AboutLong Island Gardener Expertise How to grow the Perfect Lawn? If you live in the Northeast/Atlantic Coast, I have intelligent answers on grass selection, fertilizers, soil care, weed control, and lawnmowers. Although I have degrees in related fields, a person's real gardening skills are learned from trial and error. More important, I am strict about not using chemicals in the garden. Organic gardening is not just earth friendly and healthier for you, your children and your pets. It's less expensive and easier. You read that right. Less expensive and easier.
Experience Homeowner for 15 years, 30 years of gardening for personal pleasure, college credits in horticulture and botany, volunteer docent at the local botanical gardens, and a whole library of gardening and landscaping books at home some 100 years old.
Question Would a mixture of vinegar and water kill crab grass in small areas of a flower garden ?
Answer 95 percent of the lawns in this country are soaking in things like Round-Up and Weed-B-Gone. To rid your lawn of weeds, two user-friendly contact killers are gaining popularity: Vinegar and Pelargonic Acid.
Laboratory-strength Vinegar has been studied and tested over and over in the search for user-friendly weedkillers that rational people can use with satisfactory results.
Concentration of as little as 5 percent vinegar has succeeded. But only TEMPORARILY!
What went wrong?
Well, it seems that roots of some Weeds tend to be a little more stubborn than expected. It is not unusual for at least some root portion to survive after topgrowth is wiped out. Next thing you know, the same Weed re-sprouts and resumes activities in your garden and lawn. At least several applications are needed for Vinegar to work.
The U.S. Government has actually studied this problem. Back in 2005, USDA scientists did an experiment to test Vinegar as a Weed Killer.
Their basic work at the USDA was to test different strengths of Vinegar on Grass. They picked a field in Oklahoma and went spraying. Broadleaf and other Weeds, wild grass, Crabgrass, carpetweed, evening primrose -- all these Weeds were sprayed with Vinegar.
And what exactly did they discover with your tax dollars?
They learned that Vinegar worked better on broadleafs than grass-type weeds. A 5 percent Vinegar solution (95 percent suger) actually wiped out 90 percent of the wild Evening Primroses.
84 percent of the broadleaf Weeds were eradicated with a 10 percent Vinegar solution.
See that? Eighty-four percent? That's darn good weedkiller!
Remember that next time you run into someone who tries to tell you that Organic weedkillers don't work. These government experiments plainly rest that case.
In related agricultural research, scientists noted that Vinegar's success rates soared as temperature increased. For this to really work, you have to understand very clearly that 'Common Household Vinegar' that you find on the supermarket shelf is NOT what we're talking about. That stuff made by Heinz is never going to be strong enough to affect Weeds in any significant way. Supermarket Vinegaris only 5 percent strength -- 95 percent WATER! You need the real thing for this to work.
University of New Mexico posts a summary of how to use Vinegar to get rid of Thistle:
www.cahe.nmsu.edu/ces/yard/2004/041004.html
Vinegar works best when used at 20 percent strength. That concentration is sold in farm supply stores. And it's VERY strong -- enough to burn your skin if you spill it.
Nevertheless, it's totally Earth-friendly. Unlike Round-Up, when you're done with Vinegar, it's gone for good. You can mow and breathe to your heart's content; your children and pets can roll and play; no one gets sick. Ever. And this is why it is not BANNED in the State of California, the State of Maine, the commonwealth of Canada or any other region of the world. You can't say that about Round-Up or Weed-Be-Gone.
Cornell University did another experiment.
Lab workers tested Vinegar-based Weedkillers and compared them against Roundup (glyphosate). Results for Nature's Glory (25 percent Vinegar), BurnOut Weed and Grass Killer (25 percent Vinegar, with a few organic kickers to strengthen its impact on Weeds), and bottled Vinegar (20 percent and 5 percent) were charted.
You can read an analysis of some of these Weedkillers at the North Carolina State University website:
www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/newsletters/growergram
Some tests found Vinegar worked best of all when they heated it first.
You'll find lovely photos taken of a test of Acetic Acid sprayed on
Canadian Thistle and Dandelions at www.organicagcentre.ca
Dandelions survived. Thistle did not.
Pelargonic Acid -- another contact Weedkiller found in apples and grapes -- kills broadleaf Weed foliage almost instantly. That includes Dandelions, Canadian Thistle, and Pigweed. Companies like Bioscape (bioscape.com) and Mycogen (Scythe Weed and Grass Killer) sell strong herbicides based on Pelargonic Acid.
Weedkillers work on contact, burning green Weed foliage rapidly. But they don't kill roots. On an Annual or a Weed without a tap root, that's not a problem. But with Dandelions, underground bulbs and wildflowers growing from tubers, it is often just a matter of time before the plant recovers and is sending out long stemmed fluffy white seedheads to blow across the plain towards Lawns everywhere. Yes, ONLY THE LEAVES are killed by Vinegar and Pelargonic Acid; anything underground is safe and protected. The same Dandelion must be sprayed at least 3 times before you see a difference. And remember, contact Weedkillers are also fatal to grass, flowers and vegetables.
One researcher found that spraying once a week for 3 weeks was the answer for tough Weeds with thick roots. For some people, hand digging with a Dandelion Fork may be easier, so long as you get the whole root.
There are other Weedkillers, using things like Clove Oil or other formulas. They are too recent for me to tell anyone how well they work: 'Matran EC Herbicide' is USDA Organic certified.
'Bioganic Weed and Grass Killer' (which is 10 percent Acetic Acid) and 'EXEMPT' are new enough that they are still awaiting EPA approval for sale in many states, possibly in your neighborhood; both are billed as organic by Biocontrol Network:
www.biconet.com/lawn/matran.html
Weeds can be a complicated problem. But there are solutions. If you act soon enough, you can solve your Weed problems cheaply and safely.
As for me, I think it's fair to ask: Which will be over first?
1. The war against Crabgrass?
2. The war against Dandelions?
3. American war involvement in Iraq?
I don't know about you, but my money's on 1 and 2.
That said, I apologize for the long and painfully detailed answer here. I hope it was worth waiting for.
