More Natural Weed Control Methods
Dont fancy doing it by hand?
But also dont want to use a chemical weed killer in your garden?
Here are some natural methods that are easy to get started with:
Salt
Watering weeds with a salt solution is a cheap and effective to kill weeds in your yard.
It changes the balance of water in their cells, dehydrating them and leading to death.
So why isnt it more popular?
Well, theres just one problem: it doesnt only kill weeds. And if not applied carefully it also makes the soil unsuitable for anything else to grow.
This makes it a good choice for using on patios, driveways, and sidewalks any area where plant life is unwanted.
But not such a great choice for ornamental gardens and lawns.
If you do choose to try it in areas where youre growing other plants, try using a funnel to direct the saltwater onto the target weeds.
And make sure you use a weak solution with around a 3:1 ratio of water to salt to start with. Observe your results and increase the strength if necessary, being careful not to overapply to areas of soil.
Boiling Water
Another method is to douse the weeds in boiling water.
Needless to say, this will kill grass and everything else you pour it on. Making it okay to use on the cracks between patios and driveways. But a poor choice for using on your lawn.
Sometimes you might have to apply the water a number of times to kill particularly stubborn weeds.
Vinegar
Here is a homemade weed killer recipe that you can try:
Homemade Vinegar Weed Killer
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Clean And Mow Your Yard
If you regularly clean and mow your yard, you can immediately deal with the unwanted weeds. If you notice small weeds starting to pop out, simply get a garden shovel and pluck it out.
After mowing, dont leave the extracted leaves lying on the surface of your lawn as you will just unconsciously be replanting them.
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Removing A Lawn With Solarisation
Solarisation is a process that uses heat from the sun to kill weed seeds and pathogens in the soil. Solarisation also kills the grass, cooking it until it dies. You’ll need lots of direct sunlight and high temperatures for success, so a hot summer is the best time for solarisation.
Mow the grass as closely as possible and water it thoroughly. Cover the grass with clear plastic sheeting and leave it covered for six to eight weeks. Clear plastic is more effective than opaque varieties, as it allows more sunlight to reach the grass and heat it more quickly. Thin plastic will work, but thicker plastic will last longer, resisting cuts and tears over the weeks you’ll have it down.
As an alternative, you can use black plastic to trap heat in the soil. Black plastic will also block sunlight, preventing photosynthesis. Once the grass is dead and you take up the plastic, you can remove the dead grass or let it act as compost.
Dead grass should be relatively easy to remove, but you’ll be getting rid of important organic matter. If you leave the grass in place, plant directly into it or till it into the soil to a depth of one or two inches. Don’t till too deeply. You can bring up soil that still has viable roots, weed seeds and pathogens.
Solarisation does not have the environmental impact of herbicide, but it will kill beneficial organisms along with those that are harmful. A lawn covered with plastic won’t be attractive and you’ll have to leave it in that condition for several weeks.
Herbicides For Weed Removal In Lawns
If your entire lawn is completely overtaken with weeds and nothing has seemed to work in terms of pulling up weeds, fertilizing, keeping the grass at 2-4 inches, and watering properly, the final resort is herbicides.
Beware of roundup, as it is not only toxic to other plants, but extremely toxic for humans and pets.
According to thisoldhouse.com, Some herbicides work only within a certain temperature range others work only when applied at a specific time of year.
So always make sure to always follow the instructions carefully, and confirm that the grass you are growing can grow well utilizing that particular herbicide.
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Natural Methods For Weed Removal In Your Lawn
Many people nowadays are looking to natural methods to cure weed issues rather than using chemicals.
There is a natural remedy made with vinegar, salt and regular dishwashing liquid.
Vinegar has been known to be a natural weed killer by killing the plant above ground.
It needs to be a strong vinegar, at least 10-20% acetic acid. Place this into a spray bottle.
Next, take any regular dishwashing liquid and place a few drops into the vinegar.
This acts as a way to break up the vinegar so it can be absorbed more easily.
This should be placed directly onto weeds in areas that you would like the soil to remain usable even after removing these weeds.
If there is an area in which you would like to kill everything no matter what the case, then take a slightly different approach.
You should take a gallon of the same vinegar, and place in 2 cups of table salt or any other type of salt that can be bought at any grocery store.
Mix extremely well and add about a teaspoon or a few drops of the same dishwashing liquid.
Either pour or spray this onto the area of weeds and plants you would like to kill, and you should never have any issues with weeds growing here ever again as the salt will essentially sterilize the soil.
If You Add Salt To The Vinegar Solution It Will Be More Effective
Vinegar is acidic and will eventually kill most broadleaf weeds, but the acid will kill the leaves before reaching the root system, and the weeds may grow back quickly. For longer-lasting removal, mix 1 cup of table salt with 1 gallon of vinegar. Salt dries out the weed’s root system. To make the solution more potent, add 1 tablespoon of plain dish soap. Dish soap contains surfactants that will dissolve any protective coating on the leaves. Apply this solution to the leaves of the weeds, not to the soil.
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Using A Chemical Lawn Fertilizer With Weed Control
A fertilized lawn has fewer weeds since a healthy lawn is dense and leaves little space for unwanted plants to grow. Therefore, both fertilizing your lawn and spreading a weed preventer help control weeds. There are some products available that combine lawn fertilizers with weed control, such as Scott’s Turf Builder with Weed Control.
The Steps For Controlling Weeds
These are the general steps for how to get rid of weeds in your lawn, regardless of the type of treatment.
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Planning To Remove A Lawn
Getting rid of your lawn is a big project. There are several methods and they all require investments of time, money, and effort. Some methods have more impact on the environment than others, and some may be more acceptable to your neighbours. Finding the right balance of all these factors and knowing the pros and cons of each removal method will help you choose the procedure that works best for you. You may even decide to use different methods on different parts of your lawn.
If you have an underground irrigation system, note the locations of the pipe and sprinkler heads to avoid damage while digging or tilling.
Note: Contact provincial utility location services before beginning so you dont impact any utility lines that might be beneath your lawn.
Removing A Lawn With Herbicide
Applying a nonselective, post-emergent herbicide to your lawn is a relatively quick method of killing it. Pay attention to the types of plants the herbicide will kill and make sure it is appropriate for the job.
You can choose between concentrates that need to be mixed or premixed, ready-to-use varieties. While the premixed varieties are easier to use, the concentrates are more economical for large lawns.
Follow all the label instructions and safety precautions. Your lawn should be actively growing during application. Apply the herbicide and wait seven to ten days for the grass to die. You may need more than one application to kill well-established grass, adding time and cost to the project.
Misuse of any herbicide is dangerous and will have negative effects on the environment. While the environmental impact of herbicide is a consideration, those containing glyphosate as the active ingredient have fewer residual effects when used correctly than other herbicides.
While this method of lawn removal is less labour-intensive than some methods and has quicker results, its effectiveness is dependent on the weather. Rain can wash away the herbicide before it fully kills the grass, requiring you to apply more of the chemical to finish the job. Rain can also cause chemical runoff. Wind can blow the herbicide out of the target zone and onto plants you don’t want to kill or into a neighbour’s yard.
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Do You Really Need Or Want To Remove Weeds From Your Lawn
But there may be times when you want to keep a lawn. So the easiest way to improve matters is simply to mow less often, and allow a range of weeds to pop up.
This is one easy way to get a beautiful and low maintenance organic garden space.
So, before deciding to try and get rid of all the weeds in your lawn organically, ask yourself whether you really want to get rid of them at all.
In most instances, the weeds you find in a garden lawn are not a problem at all. In fact, they can be beautiful, useful, and even edible! What many gardeners think of as weeds can actually be great plants to have in your garden.
How To Remove Weeds From Your Lawn
There are 2 options for removing weeds from your grass, first is to manually dig out the weeds or the second is to apply a chemical weed killer. You can use both methods if your lawn is established but do not use a Feed, Weed and Moss Killer on a newly seeded lawn.
To dig out we can use techniques such as aerating and scarifying the lawn or digging out the weeds with a spade and patching with grass seed.
Alternatively, you can apply chemicals such as Feed, Weed and Mosskiller which will provide nutrients to the grass and root system while killing off any undesirables in the lawn. Be sure to the instructions within the bag when applying. This weed killer usually takes around two weeks to work and can be easily recognised by the moss and weeds turning black. Simply scarify out the dead grasses and reseed if necessary.
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How Do You Get Rid Of Chickweed
Learn how to get rid of weeds and stop them from spreading to eradicate the likes of chickweed from your garden
Hand-weeding or carefully hoeing beds and borders can be an effective way to control chickweed, as suggests the RHS. However, aim to do this before the plants flower and their seed sets. Choose a dry day so disturbed weeds shrivel and die rather than re-rooting, they add.
The team also suggest to apply weed suppressing sheets, or bulky mulch to a depth of at least three inches, to smother new seedlings and prevent germination.
If you want to use weed killer, opt for contact herbicides containing acetic acid, fatty acids, or pelargonic acid, the RHS continues. However, be careful not to get these herbicides on your other plants as they are non-selective.
Why Do People Want A Weed Free Lawn
There are two main reasons why people want to see green grass and not much else on their turf. The first is an emotion reason: they look bad. People dont want yellow heads sticking everywhere from dandelions, painful shrubs growing up from thistles, bunchy short plants growing like clover, and invasive purple eyesores like creeping bellflower spouting up everywhere. Weeds are essentially like acne natural yet unwanted.
The second reason to go weed free is that weeds are invasive by nature they want to grow as much at possible at the expense of other plants around it. Its a dawg eat dawg world when it comes to lawn weeds. Whenever a drop of water, nutrient, or beam of sunlight comes down its a big competition for who gets it. Your grass roots are going head to head with the roots of weeds. If you let nature do its course, unfortunately the weeds will win. They are a yearly problem for millions of homeowners everywhere. Weeds also reproduce much more rapidly than your lawn. A single dandelion can produce up to 200 seeds, which is potential for 200 more dandelions. Your grass cannot thrive so long as weeds are there stealing nutrients from your turf.The only way to have flourishing grass is to minimize the potential for weeds and do it without harming your lawn.
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How Do You Get Rid Of Japanese Knotweed
Japanese knotweed is one of the worst weeds out there it’s best to seek help from the professionals if you spot this in your plot
It’s no secret that Japanese knotweed is one of the most trickiest weeds out there. It grows incredibly fast up to 10cm a day in summer. And, it takes little mercy on its surroundings, hurtling through pipes and structural foundations wherever it gets the chance. It’s no surprise that for many regions around the world, you legally have to declare its presence if selling your property.
Trying to remove it yourself is no easy task it can take many years to combat it with commercial weed killer. And even then, you can only take the waste to specifically licensed tips, and dumping it in the wild is a big no-no. The best way to know how to get rid of weeds of this nature, therefore, is to call in a professional.
Begin With Broadleaf Weeds
The term Broadleaf Weeds is a very broad and general term and covers hundreds of different weed types which can all be successfully killed by Broadleaf herbicides.
Broadleaf herbicides are one of the cheapest weed killers to purchase, as well as being the single herbicide that can kill more weed types than any other. So this is the obvious first choice. Broadleaf herbicides can be purchased from your local nursery or online gardening store.
Purchase and apply a Broadleaf herbicide to the lawn, and allow 2 weeks to see full results. Dont expect all weeds, including Broadleaf weeds, to be killed with a single application.
After 2 weeks check the lawn weeds and look for signs of weeds that have browned-off but havent yet died. The lawn may than require another application of Broadleaf herbicide.
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Removing A Lawn By Digging It Up
You can dig up a lawn with several types of power equipment. A tiller will make the work easier, but you’ll need a heavy-duty, rear-tine model. You can rent heavier equipment, such as a sod cutter, which will cut under the turf and slice it into strips.
Roll up the strips for use elsewhere or just turn the sod upside down and let it compost. You can remove grass manually with a shovel, but the process is very labour intensive and best for a small plot of grass. Digging up a lawn typically doesn’t require herbicide.
Keep in mind that if you remove the sod, you’re removing organic material that you’ll need to replace, but you’ll see results immediately. The lawn will be gone and you can begin preparing the soil for seeding or planting. If you leave the sod in place to compost, you’re retaining organic matter, but adding time to the process.
Even with power equipment, digging up a lawn is hard work. You risk exposing weed seeds that were deep in the soil, giving them an opportunity to germinate. There is also a chance that you’ll remove too much valuable topsoil. If you’re using a tiller, sod cutter, or any other gas-powered equipment, you’ll need to factor fuel and possibly a rental fee into the total cost of the project.
