Make your own natural weed killer
With the arrival of Spring, I swear a million weeds popped up in our back yard overnight!
Being in a different house this year, this weed problem was all new to us.
Obviously we didn’t want to use a chemical weed killer – they contain some of the worst toxins you can use around your home. Not great at all for the kids and pets.
I did a bit of research on the best way to kill them off naturally and discovered a few different things. Many people swear by boiling water which is great for a stray weed here and there but if you have the whole backyard of weeds, it’s going to get a bit tiresome.
Based on a few different recipes, we tried out this DIY weed killer and it worked really well. The recipe is so easy you probably already have this stuff at home.
You can use just vinegar but the weeds will grow back. The addition of the salt stops things growing in that spot again (so be careful where you spray it). The dishwashing detergent helps the mixture cling onto the weeds.
Homemade Weed Killer
This is what you need:
4 litres of white vinegar
2 cups salt (just regular old table salt is fine, don’t use your expensive pink salt for this!!)
2 tablespoons dishwashing liquid (anything is okay but we only have our favourite Kin Kin Naturals so we used that)
This is what you do:
Mix everything together in a bucket and then pour into a spray bottle. WE got a big pump action one from the hardware store as it was such a big area. For weeds in paving like ours was, you could even just pour it straight on, but otherwise just generously spritz all over the weeds.
It only took a couple of days for all the weeds to go brown and die off. You can then pull out the weeds or whipper snip them.
After a few weeks, there has been no sign of new growth, even with some rain.
So I’m calling this one a winner.
Have you tried this? What do you use for weed killing?
You might also like to make your own citrus cleaning spray!
Hi Sonia, we have an entire backyard of bindi’s at our new place, even our dog is afraid to go outside lol. We would like to kill the bindi’s and then put down grass seed. My question is whether you think grass will grow there after spraying? Thanks
Hey lovely, nope I would maybe just do plain vinegar sprayed on the bindis. The salt means nothing will grow there again. xx
Awesome! EXACTLY what I need at the moment.
So it’s not just my garden that went crazy!! 😀
If I spray the weeds under a hedge with this, is there any chance it will kill the hedge?
Yes Barbara, it will mean that nothing will grow in that spot. If you were very careful about where and what you were spraying you might get away with it! 🙂
So! Do you think replacing salt with Epsom salts I could use in an fruit orchard? Or will it be the same result as salt? Bindi central at our place. ?
Hi Stacy, I am not 100% sure on this, maybe check with a horti at your garden centre. However I would assume it would be similar to the salt.
Hi
If I was to use this method to spray the pathway in between my veges would that klady my veges too?
You would have to be super careful Elma as it will kill everything and nothing will grow in that spot again.
Would this also work on Capeweed?
Why does adding salt mean nothing else will grow there again?
Hi Patricia “The salt raises soil salinity, which dehydrates the roots of plants and keeps them from absorbing necessary nutrients.”
Thank you 🙏 have the same problem with lots of new weeds springing up. Certainly don’t want to use roundup as the weeds come back anyway, regardless of the toxic ingredients. Definately not an option. Perfect timing of your post. Thanks Sonia 🙂
Does vinegar kill the grass as well? My backyard is more weeds than grass but being that I rent I want to not kill off the grass
No it’s the salt. This probably isn’t the best for weeds in grass unless you can isolate the weed and spray it directly on them. 🙂
Will this work on cape weed? Will it kill the grass around it and is it safe for animals?
I am not sure Kim. Safe for animals and it will kill the grass around, you have to spray directly on the weeds.
Hi, great recipe thanks. How do you get the salt to dissolve?
Just stir into the vinegar. If its not dissolving, you could try a little hot water first.
Thankyou 💚
You are so welcome. 🙂