DIY Roundup - Safe, Affordable Herbicide

Tired of buying Roundup Weed and Grass Killer?  Want something greener and cheaper to get rid of unwanted grass and weeds?  It's been called "Homemade Roundup", but this concoction is much safer and  works great!

This herbicide recipe comes from Howard Garrett, the Dirt Doctor:

Vinegar - The Organic Herbicide

The best choice for herbicide use is 10% white vinegar made from grain alcohol.   It should be used full strength. I've mentioned 20% in the past but it is stronger than needed and too expensive. Avoid products that are made from 99% glacial acetic acid. This material is a petroleum derivative. Natural vinegars such those made from fermenting apples have little herbicidal value. They are used in irrigation water and as an ingredient in Garrett Juice.       Herbicide Formula: 1 gallon of 10% (100 grain) vinegar Add 1 ounce orange oil or d-limonene Add 1 tablespoon molasses (optional - some say it doesn't help) 1 teaspoon liquid soap or other surfactant (I use Bio Wash) DO NOT ADD WATER Shake well before each spraying and spot spray weeds. Keep the spray off desirable plants. This spray will injure any plants it touches. This natural spray WORKS BEST ON WARM TO HOT DAYS. Vinegar sprayed the bases of trees and other woody plants will not hurt the plant at all. This technique was first learned about by spraying the suckers and weeds growing around the bases of grapevines.  Avoid all vinegar products made from glacial acetic acid. Recently I had the opportunity to test this formula.  The weeds and grass were winning the war in and around my garden, and I needed to up the ante.   This shows my open garden gate and the grass on both sides.  Inside the gate, the grass is dead and brown.  Just a few inches outside the gate, the grass is green and verdant.  The brown grass was JUST AS GREEN as the green grass before I sprayed it.   The result after one day is clear.  Everything I sprayed is dead or dying.  Don't get this stuff on your good plants, because it KILLS ALL PLANTS, good and bad.  For effectiveness and quick results, I give it an A+! See the line where the color changes from green to brown?  The spray killed the grass and turned it brown in ONE DAY!

This shows the same area on Day Two.  Brown vs. green, pretty thorough weed and grass killer.  I should mention that there are all kinds of weeds and grasses in the yard and garden.

 This is the same area on Day Three.  I am satisfied that the safer and better than Roundup herbicide works very, very well.  

 This is the same area on Day Four.  The results are striking.  The unsprayed area is green.  The area sprayed with the herbicide mixture is brown.

Please remember to mix the recipe well before spraying and saturate the weeds and grasses you want to kill.  Don't get it on your garden plants because it kills all plants, good or bad ones.  Never use apple cider vinegar and never use 5% vinegar.  Only use 10% or 20% white vinegar, and don't add any water.  Use it on dry weeds and grasses only.  If you water or if it rains right before or after spraying, then it won't work well.  It works best on a warm to hot day.

You will need to re-apply whenever you see your grass and weeds re-emerge.

Happy spraying and enjoy this safer than Roundup herbicide.  I am so happy to share it with you! 

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