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Make your own natural weed killer

October 27, 2016 · 22 Comments

 

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!

 

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Filed In: HOME / Tagged: DIY, diy recipes, gardening, handmade, make it yourself, natural gardening, natural weed killer, weed killer

Comments

  1. Miranda says

    October 31, 2016 at 2:33 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Natural New Age Mum says

      October 31, 2016 at 2:44 pm

      Hey lovely, nope I would maybe just do plain vinegar sprayed on the bindis. The salt means nothing will grow there again. xx

      Reply
  2. kirri says

    November 2, 2016 at 5:51 am

    Awesome! EXACTLY what I need at the moment.

    Reply
    • Natural New Age Mum says

      November 2, 2016 at 10:17 am

      So it’s not just my garden that went crazy!! 😀

      Reply
  3. Barbara Taylor says

    November 5, 2016 at 1:57 pm

    If I spray the weeds under a hedge with this, is there any chance it will kill the hedge?

    Reply
    • Natural New Age Mum says

      November 7, 2016 at 9:50 am

      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! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Stacy says

    November 6, 2016 at 5:35 pm

    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. ?

    Reply
    • Natural New Age Mum says

      November 7, 2016 at 9:49 am

      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.

      Reply
  5. Elma says

    November 22, 2016 at 3:57 am

    Hi
    If I was to use this method to spray the pathway in between my veges would that klady my veges too?

    Reply
    • Natural New Age Mum says

      November 22, 2016 at 10:14 am

      You would have to be super careful Elma as it will kill everything and nothing will grow in that spot again.

      Reply
  6. Debra Ryan says

    January 24, 2018 at 7:36 pm

    Would this also work on Capeweed?

    Reply
  7. Patricia says

    October 9, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    Why does adding salt mean nothing else will grow there again?

    Reply
    • Natural New Age Mum says

      October 10, 2018 at 3:22 pm

      Hi Patricia “The salt raises soil salinity, which dehydrates the roots of plants and keeps them from absorbing necessary nutrients.”

      Reply
  8. Claire says

    October 19, 2018 at 7:29 am

    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 🙂

    Reply
  9. Liz says

    October 22, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Natural New Age Mum says

      October 24, 2018 at 2:01 pm

      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. 🙂

      Reply
  10. Kim says

    August 1, 2019 at 8:20 am

    Will this work on cape weed? Will it kill the grass around it and is it safe for animals?

    Reply
    • Natural New Age Mum says

      August 1, 2019 at 8:20 pm

      I am not sure Kim. Safe for animals and it will kill the grass around, you have to spray directly on the weeds.

      Reply
  11. karen wadley says

    September 16, 2019 at 7:23 pm

    Hi, great recipe thanks. How do you get the salt to dissolve?

    Reply
    • Natural New Age Mum says

      October 11, 2019 at 1:25 pm

      Just stir into the vinegar. If its not dissolving, you could try a little hot water first.

      Reply
  12. Jenelle Rothenberg says

    November 19, 2019 at 10:37 pm

    Thankyou 💚

    Reply
    • Natural New Age Mum says

      December 1, 2019 at 10:38 am

      You are so welcome. 🙂

      Reply

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