Stop dandelions and crabgrass in their tracks — or really, their roots. These pesticide-free tactics let your garden grow in all its glory, minus annoying eyesores. Common household supplies like salt, vinegar, newspaper, and even water can kill unsightly weeds pretty much instantly, but mulch and landscaping fabric can save you from future yard work.
Homemade natural weed killers are eco-friendly options to use in place of harmful chemicals. Non-toxic ingredients such as vinegar, salt, and even boiling water can kill off pesky weeds. Using homemade weed control methods means you can avoid using products such as Roundup, which contains potentially harmful glyphosate. In addition to DIY weed killers, using mulch, newspaper, and bio-degradable landscaping fabric can help prevent weeds in the first place.
Read on for best 5 homemade weed killers that’ll rid your garden of annoying and invasive plant species and kill weeds organically with these super-easy solutions, many of which you probably have in your pantry already.
Boiling Water
Plain, old tap water can do the trick too. “My favorite ‘homemade’ weed killer for cracks in sidewalks and driveways is boiling water,” says Paul James, “The Gardener Guy.” “This works really well on young weeds, and results are immediate. If you add a tablespoon of salt to the boiling water, it’s even more effective.”
Baking Soda
Baking soda is an excellent weed-control ingredient. Get a pack of baking soda and sprinkle it generously all over the areas inhabited with garden weeds. What’s also great is that you can also use it when the weather it cloudy, and when it’s raining. Repeat the treatment once a month.
Salt
Stock up on discounted rock salt at the end of winter and sprinkle it on garden paths to fight weeds in the spring (table salt works too). Salt also makes a good weed barrier along lawn edgings and other places a lawn mower can’t reach, but apply it carefully. It can erode concrete surfaces and can leave the ground barren for a long period of time.
Vinegar
Vinegar is a natural, chemical-free herbicide. Pour the white vinegar in a spray bottle and sprinkle the parts of your garden inhabited with weeds. But, be careful and spray selectively, separating your flowers from the garden weeds.
It’s recommendable to sprinkle the weeds with vinegar in the early morning, when the weather is calm and sunny, as the sunrays increase the effect of this natural herbicide. And of course, as the logic implies, you should avoid doing this on cloudy and rainy days.
Newspaper
Cover low-growing weeds like clover and crabgrass with newspaper and eventually the lack of sunlight will exterminate them. Putting down sections and covering them with mulch can also prevent new ones in the first place. “As the paper decomposes, it also feeds the soil, making this a tip no gardener should be without,” says Ciarlo.