Home-Brewed Killer

I have been looking at some fascinating Youtube about making weedkiller. They seem to involve little more than salt, vinegar and in some, washing-up liquid used as a binding agent. This looks better than buying chemical stuff especially as I have cats running around.

Have you tried making this, and how effective did you find it to be?

 

For large scale or spot weeding? For large scale, I think burning is the better option but for spot weeding, just pull up as much root you can and use round up if you have to. Salt can seep anywhere, burn cats and dogs paws and it kills plants and the mini bugs not just weeds..round up still kills grass but I'd rather that than use salt.

 

I got all excited when I saw

The vinegar really needs to be 20% horticultural vinegar, rather than 5% shop bought stuff. As mentioned above, salt will seep sideways, and some people even add bleach to make a particularly nasty concoction.

Burning doesn't kill weed roots, weedkillers don't kill weed seeds, there's no easy solution, but having said that, I've used everything from digging, burning, mowing out, salting, spot application and spraying glyphosate, hoeing, continuous rotorvating in hot weather and weed suppressant mulches.

 

Yeah spot on scrungee. Rotavating is a pain in the as$ or so I've been told, old man done it to the front and back lawns.

 

Large scale, it's for a stretch all down one side of the driveway

 

Roundup is the tool for that job. But not yet, you need to wait til the weeds are growing.

It's harmless to animals. Soil bacteria breaks any residue down into starches so it very quickly becomes inert anyway.

 

The EU is considering banning it http://www.theguardian.com/environm...inst-plans-to-relicense-weedkiller-glyphosate

 

As C1 said , important that the weeds re growing before applying Roundup , as I found out it has no effect . You can buy Glyphosate concentrate which you dilute to the correct strength . If you have a large area to treat this can be applied with a sprayer . Far better and safer than witches brews of salt and vinegar
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-X-5L-GA...191344?hash=item4d3a282570:g:gFAAAOSwDNdVqiNl

 

Better buy in a couple of bottles of concentrate just in case.

 

I have had a 5 litre Glypho for about 6 years , only used 3/4 of it . I do try and use it sparingly , just the paths a driveway twice a year.

 

@Lucy.P like everyone else said wait untill weeds are growing and use round up, if theres old stems try whacking them down and clearing the area a bit first so you can then see what's growing through. I had a load of stingys, brambles and bindweed in my garden at the back so we whacked them down and dug out what we could and rotavated it, rolled it out and left it settle over winter. Come the next summer we were digging again but it was mostly at the back where there's a railway track behind us, it took 2 years but was worth it.

 

Is roundup safe to use by the side of a pond ? Im lookng to get rid of some mad weed but it directly borders my pond and the golden orfe are meant to be sensitive .

 

Some really helpful replies here, thanks. The videos portray the home-brew as very effective, but you've given me pause to reconsider. I will probably use Round Up.