looking for a good homemade weed killer thats safe for the ground?

Answer 1

Here are two homemade recipes to try. Both should be used only on plants that you want to get rid of, taking care not to spray any on surrounding plants. These are most effective when used on emerging weeds.

1 tablespoon of gin
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of liquid dish soap
1 quart of hot water
Alternate version:

1 gallon of distilled vinegar
1 cup of salt
1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap
Spray these directly on weeds in the garden or pour directly into cracks of walks and driveways.

By Ellen Brown
http://www.sustainable-media.com

Here are some other ideas from the ThriftyFun community.

Vinegar and Dish Soap
Here's a recipe for homemade weed killer that works for me.
Use a funnel to place the following ingredients in a medium spray bottle approximately the size of a quart, but it doesn't have to be exact:

1 cup of vinegar
1/2 cup of regular dish soap (not dishwasher detergent)
Fill the rest of the bottle up with water.
Shake well before each use. Spray mixture directly on the weed itself; if weed is out in the yard, be careful not to spray the grass! The vinegar is what kills the weeds, but the dish soap holds the vinegar in place so it stays on the plant instead of running off. This works great on grass or weeds in sidewalk or driveway cracks, too. Best time to spray is in the middle of the day when the sun is beating down on you.

Just a quick comment on the weed killers: Add dish soap to the vinegar and mix it with water to spot-weed the yard (usually 1 part dish soap, 2 parts vinegar, and 2 parts water). The dish soap makes the vinegar stick to the weed longer, and a couple of days baking in the sun should do the trick!

Jan

Three Techniques
Here's some solutions I've used:
Combine one ounce gin, one ounce dish soap and one ounce vinegar. Put into a 32 oz. sprayer and fill with water. Spray just the weed.

You can also put baking soda on just the weed. They turn black and shrivel up.

To kill weeds in sidewalk cracks, pour boiling water on them.

Answer 2

Vinegar IS one of the best and it will kill any plant. Start with a solution of 1 / 10 = 1 part vin to 10 parts water. If that doesn't do the trick, then up the vinegar until the plant dies. Boiling water will also kill unwanted plants. Don't use salt, it'll muck up your soil and then you'll be UNdoing the damage for a loooong time. The problem with both vinegar and boiling water is that the unwanted plant may/probably won't be the ONLY plant you kill. For spot weed killing try using fire. Your local garden shop will have an assortment of devices that can be used to flame weeds. But I just use the candle starter, It's a small, low flame and I can control it 100%. I hate to say it because I know you don't want to hear it, but the absolutley best solution is to hand pull the weeds. Any substance that you put on your plants, even those labeled as organic, will leach into the ground and ultimately affect your other plants. Keep that in mind.

Answer 3

Boiling water will work on many weeds - I tried it in my flower bed and it worked on all the weeds except for some tree-like things. The only problem was, I had a huge flower bed and it's impossible to pour boiling water on the whole thing. If you have a few weeds over a small area, it will do fine - it does take a few days to work.

A mix ratio of 1 part weedkiller to 4 parts water sprayed on weeds will kill them, and won't be enough to soak into the ground and kill plants you later plant. It takes a few more days for the tough weeds to die (like those tree-like things), but they will. My husband's boss's wife has a plant-care business and she told us about this one...

Answer 4

Save the gin and good cider vinegar for cooking. Use straight 5% white vinegar from grain. Use boiling water for small area or try a propane torch for weed removal. http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000735.php

Spray pure undiluted vinegar 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.

20% vinegar is available at some Nurseries, Lowes, and Home Depot garden centers however repeat use of 5% (household strength) works on most weeds.

Vinegar as an Organic Weed Killer
http://www.moscowfood.coop/archive/VinegarKillsWeeds.html

Answer 5

Rabit Replan

Answer 6

A mixture of half apple vinegar and half dish detergent. Be careful not to get it on anything but the weeds though, as it will kill anything it gets on.

Answer 7

I read today in Mother Earth News that boiling water kills weeds. I don't know if it's true or not though.

Answer 8

Try Salt. make sure to put it just by the weeds