Do you have pesky weeds in your yard? Learn how to make Homemade Weed Killer naturally. It works great without harsh chemicals.
We have been having some serious weed issues at our house. With all of the little kids and pets running around, it makes me nervous to use commercial herbicides. However, pulling weeds is definitely not a fun job.
We also make Natural Pesticides for your Garden, and it works great.
What's in this post: Homemade Weed Killer
Why We Love This
These natural ideas are easy, inexpensive and actually work great. I thought I would try making my own weed killer this season and I was pleasantly surprised.
There are lots of different concoctions available, so I thought I would compile a list of homemade weed killers. These ideas will help kill weeds in your walkways, patios, landscaping, gravel cracks and more. You will love the easy instructions.
1. Boiling Water
Believe it or not, boiling water works great on killing weeds in the driveway and other places (and most plant life). Pour directly on the offending growth and allow time to do the trick.
Be careful not to pour on vegetation you would like to keep. Also, be extremely careful to not burn yourself while carrying the boiling water outside.
2. Organic Weed Spray
Mix together 1 gallon of white vinegar, 2 cup of salt (Epsom salt, rock salt or 2 cup of table salt) and 4 tablespoon of dish soap in a large garden sprayer. I use Dawn dishwashing liquid. The dish soap acts as a surfactant and helps the vinegar and salt attach to the weeds.
Be very careful to limit the exposure of this vinegar solution and salt weed spray mixture to your other plants.
This concoction of household vinegar will kill any desirable plants it comes into contact with. Due to this, I do not recommend repeated exposure with this formula. Adding too much salt to your soil will cause long term harm with your plants.
3. Equal Parts Vinegar and Castile Soap
Mix together equal parts castile soap and vinegar in a bucket and pour into a spray bottle. This is fairly weak as far as homemade weed killers go, but it does seem to be effective on new weeds.
However, this vinegar weed killer does not work so well on stubborn weeds that are established. So, just keep that in mind. You can use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar but make sure it has more than 11% acetic acid. Make sure to spray the stems too.
4. Pure Vinegar
You can pour vinegar directly on any offending weeds but be careful! This is the best weed killer to use in flower beds as it’s a contact herbicide. Just be careful as vinegar will kill any plant life it comes into contact with.
If you have a planter or flower bed with a few weeds popping up here and there, this may be a viable option for you. However, vinegar may not prevent regrowth.
5. Peanut Shells
Crush natural peanut shells and sprinkle them around the base of flowers or plants in your beds for weed control. This acts like a mulch and ground cover similar to a fabric cover while providing weed suppression rather than a weed killer for a preventative option.
6. Natural Weed Killer
Mix ½ gallon white vinegar with the juice of 1 lemon and 1 tablespoon liquid dish soap. Mix together and and spray diy weed killer directly on offending weeds. Vinegar works to pull moisture out of leaves.
Be careful to avoid overspray with these ingredients. This works best if sprayed on a hot sunny day as the sun will do its part to kill the sprayed weeds.
You may want to wear gloves.
7. Sugar
Sugar (powdered or granulated) helps root out weed problems. This is especially effective on grass as it can help the grass flourish while draining the weed of the nutrients it needs to survive.
Sprinkle a light amount of sugar on your lawn and lightly water it. Do not oversaturate or forget to water it.
Keep in mind that if you leave sugar on the blades of the grass, this could attract unwanted pests.
8. Corn Gluten Meal
Scatter over the soil where you see weeds and water. This acts as a pre-emergent herbicide and can kill crabgrass and dandelions.
More Garden Tips
Leave a comment and let us know which homemade weed killer you like to use. Which have you had the most success with? All of these are great ideas to try.
where have you been all my life ? I cannot wait to try these Thanks so much, Patti
Thanks Patti!
I have been making the weed-killer “brew” for years; however instead of the 2 cups of salt as suggested in the article, I use one cup of salt to one gallon of vinegar, I boil them together, then add about a shot-glass (approx. 3 tbs) of dish soap pouring the mixture into a heat-proof watering-can. Pour over the cracks in your walkway or directly on the weeds/grasses that you want to kill. I agree that a warm/hot sunny day is best. Works great at killing the weed/grasses, but the dead weeds will still have to be pulled out.
Thanks for sharing Diane!
Used the peanut shell method on plants a few tears ago. Worst mistake, as I attracted every squirrel in the neighbourhood and they did a number on my plants as they were digging looking for the peanut. LOL….wife thought that it was funny!!!
Thanks for sharing Martin!