Ideas for Weed Control

Weeds can overtake your yard or garden

Eradicating weeds is one of the most common problems in any garden. Weeds seem to survive and thrive under any circumstances and can quickly grow out of control. The most tedious way of controlling weeds is to pull them up from the roots by hand. The most convenient method of weed control is employing herbicide weed killer sprays that can be found at any major retailer. There are also more natural alternatives that are less common, but are also effective in reducing the number of weeds in your yard. Does this Spark an idea?

Non-Selective Versus Selective Herbicides

Non-selective herbicides are liquid poisons that will not only destroy weeds but also everything around them, including plants and grasses. These herbicides should be used only for spot treatments.To apply this herbicide, hold the sprayer directly over the weed and spray toward the center of the weed plant.

Selective herbicide is a poisonous spray designed to affect only certain plants. The poisons contain enzymes and other chemicals that react and destroy certain types of weeds. Frequently, these weed killers will have labels on the bottle that designate what kinds of weeds they were intended to control. For example, some weed killers were designed to kill dicots, which are grass weeds or strappy-leaved weeds; others are designed to kill monocots, which comprise most other broad-leaved weed plants.

Both selective and non-selective herbicides contain chemicals that interrupt the growing process of the weed, effectively killing the plant at its root.

Homemade Weed Killer

Weed killer products can harm other plants in your garden or lawn, and can put unsafe chemicals in your yard that could affect people or pets. To avoid this, make your own weed killer out of white vinegar that can be purchased from any grocer. Pour undiluted white vinegar in a spray bottle and spray it directly on the weed. The acidity in the vinegar combined with heat from the sun will eventually burn and kill the weeds and cause harm to the root, preventing it from re-sprouting. Within two hours you should start to see some wilting. But if it rains within a few hours after you apply the formula, you will need to reapply it. Since vinegar is non-selective use caution when using it on weeds, as it will effectively kills other plants and grasses as well.

Biocontrol

Biocontrol is the idea of introducing parasites to attack weeds. These parasites, or bugs, will eat the weeds, thereby significantly reducing the weed population in your lawn. The weeds that are attacked by the bugs will die, and this will prevent the weeds from reseeding to other parts of the lawn. The weeds will not be completely eradicated, but their population will be severely diminished. Biocontrol can be much cheaper than chemical methods, and eliminates any harmful effects of having poisons sprayed onto other plants. But biocontrol can get out of control if the wrong bugs are introduced into the population. Talk with a biocontrol specialist before using this method.

References

• Central Kootenay Invasive Plant Committee: How to Control Weeds
• Danny Lipford: How to Control Weeds in Your Lawn