3 Non-Toxic Weed Killers For Your Landscape’s Natural Areas

Creating an attractive landscape can be overwhelming due to all the different plants, trees, and grasses available. While challenging to design, landscaping can also be expensive to maintain. Considering every 10'x10' of lawn will require an estimated 62 gallons of water to maintain, you may want to reduce the amount of grass in your yard to conserve water. Reducing the size of your grassy lawn is possible by implementing natural areas into your landscape design. Pine straw, gravel, and even mulch are all great alternatives to grass, but periodic weed control will be necessary. Using these non-toxic, homemade options, you can kill weeds in your natural areas without harming your health and surrounding landscaping elements.

Salt

Before the spring season begins, consider sprinkling rock salt or traditional table salt on the pine straw, gravel, or mulch of your natural area. Salt is an effective option for killing weeds that already exist, since it decreases the moisture content in the roots, preventing it from growing further.

Unfortunately, salt is not recommended for weed control in natural areas that contain other plants. Not only will it kill your weeds, but it will also kill any trees, shrubs, and flowers that are planted in your natural area.

Boiling Water

Moisture causes weeds to grow, but the intense heat of boiling water will quickly kill existing weeds in your natural areas. To use, bring a pot of water to boil on your stove. Once the water is boiling rapidly, remove from the stove and pour directly on the weeds in your natural areas.

Depending on the amount of weeds you have in your natural areas, you may need to boil multiple pots of water.

Vinegar, Epsom Salt, and Dish Soap

Visit your kitchen and pantry for ingredients to make an effective solution that will kill existing weeds and prevent future weeds.

In an outdoor pump sprayer, combine the following common household ingredients:

  • 1 gallon of vinegar
  • 2 cups of Epsom salt
  • ¼ cup of liquid dish soap

Shake the container to mix the ingredients together. Pump the container's handle to create pressure in the sprayer nozzle. Then, spray a generous amount of the solution on existing weeds. You should notice the weeds turning brown after only a few hours.

To prevent weeds from growing in your natural areas, soak the pine straw, gravel, or mulch with the solution. Be sure to apply a generous amount of the solution ever few weeks for effective, non-toxic weed control in your natural area.

Natural areas in your landscape design are not only appealing, but also smart elements for water conservation. Using these simple, non-toxic solutions, you can kill and control weeds in these natural areas of your yard. For more information, visit sites like http://snydersweedcontrol.com/.


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