Is there a natural way to kill the weeds in my lawn with out chemicals?

Question

I have what looks like wild strawberries and other stuff that I would like to kill on my lawn. I am trying to avoid using chemicals. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

Mow as high as your mower will allow you as frequently as you can stand. Three inches is best. This lets grass grow to a maximum density to shade out weeds and weed seeds. Grass can tolerate repeat mowing so it will do okay but weeds don't tolerate the stress of frequent mowing. Grass struggles when mowed short because it has no blades for photosynthesis, it fails and weed seeds get to germinate. Mow tall and you leave grass blades but remove the meristemic tips of tall weeds. Creepers are another problem.

Feed; really fertilize the grass with a nitrogen rich fertilizer like HastaGro 12-4-8 Liquid Lawn Fertilizer, get fast growth so the weeds literally grow them selves to death while grass just gets thicker shading the soil more. Leaving the clippings helps feed and shade the creepers out.
Water deeply and infrequently to encourage deeply rooted grass. You need 1 inch/week total unless the temps go really high. Get a little plastic rain gauge for the lawn area. Never let weeds go to seed.
For spot treatment or for small areas of pure weeds, try David Hall’s method of "vinegar sprayed as a foliar spray, not a soil drench. To a gallon of vinegar, mix a tablespoon of liquid dish soap and two tablespoons of molasses as wetting agents. Apply full strength from a hand sprayer. Be careful not to get any spray on you or in your eyes or inhale it.”
To prevent next years weed crop from sprouting try corn meal gluten as a pre-emergent. http://www.lawnandgardenmagic.com/hydrop
http://www.dirtworks.net/Weed-Ban.html

Read this. It has a lot more detail. http://www.richsoil.com/lawn/index.jsp
Vinegar as an Organic Weed Killer
http://www.moscowfood.coop/archive/VinegarKillsWeeds.html
Basic Annual Organic Lawn Program
http://www.extremelygreen.com/Product.cfm?Name=Basic%20Annual%20Organic%20Lawn%20Program
You can find more info about vinegar as an herbicide at usda.gov and search for vinegar
"The researchers found that 5- and 10-percent concentrations killed the weeds during their first two weeks of life. Older plants required higher concentrations of vinegar to kill them. At the higher concentrations, vinegar had an 85- to 100-percent kill rate at all growth stages. A bottle of household vinegar is about a 5-percent concentration."

Answer 2

The natural way is to make the grass strong, and mow it properly. Then it will overwhelm the weeds, for the most part. The biggest factor is mowing. Grass is designed to be cropped regularly by herbivores, and if you crop it the way it likes, it will be happy. Here is a link to a great, short article on organic lawn care. If you look at nature, you never see a field of only one type of plant at a uniform size. "Weeds" accumulate different nutrients from different levels of the soil than grass, and they contribute to a healthy ecosystem. Lawns are really an idea that was invented about 150 years ago, and only popular since the 1950s. There were attractive landscapes before lawns, and there will be different ideas in the future.

Answer 3

salt or boiling water often does the trick - you may have to use a couple of applications for stubborn weeds - also if the weed has a single tap root, just running a sharp knife beneath ground level will kill the weed.

Answer 4

Sometimes, using epsom salt or rock salt kills weeds.

Answer 5

organic corn gluton

Answer 6

You can also use a torch to burn them.