Good organic natural weedkiller?

Gingernuts31

Hi folks,

I have quiet a large driveway that isn't too bad but isn't great either being weedfree. I have small and large patchs of grass and only a few actual weeds growing on it. I have pulled up a fair few of them but unfortunatly because is gravel (not heavly covered) you can see where the moss is and where I pulled the patches up.

I don't want to use a chemical weedkiller cause of my dogs but the natural ones on this site look good http://www.weed-killer.org/organic-weedkiller-recipes/ . Has anyone tried any of these?

In a nutshell I have green and brown moss, few weeds and grass patches, some of them so heavy the dogs lie on them for comfort :P .

swifts need our help!

Ginger, water the weeds with very salty water. Make sure the salt is salt. Most table salt isnt. Use rock salt.

Mark

Gingernuts31

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Ginger, water the weeds with very salty water. Make sure the salt is salt. Most table salt isnt. Use rock salt.

Mark

Thanks mark, Use boiling water or cold water? Ill need at least 32 litres I reckon so 2 x 16litre napsacks. How much water to salt? Also any idea how long it will kill them off for and do I need to pull everything up afterwards or will they wither away into the ground?

Gingernuts31

bump

yellowlabrador

I wouldn't use salt water as it would leach into the ground and cause damage to bordering plants. Use a weed wand. They sell them in Aldi. It's basically a gas heated torch and burns the plants.

Gingernuts31

yellowlabrador wrote: »

I wouldn't use salt water as it would leach into the ground and cause damage to bordering plants. Use a weed wand. They sell them in Aldi. It's basically a gas heated torch and burns the plants.

How long will this kill off the weeds for? I used roundup before and roundup gallop which I beleve is the industrial strenght one but thw weeds still came back after a few weeks. I need something that will last for the year and I believe the vinegar option works well for at least 2 years.

muckyhands

There is an organic weedkiller on the market that is based on acetic acid i.e vinegar but not sure about the concentration compared to the homemade mix on your link.

Have heard good things about it though, think its called something like Irish Organic Weedkiller... might be worth a try.

Could there be an area/ garden nearby where weed seeds are being constantly blown into your garden, whatever it is you use?

Gingernuts31

muckyhands wrote: »

Could there be an area/ garden nearby where weed seeds are being constantly blown into your garden, whatever it is you use?

No the weeds are all over the place not just 1 area. Its quiet a large driveway but the front seems to get away lighter weed wise better than the back. Can anyone maybe work out the square meter of my garden following this jpeg? Garden Area.JPG Least i'll know how much of the soloution i'll need then. Thats IOW looks good alright but it doesn't say how long the weeds die off for. At the price they are charging it would be cheaper to mix it up yourself using household items but don't know if it works out cheaper, depends on the size of the area being treated like mine .

swifts need our help!

any photos to show what you are talking about?

Mark

Gingernuts31

Sorry mark photo's of? My drive/garden or the weeds?

Zuiderzee

You can make your own, or buy from OWK.ie - irish made organic weed killer

Already posted recipe for home made organic weed killer on another post today -

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056646612

Discodog

These home made & so called organic weedkillers sound worse than the proper ones. Just because a product is natural, like salt & vinegar, it doesn't mean that it's good to plaster it everywhere.

I did a lot of professional research on the environmental impact of weedkillers. All the Paraquat/Diquat (Gramoxone) Glycophosphate products are very safe. They pose no risk to pets provided you follow the simple instructions - I have three dogs & I use them.

Gingernuts31

I checked out the IOW. Sent them a mail asking hiow long does it kill the weeds off for, they didn't answer :mad:. As you can understand don't want to go spending a cent without knowing its going to kill off the weeds for more than 6 weeks like roundup. I used that thinking great thats it now for a while, 6 weeks later they are back up again, so i'l never use roundup again. Im thinking homemade because its cheaper than the ones discodog mentioned? Also discodog how long will it kill the weeds for?

Zuiderzee

Discodog wrote: »

These home made & so called organic weedkillers sound worse than the proper ones. Just because a product is natural, like salt & vinegar, it doesn't mean that it's good to plaster it everywhere.

I did a lot of professional research on the environmental impact of weedkillers. All the Paraquat/Diquat (Gramoxone) Glycophosphate products are very safe. They pose no risk to pets provided you follow the simple instructions - I have three dogs & I use them.

Paraquat!!! Jesus, you want to risk it thats your business, but personally would not go near it with a barge pole.
Vinegar/salt/sap is far cheaper - as effective and safer for life forms

Discodog

Gingernuts31 wrote: »

Also discodog how long will it kill the weeds for?

Anything that is strong enough to suppress the germination of new weed seeds is going to damage the soil because it is going to have to remain in the soil as an active ingredient. So products like Hytrol might give you six months with little weeds but nothing will grow on the contaminated ground after.

Zuiderzee wrote: »

Paraquat!!! Jesus, you want to risk it thats your business, but personally would not go near it with a barge pole.
Vinegar/salt/sap is far cheaper - as effective and safer for life forms

I wouldn't be risking anything because I spent several years of a past life researching it. I have seen the results where Paraquat has been sprayed on the same test areas every month for years & there is no detrimental effect on the soil wildlife except from the removal of the grass.

Paraquat is so safe that it was developed to allow direct drilling - a process where instead of ploughing you kill off the stubble with Paraquat, then reseed & eat the crop. All the alarmist views of Paraquat came about because people drank it !

I suspect that, if you did similar trials with salt & vinegar you would find them highly detrimental to life. For example even low concentrations of salt may damage worms & micro arthropods - both essential for good soil.
Vinegar is acid so not only will it wreck the pH but it will actually burn soil organisms.

This myth that anything natural is safe is causing huge problems in areas such as herbal medicine. Many of the most powerful toxins are natural products.

Gingernuts31

Im not looking to plant anything anywhere ill be spraying or even close to it. Just really for my gravel driveway where there is weeds and grass growing so just looking for the cheapest pet friendly way of doing it. I don't think hytrol is pet friendly though is it?

Jjjjjjjjbarry

Bump:

Anyone use this stuff?

https://www.wipeout.ie/products/weed-killer-organic-5ltr.html

Jjjjjjjjbarry

Jjjjjjjjbarry wrote: »

Bump:

Anyone use this stuff?

https://www.wipeout.ie/products/weed-killer-organic-5ltr.html

It's not great. Have to mix it stronger than it states for it to work and weeds / grass borders brown but a week later start to come back to life and makes it a little pointless unless you wait for the area to get really bad and kill it all at end of season.

Are all organic weed killers like this? They don't get to the root. I suppose it's the price to pay for safety. Anyone got better results from organic pet/human friendly weedkillers?