# DIY Garden Weedkiller Recipe needed



## dean (25 Apr 2020)

Hi all you knowledgeably people here’s something that I’m sure you can help me with 

I have a gravel drive that gets a lot of weeds in it and I like the idea of using a diy weed killer for 2 reasons 
1 not keen on using chemicals in the garden 
2 During this time it’s hard to find what you want and I’m certainly not into queuing for 2 hours plus to get into a diy store 

There’s a lot on line about this but I don’t think you need as much salt as they say you do ie 3 parts water 1 part salt as that seems a lot 

Also I read people use white vinegar instead of water and add dish soap to the mix 

So some recipes have these ingredients 
Water 
White vinegar 
Dish soap 
Salt 

Which amounts would you use to create 1 litre of DIY weed killer ? 


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## Aqua sobriquet (25 Apr 2020)

I watch with interest as I need to get rid of some weeds as well!


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## alto (25 Apr 2020)

Be careful about “run off” after the use of these chemicals, especially if you do a significant area: eg, when it rains the salt, soap, vinegar will spread to other areas


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## Mr.Shenanagins (26 Apr 2020)

If it’s just the gravel driveway and your not worried about any surrounding plants or grass, then boiling water does the trick!


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## zozo (26 Apr 2020)

Burn it... 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CLARKE-PROPANE-ROOFING-TORCH-PC216/dp/B00KKHO7V6

Then you need a propane bottle...

You can also use it to sear sous-vide steaks..


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## Aqua sobriquet (26 Apr 2020)

I’ve used a propane torch on the drive but the weeds still grow back.


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## dean (26 Apr 2020)

ZOZO
Great idea but I don’t have the gas and not easy to find at present 


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## alto (27 Apr 2020)

Better a burn than “salting the land” ... a neighbor was overly zealous with the salt de-icer


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## rebel (27 Apr 2020)

I would suggest dissolving the salt in vinegar and making the maximum possible concentrated solution. This will pretty much kill the soil underneath as well as weeds.
Unfortunately both are 'chemicals' - Sodium chloride and Acetic acid. Water contained in the vinegar is Hydronium dioxide and so forth.  I am unsure how you can avoid chemicals in this endeavour.

Much better alternative is to use roundup or similar as directed. It will spare the soil and kill only the weed.


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## zozo (27 Apr 2020)

Even with the use of chemicals, it will wash away in the end and weed will grow back. And who is spraying preventively and where would you spray it if there is no weed? I see people regularly using roundup but only spraying it after weed returned growing again.

I guess there is nothing that prevents weed growth forever.  Fortunately...


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## mort (27 Apr 2020)

If these are growing on a gravel area, do you have a membrane underneath? If you do then it should be simple to just pull them up (wait till its rained as the roots come out easier) and if you don't then I'd be considering moving the gravel back and putting one under them. It might sound like more work than spraying but it saves you a lot of effort in the long run.


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## dw1305 (27 Apr 2020)

Hi all,





mort said:


> If these are growing on a gravel area, do you have a membrane underneath? If you do then it should be simple to just pull them up (wait till its rained as the roots come out easier) and if you don't then I'd be considering moving the gravel back and putting one under them. It might sound like more work than spraying but it saves you a lot of effort in the long run.


Membranes work. I've found the type of gravel makes a difference too. I originally put down "cotswold gravel", but it is really soft and both trod into the house and grew seedlings prodigously. Eventually I replaced it with 20mm flint gravel, and that is a lot less weedy. 

The other option, during lock-down, would be to hoe through the gravel, it doesn't take long if you do it regularly. 

cheers Darrel


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## dean (27 Apr 2020)

It’s mostly some sort of wild grass grows overnight and it’s very messy when you pull it up all the roots hold the gravel 
I’d rather just spot spray it As it appears as I do not like blanket covering areas with chemicals 


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## Dr Mike Oxgreen (27 Apr 2020)

You say you don’t want to use chemicals, but in fact _everything_ is a chemical, even dihydrogen monoxide.

The weedkiller of choice for permanently killing weeds on ground where you never want plants to grow was Ammonium sulphamate (note: sulph-am-ate, different from sulphate). But this is no longer approved for use as a weedkiller, not because it has become any more dangerous but because the EU started requiring test results proving its safety in various peculiar scenarios. Since nobody owns a patent on Ammonium sulphamate, no company wants to go to the expense of performing the required tests with no way of protecting their investment from competitors. The result is that the required tests have not been done.

However, you can still buy Ammonium sulphamate online, for use as a compost accelerator. Now, just imagine how terrible it would be if you bought some, mixed up a solution (using dihydrogen monoxide, naturally), and whilst carrying it to your compost heap you spilt it all over your gravel driveway. If you were really unlucky you might spill all of it in an even coverage over the whole of your driveway, with nothing left for your compost bin. That would be awful.


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## dean (27 Apr 2020)

It’s mostly some sort of wild grass grows overnight and it’s very messy when you pull it up all the roots hold the gravel 
I’d rather just spot spray it As it appears as I do not like blanket covering areas with chemicals 


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## dean (27 Apr 2020)

I read that on average seawater has 35g of salt per litre 
So is there any point adding more than this ? 

Is using 100 % white vinegar better than water ? What does it actually do ? 

Or would a mix of water and vinegar be just as good ? 
What % water to vinegar? 

I believe dish soap just helps it stay on the leaves or does it also do more ? 


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