Whether you have weeds infesting your otherwise beautiful garden or you have weeds popping up in your sideways and driveways—weeds can be a big problem and a pain to take care of. Pulling weeds by hand is a great option, but it doesn’t always to the job. They can still leave traces and return to full grown fairly easily. Not to mention, weed killer is typically a little easier to apply than pulling weeds. To be sure they are gone, you may need to use a weed killer to finish them off. Use these DIY weed killing solutions to eliminate your weeds with products you likely already have in the house. Using these natural weed killers will help you to avoid harmful chemicals that can affect you, your garden, and the environment. Instead of paying for expensive weed killers, use what you already have!
1. Vinegar and Dish Soap
Make your own weed killer with a few household items. With one gallon white vinegar, one tablespoon dish soap, and half a cup of salt, you can kill a lot of weeds. Mix up these ingredients in a spray bottle, shake thoroughly, and spray the weeds away. The acidic nature of vinegar can kill plants on its own but add salt to dry them out and soap to finish the job.
2. Boiling Water
Maybe the simplest way to kill weeds—pouring boiling water over them. This inexpensive and chemical free method can be done with minimal effort. The heat of the water will damage the weed’s cellular structure, effectively killing it at its core. Boiling water can reach through cracks and kill plans growing through sidewalks or driveways. This is a good solution for hard to reach plants. Or if you’re looking for a plant killing method that doesn’t deal with any chemical, this is your answer.
3. Lemon Juice
The high levels of acidity in lemon juice eats away at weeds. If you used lemon juice and find weeds growing back, it may be necessary to repeat the process as roots may have survived the first round. For extreme acidity, you could even combine lemon juice with white vinegar. This acid will dry out the weed and kill it.
4. Newspaper Mulching
Did you know that your day old newspapers can help you get rid of your weed problem? Start by watering garden deeply, then lay newspaper directly over weeds. Spray the newspaper with water to keep it from flying away. Top the paper with mulch. The newspaper will smother any weeds growing.
5. Salt
Using straight salt on your weeds will also effectively kill them. Salt will dehydrate plants. You may need to reapply salt until the weeds are completely dead. Once they are dried up and dead, you will have to pull them up. With killing them and pulling them up, you are ensuring they won’t return any time soon. You can also pair salt with any of the other weed killers to give it a little extra kick.
