Much like our fight against COVID-19, we need to eliminate the weeds that bring diseases to our plants. Apart from digging them every day which I am quite sure can be tedious, there are many ways to practice weed control.
One of them, of course, is the easier route which is to spray those invasive weeds with chemical herbicides. True, those weeds might be killed immediately, but then again, the negative health effects of chemical pesticides can ruin us faster than coronavirus.
Thus, I rather take a healthier and safer option, which is to use non-toxic weed control. There are many ways to do this and the items you need can be easily found in your homestead. But what are these? Let us find out!
RELATED: Weeding Made Easy: Tips & Tricks
Tips on Using Non-Toxic Weed Control
1. Make Your Own Mulch
Mulching which simply means covering the bare ground around your garden or plants with different materials available. It can help in smothering weeds, as well as preventing new seeds from germinating.
Among the mulch that you can use include leaves, grass clippings, wood chips, straw, newspaper, cardboard, fabric, or other thick materials that can prevent your weeds from growing through. Don’t include hay as these contain unwanted seeds.
How To Do It:
- Choose the right mulch. These include straw, wood chips, grass clippings, compost, and chopped leaves.
- Pull out any existing weeds in your garden. Use a spade to unearth any existing weeds in the area.
- Carefully dig around the area that you want to mulch.
- Shovel small piles of mulch into your flower bed.
- Rake the mulch so that it gets even.
- Water your plants.
- Replace mulch every year.
2. Crowd Your Plants
Don’t give your weeds space to grow. Instead, plant ground covers and plants to shade the soil.
If you are growing a vegetable garden, try to use the wide-row planting methods so that the leaves of your plants can just touch each other at maturity. As they grow, their leaves will just cover the bed and deprive weeds of sunlight.
How To Do It:
- Plant in an open and sunny position.
- Plant the same variety. You can experiment but for the most plant, it’s more pleasing to the eyes if you plant the same types of crops.
- Prepare the soil by evenly dispersing heaps of organic matter, fertilizer, and manure.
- Water your plants.
3. Don’t Disturb the Soil
Instead of tilling and digging the soil and disturbing its natural habitat, use the no-till method to improve soil structure and also increase the number of beneficial organisms in the soil.
If you are planting seeds, dig only as deep ass where you want to take them — not by turning the soil bed upside and down. This is unnecessary.
How To Do It:
- Plant in a sunny disposition.
- Gather materials such as old newspapers, compost, cardboard, and other organic materials.
- Prepare the soil by adding compost.
- Carefully plant the seeds using your hands. It is not necessary to dig into the soil.
4. Expose Weeds to a Hot Condition
One way for weed control is to expose weeds in a hot climatic condition, often called solarizing, or exposing your weeds to a hot condition. The concept is to raise the temperature high enough that it kills off unwanted weeds.
How To Do It:
- Mow or cut all growth and remove bigger clumps and debris.
- With a spading fork, turn over the soil to expose latent weed seeds.
- Rake the surface to remove air pockets to guarantee maximum heating of the soil.
- Wet the soil by adding moisture to it because if it’s too dry, seeds may not be affected by higher temperatures.
- Cover the area with plastic sheets to trap as much heat as possible. You can use a clear polyethylene about 1 to 2 millimeters thick. Don’t use thin plastic.
- Bury the plastic sheet at the edges and put it in place with stones, boards or bricks.
- Leave the plastic for about 8 to 10 weeks for better solarization.
5. Irrigate and Fertilize Carefully
Make sure that when you irrigate or water your plants, do it only at the roots. The same way with fertilizing.
Only fertilize the plant on the ground. Don’t carelessly fertilize or irrigate empty spaces in your garden. This can be a breeding ground for these pesky weeds.
How To Do It:
- Improve the physical condition of your soil by spreading organic material such as manure, leaves, straw, or grass clippings
- Check if the soil is dry or moist. If it’s dry, your plants need more water.
- Water in the morning as the temperature is not too hot. Do it slowly and make sure to include the roots.
6. Use Flame Weeders
For those who can easily use flame throwers, part of weed control is using a flame weeder. It is a kind of pointer linked to a propane tank that ignites flame over the weed, literally heating and killing these pests.
Keep in mind, though that frame weeders don’t kill weeds immediately so you have to do it several times too. Don’t worry as burning weeds can be a chemical-free weed control which is not, in any way, hazardous to the environment.
How To Do It:
- Remove the area free of debris, particularly focus on those combustible materials.
- Light the torch and walk around slowly to the parts that need to be weeded.
- Apply the torch to the leaves or the roots of the weeds, causing the moisture in the weeds to evaporate and killing them in the process.
7. Use Boiling Water
If you are hesitant to use a frame weeder or you don’t have one like that in your shed, but still want to kill your weed through heat, then just bring water to a boil, and pour the liquid over the weeds.
This is good if there are weeds in the cracks in your lawn, or weeds growing in the path of your garden.
How To Do It:
- Fill your pot with water and reach a boil.
- Pour this boiling water into the weeds around your plants. Be careful that you don’t pour the water onto the plants themselves.
RELATED: Plastic Mulching: Save Garden From Weeds & Boost Harvest
8. Use Vodka or Alcohol
Because vodka and alcohol contain some properties that can kill bacteria, these items also work well on your weeds too. Simply mix these two liquids together, and pour them on the affected areas.
Just make sure that you are cautious in using alcohol as these can easily dry up when it comes in contact with healthy plants.
How To Do It:
- Mix one ounce of vodka with alcohol in a spray solution.
- Spray these on the weeds in direct sunlight.
9. Use Vinegar
Vinegar can kill weeds, that’s it. Just pour the condiment over your weeds and do this as many times as possible to eliminate the weeds. As much as possible, use this technique all throughout the day. For more tips on how to use vinegar, you can click on this link.
- Pour vinegar into a spray bottle.
- Drench the weeds with vinegar. Use it when the sun is scorching hot.
10. Use Organic Pre-Emergent Herbicides
Pre-emergent herbicides are also best for weed control. Among the weeds that you can manage when you use this include henbit, chickweed, crabgrass, purslane, and many others. These pre-emergent herbicides are made of corn gluten and they form a layer to limit weeds from germinating.
How To Do It:
- Choose the most appropriate herbicide. Contact herbicides kill plants on contact while systemic herbicides get to the vascular system of plants, eventually killing the roots. On the other hand, residual herbicides act on the soil.
- Follow instructions when applying herbicides. Use gloves and spray on wind-free days as these can get into the skin and eye and may irritate.
- Paint the weeds with the chemical rather than spray. This guarantees that your target is hit.
11. Use Salt
Aside from vinegar, alcohol, or vodka, other household items that you can use to eliminate weeds is salt. Whether rock salt or table salt, you just need to sprinkle an ample amount on garden paths to fight weeds.
This works well, especially for far to reach places. Use salt carefully, though, and don’t sprinkle too much as there is a tendency that this can leave the ground barren for a long period of time.
How To Do It:
- Mix salt with water and place the mixture in a spray bottle. Start with a ratio of 3:1 with water to salt.
- Spray on the weeds
- Increase the amount of salt daily until the mixture begins to kill the weeds.
- You can also add a bit of vinegar and soap dish to the mix.
12. Cover With Newspaper
For low-growing weeds such as crabgrass and clover, exterminate them by covering them with a newspaper. The lack of sunlight will eventually get rid of them. But more than exterminating the weeds, the newspaper feeds the soil.
How To Do It:
- Spread at least 8 to 10 pages of newspaper into the affected area.
- Weigh it down with stones.
- Cover with compost or potting soil. Spread just enough to cover the newspaper.
- Water the area everyday.
Of course, there are other ways to get rid of the weeds growing in your garden. I have only listed the most popular ones, but these are the most effective as well.
Keep in mind that weed control is not about using toxic chemicals but you can use everyday household items to get rid of irritating weeds in your garden. Ideal for the situation today as we are all home quarantined, giving us more time to work on our garden.
Do you know other ways to eliminate weeds in your garden so your homestead can yield a better harvest? Share them in the comments section below!
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