & vinegar, use care to only apply to target plants
I’ve heard this before but also rad adding a couple of drops of liquid dish soap. This cause the solution to cling to the weed more.