How to destroy weeds in the garden using folk methods?
Weed control takes up the lion's share of gardeners' time and has a detrimental effect on their health. In the presence of a large area, it will not take long and tear your back. After all, it is necessary to weed them repeatedly, since this cunning grass manages to get out again and again in the most unexpected places.
Various preparations are also widely used to kill weeds. But this does not guarantee complete weed control. A good alternative would be to use folk remedies to destroy weeds in the garden, because they are inexpensive compared to herbicides, and do not require special physical effort, and are not dangerous for health.
Most often, vinegar, salt, soap and soda are used when treating weeds.
How is vinegar used?
Vinegar completely destroys almost all types of weeds. For humans, it is absolutely safe and does not have a negative effect on the soil. You can even remove ants with vinegar (sprinkle the places where they live with vinegar diluted in water).
However, if it comes into contact with cultivated plants, vinegar can destroy them, so care must be taken when processing.
In order not to accidentally harm the cultivated plants growing nearby, it is recommended to use a bottle with a nozzle or a pump. If you need to process a couple of bushes, you can take a brush. Weeds are sprayed in calm sunny weather: the effect of vinegar is enhanced under the sun's rays, and besides, calm weather will not harm vegetables or flowers.
Spray the leaves and stems with a vinegar solution. Sometimes they do a second treatment if especially persistent weeds are caught. It is recommended to start work on the destruction of pest plants in early spring, but I process old perennial weeds in the fall. When processing weeds, several recipes with vinegar are used:
- Dilute 5 cups of 6% vinegar in two liters of water - this is enough for spraying 2 acres.
- Prepare a mixture of three parts 9% vinegar and one part lemon juice.
Read also the article: how to deal with moles in the garden?
Salt - for particularly stubborn weeds
If vinegar alone does not cope with stubborn weeds, it is combined with kitchen salt. To do this, bring a liter of water to a boil, add 5 tbsp. vinegar and 2 tbsp. salt. Pour the solution hot onto the weeds.
You can simply sprinkle salt on the garden bed, while making sure that it does not get on the crops growing nearby. This method is good in that the salt will not only destroy the weed, but also, having penetrated the soil during the rain, will not allow new growth.
It should be remembered that the frequent use of salt in the beds leads to a change in the composition of the soil. All weeds can be destroyed, but cultivated plants will not grow in this place.
Soap to help
If you add liquid soap (one medical syringe) to a solution of salt (150 g) and vinegar (1 L), you get a mixture called herbicidal soap. In this case, the best effect will be given by using 20% vinegar. During spraying with herbicidal soap, the cultivated plants should be covered with thick paper. The work is carried out at lunchtime, when the sun is especially hot.
Soda and weeds
Adding baking soda to solutions is no less effective.This will help get rid of small plants between the tile joints in the yard, and also fights well against powdery mildew. The following proportions are most often used:
- dilute 2 tbsp in 5 liters of water. l. soda and 1 tbsp. l. soap and spray the weeds once before flowering, repeat after a week - and so three times;
- for 1 liter of water - a tablespoon of soda, liquid soap and vegetable oil. Carry out processing in cloudy weather.