Vinegar weedkiller?

[Robert_Brenchley]

I found an old thread dealing with vinegar as a weedkiller, but it's pretty inconclusive. Has anyone tried it? I'm using acetic acid - same stuff but much more concentrated - to sterilise beehives. It struck me that I could dilute the stuff down to about 10% (vinegar is about 5%), and it might be more effective.

[Robert_Brenchley]

[Pescador]

Sulphuric acid was one of the first weed-killers used. Acetic will certainly kill off green tissue, but it might take some trial to see what strength is required, I'd be fascinated to hear your results

[Harry]

Bumping this topic because vinegar weedkiller seems to be on the ascendent after glyphosphate became less popular and stupidly expensive.

Bought/sold as 'concentrated acetic acid' it's still pretty expensive and will only attack foliage above ground.

Are any of you familiar with using it? How well does it work, and where can it be bought at good price?

[BarriedaleNick]

It will kill weeds but it will only kill the top and won't kill off stuff like bindweed or couch grass unless you are willing to keep spraying acid on your veg plot. You'd be just as well hoeing it off really. I might use it on a path or drive but I wouldn't use it on the veg garden.


This article and the Follow up have some good info

[Harry]

It will kill weeds but it will only kill the top and won't kill off stuff like bindweed or couch grass unless you are willing to keep spraying acid on your veg plot. You'd be just as well hoeing it off really. I might use it on a path or drive but I wouldn't use it on the veg garden.


This article and the Follow up have some good info

d**n. That's my take, too. Seems pretty pointless as a weedkiller. I love systemic stuff, but I guess with costs so high, i can see myself going reluctantly organic.

Now, can somebody fix the weather? I got up early to do some hoeing and it's p1551ng down.

[George the Pigman]

I've heard of using vinegar (acetic acid) as a weed killer but mainly on paths. Other things used in that way are dilute hydrochloric acid and in the old days people used sodium chlorate which wiped out the whole plant and in fact everything else but it was banned many years ago not least because it could be used in making explosives!
My late mother-in-law used to swear by using boiling water or salt!!
Nowadays equivalent sort of things you can buy in the shops are based on fatty acids that essentially work in the same way as vinegar but cause less problems with residues. However they do not kill the root. The only way to do that is to dig it out or use glyphosate, although repeated application of the acidic weedkillers may eventually starve the plants root enough for it to die off.