For gardening, vinegar can be used as a natural weed killer. The substance that makes vinegar act aggressively against weeds is called acetic acid. The higher the acetic acid content in the vinegar, the more deadly it is on the plants. Normal table vinegar, which is used in the household for salads and the like, has a relatively low percentage of acetic acid (5 to 6%). Vinegar essence contains 25% acetic acid and is therefore much more concentrated. However, the use of vinegar against weeds is by no means as harmless as is generally believed.
use
If you want to fight weeds in a natural way, you should deal a little more closely with the unwanted plants in advance. Vinegar and vinegar essence are not a miracle cure, nor do they work selectively on weeds only. Before you randomly spread vinegar in your garden and thus cause more damage than you actually want, you should pay attention to the following tips:
- Use only in small quantities
- Treat weeds before sowing
- the younger and smaller the plant, the more effective the vinegar will be
- this is how you prevent a new generation of plants
- depending on the weed, only multiple applications usually help
- Time: spring and summer
- only spray or brush directly onto the respective weed
- also remove flowers and seed heads
Tip: Some gardeners swear by boiling the vinegar briefly before treatment and spraying it over the plants while it is hot. This has the advantage that the heat also causes problems for the plants. Finally, hot water also kills the cells of the plants.
Best time
Look at the weather forecast for your region and wait for a few sunny days to appear. Then, at the beginning of this period, spray or brush the vinegar on the plants you want to control. There are two main reasons why treatment should take place in dry and sunny weather conditions:
- As much vinegar as possible has to stick to the leaves for it to work optimally. Rain would wash away too much of it.
- The damage to the leaves by the vinegar lasts a few hours to days and is more intense the stronger the sun shines on the leaves.
Whereas the results of a treatment with acetic acid on plants that grow in the sun take just a few Hours are visible, in shady regions it can take a few days for the leaves to turn yellow and dry up. If the weed plants are already quite large, it is advisable to cut them off in advance and only treat the remains. So you have to use and significantly less vinegar
Additives
The effectiveness of a herbicide can generally be increased by adding a little surfactant (a few drops of soap solution or detergent). The surfactant does not have a harmful effect on the weeds, but it helps the vinegar to do a better job. For the vinegar essence to have the intended effect, it must remain in contact with the leaves long enough to penetrate them well. In practice, this is easier said than done, because after all, plants have one on their leaves Waxy coating that allows water to simply roll off and prevents the penetration of foreign substances protects. So the role of surfactants is to counteract this defense mechanism of the plant. This allows the natural herbicide to penetrate better.
limitations
For example, if you want to control weeds in the lawn with vinegar or vinegar essence, be sure to apply the acetic acid directly to the weeds themselves, not the grass. The mere fact that vinegar is a natural product does not mean that it cannot be harmful if used in large quantities. Vinegar is not selective for weeds, it can also harm the lawn or ornamental plants in the garden.
The way vinegar works is easy to explain: the acetic acid draws moisture from the leaves of the plant, so that they dry up and die.
So to prevent damage to the lawn and other ornamental plants, you need to apply the vinegar directly to the weeds. This works best with a brush. If you prefer to spray with a flower sprayer, you should only operate the spray lever when the nozzle is in close proximity to the weeds.
- do not spray on windy days
- do not spray from a great distance
- apply directly to the weeds
The fact that great care must be taken to ensure that no other plants are affected vinegar is not particularly effective for use on lawns, but rather laborious. It therefore makes more sense to use vinegar essence in areas where grass or others are desired Garden plants are not in close proximity, for example in the cracks between the curbs of Bed borders.
Vinegar essence
Normal table vinegar has an acetic acid content of 5 to 6 percent. Vinegar essence is much more concentrated (up to 25%). In fact, higher concentrations of acetic acid work better and faster. But be careful if you decide to use vinegar essence. The fact that vinegar is a natural product may hide the fact that this is a concentrated acid, which is only used with special precautions and due respect should be. When dealing with
concentrated acetic acid products, you should therefore observe the following safety measures:- can cause severe skin burns and eye damage
- Wear protective gloves made of nitrile or similarly resistant material
- Wear eye protection (when spraying, it is best to wear closed eye protection)
- ensure adequate ventilation
- Do not breathe the spray mist (has a corrosive effect on mucous membranes)
- in the event of contact, rinse immediately with water for a few minutes
- See a doctor
Tip: Given the health hazard vinegar essence poses, the concept of vinegar as a natural weed killer could be questioned. The most natural and safest way to get rid of weeds from your own garden is and remains to remove them by hand.
How effective is vinegar?
There is another disadvantage to using vinegar as a weed killer. Vinegar does not travel through the plant to the roots, as is the case with many chemical pesticides. With young weeds, the fine roots may also be affected by the spraying and die off. Older plants, however, often sprout again after a few days.
Therefore, there is a high probability that you will have to apply the vinegar more than once, because established weeds are often very resistant and stubbornly refuse to go away.
This is especially true for perennial weeds that have been established in the garden for years. Vinegar is more effective on young weed plants and those with an annual life cycle.
Annual weeds
- Millet (Digitaria)
- Common panicle (Poa trivialis)
- Black foxtail (Alopecurus myosuroides)
- Wild oats (Avena fatua)
- Bromus species
- Dog parsley (Aethusa cynapium)
- Amaranth (Amaranthus)
- Dog chamomile (Anthemis avensis)
- Lady's mantle (Aphanes arvensis)
- Report (Atriplex species)
- Goosefoot (Chenopodium)
- Common broom (Descurainia sophia)
- Hollow tooth (Galeopsis)
- Button herb (Galinsoga)
- Burdock weed (Galium aparine)
- Dead nettle (lamium)
- Common ragwort (Senecio vulgaris)
- Goose thistle (Sonchus oleraceae)
- Chickweed (Stellaria media)
- Nettle (Urtica urens)
- Speedwell (veronica species)
Tip: Annual weeds die on their own by autumn at the latest. They only multiply by sowing their seeds. So it helps if you constantly take care to remove flowers and seed heads so that you have fewer problems with these plants in the next year.
Perennial weeds
This is not so easy with perennial perennials. For example, the leaves of the dandelion die, but the plant survives the winter in its fleshy taproot, only to sprout again in the spring. Some plants are not at all susceptible to acid because they have a waxy coating on the leaves or a hairy surface. In these cases, mixing in surfactants (soap) produces better results than pure vinegar. Putting the acetic acid directly on the soil is not recommended, as the effects on microorganisms and the roots of neighboring plants are difficult to assess. Important soil dwellers can die off or temporarily move out of the area, so that soil fertility is greatly reduced.
- Dandelion (taraxacum)
- Couch grass (elymus)
- Trespe (Ungrated and Soft Trespe, Bromus inermis and B. hordeaceus)
- Dog tooth grass (Cynodon dactylon)
- Tigernutgrass (Cyperus esculentus)
- Ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria)
- Barbelweed (Barbarea vulgaris)
- Shepherd's Ash (Capsella bursa-pastoris)
- Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
- Plantain (Plantago)
- Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)
- Great nettle (Urtica dioica)
So it is of little use to put vinegar essence on your leaves and thereby make them die.
Nevertheless, these stubborn weeds can also be effectively tackled with vinegar:- remove leaves during the main growing season
- alternatively cut close to the ground
- Spray vinegar on the parts of the plant that have not been removed
- always remove the flowers immediately
- permanently control
Every time you use the "natural" herbicide acetic acid, the plant dies a little more. Repeated treatment will eventually lead to ultimate death - from exhaustion.
Joints between paving stones
It is undisputed that vinegar works against weeds. Nevertheless, it is not recommended to use it to a large extent. The acetic acid penetrates the soil and changes the conditions in the soil and in the groundwater. This is why vinegar is officially a prohibited substance according to the Plant Protection Act ("forbidden household remedies"). The Plant Protection Act regulates which agents are allowed and where they can be used. The use of vinegar is generally prohibited on all paved surfaces, regardless of whether it is a terrace, sidewalk or even the garage entrance. Anyone who does not adhere to them must expect severe fines. Plant protection products and substances that are used as such may only be used on open spaces that are used for agricultural, forestry or horticultural purposes.
In plain language this means for all gardeners who maintain paved areas:
The application of so-called home remedies is prohibited regardless of the active ingredient to combat unwanted plants and mosses! This also applies to active ingredients such as table salt and acetic acid.
Alternatives
As alternatives to chemistry, which also includes the natural product vinegar, thermal or mechanical processes are available. These include:
- Flame
- Pour hot water over them
- Infrared technology
- Grout scraper
- Wire brooms and the like
These processes are not only permitted aids, they are also significantly more environmentally friendly.
Prevent weeds
There are a number of things you can do to prevent heavy weed growth. Weed growth can never be completely prevented, because the fine seeds that are scattered by these plants and by the wind blown away, germinate even under inhospitable conditions, such as in the narrow joints between Cobblestones. Weeds can hardly be prevented in the lawn either. However, it can be severely restricted using the following methods:
- Scarify the lawn every spring
- Keep the grass short (so the weeds don't bloom and spread further)
- Cover the beds with mulch
- Lay weed control under paths and cobblestones
Ground cover as natural weed protection
Gardeners who prepare their beds properly for the new gardening season in spring get along with practically no time-consuming weeding. In this way you keep your garden more or less weed-free all year round. The best time to plant opponents for the unwanted weeds in the bed is early spring for annual plants. Perennial ground cover that drives away weed plants for years can also be planted in autumn.
Plants that cover the ground have clear advantages: They are hardly work, have no side effects and are guaranteed to be environmentally friendly. Because creeping plants overgrow the ground in a short time, they take that away from the weeds vital light for growth and therefore curb the wild growth in a really natural way.
Conclusion
Vinegar kills annoying weeds, but in principle it is no more environmentally friendly than chemical weed killers. Anyone who wants to use vinegar against weeds should be aware that the results are unpredictable. Since the use of vinegar on paved surfaces is also prohibited and the effect usually only takes place several times If the application brings the desired result, its use on your own property is generally to be questioned.
