We Tried 30% Natural Vinegar to Kill Weeds

text by Vicki     Sign up here to join our weekly email newsletter! ​

Steph's backyard is basically nothing but pea gravel and pavers, with absolutely no grass. It was this way when she moved in. Because it is so shady back there, grass is really not an option. What does grow back there are weeds and lots of them!

It's been a particularly healthy growing season for weeds this summer. It would be impossible to pull all of them so we started to look for a chemical way to kill them.

We wanted to steer clear of treatments such as Round-Up, due to the potential danger to Mac, Steph's dog, should she eat one of the poisoned weeds. We investigated natural methods and came across a method using vinegar. 

Caution: To be clear, we do not know if this method is safe for animals. We do know from research that using the vinegar and salt formula will leave the dirt on which it is used sterile. That is, nothing is going to grow there in the future. So, for example, you wouldn't use it to clear out weeds in a garden and then go back and plant vegetables and expect them to grow. 

We are trying out two different strengths of vinegar. The one on the left is 5% which can be purchased at the grocery store and the one on the right is 30%, which we could not find locally, so we purchased it online.

Materials:

• 30% Vinegar - Amazon
• 1 cup salt
• Tablespoon of dawn
• Ryobi Battery Sprayer - Home Depot

I mixed everything in a 1/2 gallon pitcher. In goes one cup of table salt followed by half of the vinegar. (Note the video specifies 1/2 cup of salt but the formula uses one cup salt to one gallon vinegar with a squeeze (one tablespoon) of Dawn dishwashing liquid.)

I mixed up the vinegar and salt, added in the remaining vinegar and then added a squirt of Dawn dishwashing liquid and mixed it until the salt dissolved. Note: all the salt did not dissolved into the vinegar.

We have a one gallon battery powered garden sprayer, but a hand pump sprayer would work. It's important to keep the mixture off anything that you don't want to kill.

A note about using this sprayer. It is important when using caustic solutions in this sprayer to be sure to clean it out after use. We did that BUT, I forgot to clean the brass tip which ended up corroding due to the vinegar on it. Remember to clean that part as well!

This is after going back and spot spraying with the 30% vinegar solution. The 5% solution took care of the tender, baby weeds, but didn't touch the grasses, vines and other more hardy weeds.

Here's a BEFORE...

Here's the AFTER. Again, we spot sprayed with the 30% solution to finish up what the 5% solution did not kill.

After using the 5% solution, we went back and mixed up a batch using the 30% vinegar. We put it into a spray bottle to have a little more control when applying it. Within an hour of spraying with the 30% solution, the weeds were already wilting and browning.

This patch of grass was particularly tough. There are rocks under all of that. FYI: this 30% is very strong. I suggest using a respiratory style nose/mouth mask when using it. Stay downwind from the spray.

Within an hour, this patch was wilting and browning!

This is how it looked once we pulled up the dead grass.

BEFORE: More spot spraying of this tough, vine like weed.

After! We pulled up many of the dead weeds, but many we left because they blend in with all the rocks in Steph's yard.

This certainly was an interesting experiment! Some things to remember:

1. The 5% household vinegar works, but only on tender, new weeds. It didn't touch the more hardy grasses and vines.
2. The 30% vinegar was impossible to find locally so we had to order online. It worked extremely well, but it's important to remember to be safe around it and use appropriate safety gear--mask, eye protection.
3. Work on a sunny day with NO chance of rain. Otherwise, you will have wasted all your efforts.
4. Consider the soil to be unusable after applying this treatment. 
5. What about those epson salt formulas you see on Pinterest? Everything I've read from experts say this does not work. 

Let us know about your experience if you use this method. There are certainly a lot of appropriate places to use it like driveways and sidewalks and backyards with lots of rocks! 

​Please note: This is not a sponsored post.

FYI: We are not professionals, and we don't claim to be. This is what we found worked for our project. Yours may need a little different approach. Safety first!

FYI: Affiliate links are being used on this page. Purchasing via these links help support MDP!

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