Alternative Weed Killer.

[AllotmentShed]

I've read that you can use white vinegar and lemon juice concentrate or salt mixed as a weedkiller. Is this true and how viable is it?

[OrtonLad]

I've read that you can use white vinegar and lemon juice concentrate or salt mixed as a weedkiller. Is this true and how viable is it?

Yes but if you add sulphuric acid this will help

[AllotmentShed]

Yes but if you add sulphuric acid this will help

Sounds like a good idea!

[Nicos]

Joking aside!

Back to the original question....

Yes, salt will work, but will kill anything in that area for ages to come. That's why the Romans sometimes poisoned the land with salt when they invaded !

Lemon juice- yes, it's acidic ( as is vinegar) and again would kill weeds and plants, but so does boiling water which is almost free and leaves no future impact on the soil!

[arpoet]

Some weeds thrive on salt... look have many types of seaweed there are.

[Mikey]

Does that mean if I create a pond an add some salt I can grow my own seaweed?

[Jay-ell]

As Nicks said, the Romans salted the lands around Carthage to make sure that they couldn't grow any crops.


I've heard about vinegar but I would be worried about changing the PH of the soil. As far as I know this works by dehydrating the leaves acting as a contact weed killer which means that it would be good against annual weeds but things like dock, bind weed or other perennial would grow back.

[Madasafish]

Bleach on cobbles kills the weeds and cleans the cobbles..

[veggiechicken]

Hello Allotment Shed and welcome.
If you tell us what weeds you are trying to control we may be suggest other methods.

[sparrow100]

The vinegar and lemon juice does work. My plot neighbour used it on their paths. But it is very temporary. Within 3 months they were worse than before.

[Jay-ell]

When you read instructions on making nettle tea plant feed they often say that you need to dilute it or it may kill your plants. Has anyone tried undiluted nettle tea to kill weeds with fertiliser burn?

[Jay-ell]

Oops looks like I killed this thread

I've had a thought : if the vinegar/lemon juice/sulphuric acid works by acidity damaging the cells in the leaf causing them to wilt and die and if fertiliser burn works in a similar manner then would bokashi juice, which is an acid liquid packed with nutrients, work in a similar way and act as a contact weed killer which then fertilises the soil/surrounding crops?

Unfortunately I can't try this out as I don't have taps on my bokashi bins, but I was wondering if there were any grapes able to investigate.

[Nicos]

Not scientific , but I did find this which you may find interesting!

When Green Isn’t Necessarily Clean | TEStazyk

[Jay-ell]

OK I now need a worm farm and a lightning conductor.

I usually find that the smell of bokashi makes me peckish - I like pickles. I've only once had a bin with with a smell I couldn't stand. That was a big wheelie bin which had such a strong pickle smell that when I was mixing it into my compost the back of my eyeballs started to melt. I had to vacate the allotment for 2 days till it died down.

The article does validate the idea of using the juice as a weed killer - although a full biochem hazard suit may be necessary

[Stan79]

Oops looks like I killed this thread

I've had a thought : if the vinegar/lemon juice/sulphuric acid works by acidity damaging the cells in the leaf causing them to wilt and die and if fertiliser burn works in a similar manner then would bokashi juice, which is an acid liquid packed with nutrients, work in a similar way and act as a contact weed killer which then fertilises the soil/surrounding crops?

Unfortunately I can't try this out as I don't have taps on my bokashi bins, but I was wondering if there were any grapes able to investigate.

Depending on the size of your bins it would be a pretty simple job to add taps using a drill and one of these (or similar) Water Butt Replacement Tap: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors