Sunday, July 31, 2016

Alternative Weed Killer

Little Abe has a new favorite past time. Honestly though he has a million favorite past times.


Just recently crab grass has come out in full force. I do not like to use or purchase poison or many chemicals but all the crab grass and other weeds in the driveway and sidewalk cracks have become unsightly. I've seen the natural weed killer suggestion online before. It's a mixture of vinegar, original dawn dish detergent, and salt.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it natural. There are chemicals in Dawn dish detergent but the blue stuff is used not only to wash our dishes but also to clean oil off animals after oil spills. It's used to strip cloth diapers from residue build up. And I add it to little Abe's water table sometimes so that he can play with the suds. In other words it's a million times safer than say if we tried to clean animals off with Roundup.

I had not tried this weed killer before but figured it was worth a shot, knew it wouldn't cost that much to make up a batch, and really liked the idea of killing our weeds with basically vinegar. The results are in and it not only does a fabulous job of killing weeds but my kid loves the task of spraying them.

I can't imagine the ratio matters all that much because you'll find a ton of different ones on pinterest. I used about 1/4 cup salt, 1/2 cup of Dawn and 1 gallon of vinegar.


These pictures are not from the same spot but the weed in the second photo that is clearly dying was full force green yesterday just like the one in the first photo. Everything that little Abe sprayed with the alternative weed killer has browned up and died within one day. I'm super happy with the results and again, I personally feel way better about using this then if I bought weed killer from the store. I feel safe dumping this concoction down our drains, unlike regular weed killer. I feel safe letting my four year old son use the spray, unlike regular weed killer. And I don't have to worry about my dogs or my son walking on any freshly sprayed spots, unlike regular weed killer.

The cost for 1 gallon of this alternative weed killer is about $3.50. I'm pretty sure that traditional weed killer costs quite a bit more then that. Another win here from trying something new.

5 comments:

  1. Please don't use salt. It builds up and causes the ground to be barren. Vinegar works just fine. I don't use Dawn in my spray, but I probably should.

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    1. Thank-you, that's great to know. I'll definitely try it without salt next time. This time around I hardly put any in. I imagine it'd be just about as effective without it.

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  2. What a good recipe. We have unsightly weeds in our rocks, and I haven't wanted the chemicals. I will use this one though.

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    1. I'm certain it will work for you. We've sprayed so many different types of weeds growing in the sidewalk and driveway cracks and it totally killed every single one of them. I'm really impressed with how effective this turned out to be. I should have tried it out sooner.

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  3. That's very interesting. Who'd have thought? I use Dawn in my laundry detergent mix, too.

    Please drop by and say hello!
    ஐღLauraღஐ
    Harvest Lane Cottage
    ...doing what I can with what I've got where I am
    on a short shoestring budget!
    ~~~~~

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