I discovered this Gotta Have last fall, after spending yet another afternoon trying to remove all of the pesky blades of grass, weeds.and other plants that insisted the space between the pavers in my backyard patio was their home. I wanted to find an organic solution to get rid of these stragglers once and for all. A friend recommended that I make my own vinegar weeding spray.
It’s this simple – vinegar, diluted with a splash of water, in a spray bottle. Squirt generously. It did the trick. My patio looked better cared for than it had in months, and it took a lot less time to do it.
Note: Be careful where you use your homemade vinegar weeding spray, as it will kill pretty much anything in its path.
Household vinegar will not kill any weed or plant that I know of, in fact plants seem to love it. I dump gallons of it on my garden to increase the acidity of my soil and improve production in my garden. There is a commercial, high-strength vinegar that might slow down a few weeds, if you use enough of it over a long period of time, but it’s expensive.
Maybe there was some residual Roundup in her vinegar bottle?
No, the key is to spray the vinegar on the leaves of the plant, especially in the heat of the sun. Vinegar in the soil probably won’t kill your plants, especially if it’s diluted. Unlike Roundup, vinegar is just a foliar herbicide, not a systemic one. Roundup is systemic: it travels with water through the roots into the heart of the plant and kills all the tissue. Vinegar just kills the leaves that it sits on, and can kill the whole plant if enough of the leaf tissue is destroyed.
Dan – as I said, I have had great success with the weeds that grow through the pavers in my patio. As A says, in this scenario I can only reach the leaves, the root system is well hidden under the pavers and I can never manage to reach it. So no, I don’t use Roundup so there was none in the vinegar bottle. I used a 12% vinegar, but diluted it. As I said, it did the trick, if it didn’t I wouldn’t recommend it!
Well 12% vinegar is 240% stronger than normal household vinegar which is 5%. Its not commonly available in shops.Better use it full strength though.
I use plain old table salt right out of the box..it takes a day or two and a really cheap fix
Strange, I have always bought my 12% vinegar at the local organic grocery store. I use it for all sorts of things, and often dilute it as per instructions for different cleaning projects.
I use bleach and water about half and half and it works for a few month very well to.
How much can you dilute the vinegar, how much is a splash? Thanks.
I’m sure you can use 12% as well, since the goal is to kill the weeds, but I usually dilute it by about 10% water.
I have used equal parts of water and distilled vinegar such as is commonly sold in any grocery store as an herbicide for poison ivy for over ten years. Spray the leaves and they will shrivel in thirty minutes or less. It positively works.
Hi! I have a question,rather then a comment . I have poison all around my back yard perimeter fence ,and I get it every time I cut the grass. How can I tell if this is poison ivy, or oak ,or sumac ? The leaves look like poison ivy to me but my husband said that he thinks it is poison oak.Please help! Also, what would be my best course of action to kill it for good ? Very tired of getting it and itching myself to death !!! Thank You !!!