Evelyn Moore
Weed can be a real nightmare for every gardener. Today, on the market you can find many chemical weed killers and pour them all over your garden but is there any better and more efficient way to get rid of weeds? By this, we mean something natural such as vinegar. There is some evidence proving that vinegar can be very effective at keeping your garden weed-free zone. Malt, white vinegar, or even apple cider can be used as well. In this article, we will explain this natural method, and its effectiveness, and show you how to use it and kill weeds.
What is vinegar?
Vinegar actually has wide applications in the household not only seasoning your food. It tastes sour due to its high acidity. The malt type of vinegar is the one we will introduce to you. Besides him, white vinegar is also popular in cleaning products but also can be used against weeds. Vinegar is a completely natural product made through fermentation, mostly apples or grains. With apple, you will get cider who is also very useful in killing weeds. The main advantage of this product is that it doesn't include any man-made chemicals, but it contains vitamins and a few other good compounds.
When to use vinegar
The first step you must do is to study your problem and in this case, it's weeds. For example, learn when weeds set their seed so you can destroy them before a new generation. It depends, but mostly it's in spring or summer. if you did this correctly, even one application of vinegar will be enough to solve all your problems. Perennial weeds, on the other hand, are a much harder task to get rid of. Dandelions are a great example. To prevent them from propagating via seeding you should take off the dandelion flower. But this won't stop them because their roots will remain in good condition and that's why we use vinegar. Each time you apply vinegar, the plant will be weaker and after a few times, it will be dead.
How to apply vinegar and how long it takes to kill weeds?
You must be very careful during applying vinegar and make sure to apply it only directly to weeds. Avoid any contact with your lawn or other plants. Vinegar is a natural product, a nonselective one which means it can harm other plants as well. It's recommended to use a brush or if you decide to do that with spray, don't pull the trigger until you are very close to weed. Watch the weather forecast and apply vinegar only after a few sunny, dry days. In the beginning spray it directly on the weed, as we mentioned earlier. Why sunny days? It's simple if you spray weeds on rainy days, the rain will wash off the vinegar and it won't be effective. The real damage to weeds starts in the next few days when the sun hits the leaves. One of the ways how to improve the effect of vinegar is to mix it with surfactant. For the right impact, vinegar must stay in contact with weed enough to penetrate. But, that's not that simple because weed's leaves are covered by wax and that's why surfactant is useful allowing easier penetration. In some recipes, you may find dish soap as a recommended surfactant.
If you ever wonder how long it takes to kill weeds in your garden, you may be surprised how fast actually it works. Depending on the weed, in some cases, if you spray vinegar during the heat of the day, the plant could die within an hour. Hardy species could resist for up to a few days. Other chemical products you can buy in the market are expensive and state that you should wait for 24 hours since spraying to see results.
The danger of using vinegar
Of course, there is another side to the coin where vinegar is dangerous for use. It can cause environmental damage in large quantities. As we said he can kill weeds in a matter of hours and days but some weeds will resprout again from the roots and cause you problems again. But also, if you are careless there can be real consequences. Concentrations over 11% of acetic acid can burn your skin and hurt your eyes. Concentrations above 20% can cause even blindness so in some cases make sure to wear goggles and other protective clothes.
Final thoughts
Does vinegar kill weeds? The answer to the title of this article is yes, but keep in mind that won't work every time on every weed. As we said you can mix white vinegar with apple cider, put that in spray and treat the area covered with weed. Also, take care of the lawn and other plants and of course your own health by wearing protective clothing.
