The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Spray
No I’m not joking. There is a healthy and safe way to spray away your weeds and I’m excited to teach you how to easily make your own!
I first shared about our homemade weed killer a long long long time ago when I first started blogging. Over time I’ve diligently worked to improve my mixture saving so much time and money!
Why should YOU use a Homemade Natural Weed Killer?
If you’ve been using Round Up or other similar chemical based herbicides please READ THIS. They are toxic for humans, animals, insects and our environment as a whole.
For us personally we have pets, an organic garden, 50+ fruit & nut trees PLUS a flock of back yard chickens, none of which should be exposed to toxic chemicals. Not to mention we spend lots of time outside on our property, too!
And, food for thought, chemicals we use on our land seeps down into our ground water supplies and ultimately into major bodies of water too.
What Supplies Do You Need to Make The Best Homemade Weed Killer?
You only need a few simply ingredients to make The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer.
#1 Garden Sprayer or Spray Bottle
First things first, your going to need an inexpensive garden sprayer. I like to use a 1.3 gallon sprayer for our 3+ acre homestead where I’m spraying around our landscaping, trees, chicken run and in our garden. It holds 1 full-size recipe of weed killer.
If you have a smaller yard or want to keep some pre-mixed for touch ups, you can use any size spray bottle. Repurposing a spray bottle that’s been throughly cleaned will work great but if you are going to purchase a spray bottle, choose a glass spray bottle so that you can use it for years to come for a wide variety of uses.
NOTE: It’s imperative to throughly clean out your sprayer. Do not let your homemade weed killer stay in the sprayer in-between uses it will ruin the sprayer. Rinse well with water and spray to clean the hose, too.
Vinegar
Vinegar is the MAIN ingredient in The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer, making up 95% of the solution. But we aren’t using any vinegar, the trick is THIS VINEGAR.
The acetic acid in the vinegar draw moisture from weeds, causing them to die. Without leaves, the plant cannot get vital sunlight the it needs to continue growing.
Before you ask using household or canning vinegar is NOT strong enough for through, long lasting, weed killing. Over the past 10 years you name the vinegar, I’ve tried it. I can say with complete and utter certainty that THIS VINEGAR will give you the BEST results, 6x more concentrated than traditional 5% white vinegar!
And by results I mean you use less spray, less often to maintain results.
A word of caution, THIS VINEGAR, while natural is STRONG. Wearing gloves and/or a mask may be necessary for sensitive individuals.
And don’t use it for cooking, duh. Read the info on the bottle before using so that you understand what you are working with.
To save money, if you have a large area that you’ll be using your homemade weed killer on (like us, we have have over 100 trees we spray around!) I suggest purchasing a 5 gallon bucket of vinegar!
Soap
Adding soap to the vinegar acts as a surfactant, which is an agent that will reduce the surface tension that can cause the weed-killing concoction to bead on the leaves instead of being absorbed by the plant.
Any all natural dish soap can be used HOWEVER to kick up the weed killing to also have safe insecticide properties, I recommend Dr Bronners Peppermint Castile Soap. That little bit of peppermint in the Castile soap helps to deter ant and other pesky infestations, while still maintaining it’s safety. I also use it in my Asparagus Beetle Insecticide Spray.
For the pump (shown in the photo above) the fits the 32 ounce bottles CLICK HERE.
Orange Oil
Concentrated Orange Oil is a natural and biodegradable product made from the oils extracted from orange peels during a cold press process that preserves the natural structure of the oil. Orange Oil has been found to be a key component of various gardening and household applications. As an ingredient in The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer, orange oil like soap, helps to kill the weeds from the outer surface of the leaves.
Additionally Orange oil contains an extract from the peel called d-limonene, which is rated as an insecticide. According to University of Florida’s IFAS Extension, it kills fleas, aphids, mites, fire ants, house crickets, paper wasps and some flies.
How to use The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer
The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer should be applied after the weeds have emerged (postemergent) and have little or no soil residual activity. They don’t control weed seedlings that germinate after application. They kill the plants by breaking down plant membranes and are considered contact or burndown herbicides.
Generously spray undesired plants with The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer on a sunny day when the ground is dry and there is no rain in the forecast for the next 24 hours.
This natural weed killer is very fast acting, but to be most effective they must contact all or most of the aboveground plant tissue. It is especially important to spray the growing points, or else the plant will regrow.
You need to be cautious of the plants growing nearby where you are spraying, for detailed applications apply The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer with a paintbrush toe sure you do not damage the leaves of neighboring plants.
Here’s screenshots of my Instagram Story where I’ve shared the results of my weed killer’s performance.
Wishing you a weed-free landscape and garden!
Yours in Health,
The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer
Who else has had enough of the weeds in their yard and garden?? Learn how I naturally kill those pesky weeds, as safely as possible, with The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer!
Ingredients
- 128 ounces 30% Vinegar
- 16 ounces Cold Pressed Orange Oil Concentrate
- 2 ounces Dr Bronner's Peppermint Castile Soap
Instructions
- Add vinegar to your sprayer.
- Pour orange oil into the vinegar.
- Lastly add soap.
- Assemble sprayer according to the manufactures insructions. Spray weeds on a sunny day.
Notes
The recipe as written is in ounces to make converting to different size sprayers easer to scale. 128 ounces = 1 gallon, 16 ounces = 1 cup, 2 ounces = 2 tablespoons
