Weed Killer

"Roundup" is the big seller, at around $25 a gallon. The label says it does the job in about 12 hours.

The effective ingredient is glyphosate, which has been found to…”cause reproductive harm, including damaged DNA in mice and abnormal chromosomes in human blood. Evidence from epidemiological studies has also linked exposure to the herbicide with increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and laboratory studies have now begun to hone in on the mechanism by which the chemical acts on cell division to cause cancer. A Canadian study has linked glyphosate exposure in the three months before conception with increased risk for miscarriage…” http://www.panna.org/node/466

(Monsanto, the maker of glyphosate, doesn’t bother you by putting all that technical stuff on the label.)

I killed a variety of weeds this morning. They were on their way to dead immediately, and a few hours later were dried up and ready to be swept away.

It cost me about 80 cents make a one-quart spray bottle of it. If I had needed a gallon, it would have cost me about $3.50.

Recipe:

¼ cup salt

1-teaspoon liquid detergent

1-quart cheap white vinegar

Pour the salt, liquid detergent and vinegar in the spray bottle, shake it up, and you’ve done yourself, your family and your environment a big favor—even your weeds. They’ll die a faster, easier death.

The liquid detergent can be any kind of liquid soap. It's only purpose is to make the solution adhere better to the plant leaves.

You can omit using salt if you're going to be using a great deal of it, especially if you're going to be spraying over garden soil. Most of the salt should remain on the plants your going to kill, but of course you don't want salt on your garden soil.

And be careful of over-spray around plants you don't want dead! I only use it to kill weeds that grow up between my patio bricks, through cracks in the concrete, etc. Weeds in the garden beds should be pulled up by their roots.