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After investing time and effort into growing beautiful plants, it must be frustrating to see weeds growing and taking up precious resources for your plants.
These weeds will affect your plant’s health and must be removed.
Many choose to use chemical herbicides, but since weeds grow near your plants, using harsh chemicals might affect them as well.
Therefore, you can choose natural herbicides that effectively target weeds without harming your plants.
Household items like vinegar stand out for their accessibility and potency.
We have you covered if you want to know how to kill weeds quickly and permanently.
Fastest Ways to Kill Weeds
1. Vinegar
Vinegar is recognized for its natural acidic properties, making it an excellent weed killer.
Learning how to use vinegar to kill weeds is crucial for gardeners interested in sustainable practices.
This method involves a simple yet effective formula that includes vinegar and dishwashing liquid, enhancing the solution’s adherence to weed leaves for better efficacy.
Vinegar is highly effective as it will burn the leaves and roots of the weed if applied correctly. It is very potent, and if added in large amounts to the soil, it will prevent plants from growing there for a while.
Acetic acid, present in vinegar, is the active ingredient that kills the weeds.
You can use any vinegar, like white or apple cider vinegar, but check if the acetic acid concentration is above 10 percent to kill the weeds effectively.
Household vinegar available in the market usually has only around 5 percent acetic acid, which might not quickly kill the weeds but will do so slowly.
However, one limitation of using vinegar is that it only kills the leaves and doesn’t affect the roots.
Therefore, these weeds can grow again easily. But if vinegar is applied multiple times, the roots will also get damaged.
Regardless of this small downside, vinegar solution is an effective way to remove weeds quickly and in a nontoxic manner.
Mix it with dishwashing liquid, which will act as a surfactant, making the vinegar stick to the leaves longer.
Pour both of these into a spray bottle and mix them well. For the vinegar to take action, you need to ensure that ample sunlight is available for the next couple of days.
This is because sunlight helps the vinegar burn the leaves more quickly, and if it rains, the vinegar solution will be washed away from the weeds.
You must also be extremely careful while applying this solution because vinegar doesn’t work differently on your plants and weeds. It will kill everything.
Even if you accidentally apply vinegar to your plants, they will wither, so make sure to wash it off if you spray them.
2. Using Boiling Water
A technique that can be used anywhere and anytime is to add boiling water to the roots and leaves of the weeds.
You need to pour the boiling water on the weed’s roots so that there is enough to seep into the soil and damage the roots.
However, just like vinegar, you must be careful while adding water because this can destroy all plants, not only weeds.
Make sure to pour gently so that the water doesn’t splash on you.
3. Using Rubbing Alcohol
Alcohol will remove the moisture from the leaves and stems and, therefore, cause the weeds’ wilting.
You can dilute the alcohol with water by using one quart of water (around 0.95 liters) for two tablespoons of rubbing alcohol.
After your spray is ready, you can directly rub it on parts of the weed. As with other methods, don’t apply this to your plants.
4. Using Salt
You don’t require special salt to remove the weeds, as normal table salt works wonders.
Salt (sodium chloride) dehydrates the plant and affects the water regulation in the plant’s cells.
As a result, plants will die, which is the mechanism used for killing weeds. However, salt should be used with caution because it affects the chemistry of the soil and will not allow plants to grow later if not used correctly.
Use a 1:2 ratio of salt and water for regions where the soil health needs to be intact, e.g., garden beds. You can use stronger mixtures like 2:1 on areas like driveways, patios, etc.
5. Using Weed Burners
Although there are natural ways to kill weeds, a more efficient way is to use a weed burner.
These are usually propane torches, which heat the cells of the plant’s stem and cause them to burst.
The weed will not be able to use any nutrients or water and will die quickly within hours. This is a great way to kill weeds fast, but if you use this, you must be extremely cautious and wear safety equipment.
Do not attempt this when young children or pets are around.
In Summary
Seeing weeds grow among your beloved plants can be annoying, but you need to remove them to protect their health.
Several ways are available to do it quickly and efficiently, such as using vinegar, salt, boiling water, or rubbing alcohol.
An even more effective way is to use a weed burner to burn the weeds so they die in a few hours.
This is inevitably one of the fastest ways, but it has downsides, such as being expensive and dangerous.
Therefore, using natural and cheap ways to remove weeds would be best in the long run.
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