Hi Everyone,

I just got a recipe that is supposed to dry up weeds.
Vinegar, dish liquid, salt.
Has anyone used this? Can you help me with a complete recipe?
My auntie doesn't use recipes 😉.
Thanks

Found this online which has many variations of 'Grandma's' weedkiller. I tried some sort of mix (can't find my notes re precise recipe) using these 3 ingredients and did not have good luck with it. But I may just be impatient - I tend to just pull weeds. Good luck, and let us know if you have success!

http://www.garden-counselor-la...

This is not that very effective and can contaminate the soil. This will only top kill the weeds not the roots so the weeds will come right back. Also, while the vinegar and dish soap will decompose, the salt won't. It will remain in the soil making in unsuitable for many plants and other beneficial organisms in the soil.

I have used 1 gallon vinegar - 2 cups Epson salt and a quarter cup Dawn dish soap. It works but I do not use weed killers in my gardens just the gravel driveway . paths and patio. I do not use roundup and similar products by my dog.

I agree with Jay -- I wouldn't use salt in any area where I wanted anything to grow; in fact, I somewhat think it might encourage weeds to grow, rather than desirable plants, because many weeds are so tough.

Thanks Everyone!

I use plain ordinary vinegar, no additions, for our brick. It works fast and very well.

Now ten years ago or so, I had five plus gallon of gasoline that was over ten years old.
It came in the tank of a car I bought.
My driveway parking lot was full of weeds so I put it in a watering can and covered the driveway.
It did not spread out and kill the lawn next to the driveway and was dry in minutes.
Lasted for several years and for awhile my driveway smelled like fresh varnished table top, literally.
Gasoline, unlike weed killers, loses toxicity quickly; the components you smell are the most dangerous ones and they evaporate.
This is only for non-garden weeds and the older the gasoline the more effective it is as it sticks.

That could get you arrested or fined any place I know of. Hope nobody uses ground water from that area. You would be making the ground toxic that is why the weeds do not grow.

NJBob said:That could get you arrested or fined any place I know of. Hope nobody uses ground water from that area. You would be making the ground toxic that is why the weeds do not grow.

It is less toxic than Roundup type weed killers.
Roundup and its equivalent are soluble with water, varnished gasoline is not.
It is impossible for the remnant of gasoline to enter the water table.
I have had a streak of dying grass after a rain storm days after I put garden shop weedkiller in a non-garden area but heavy rain washed it onto the lawn several days later.
The streak of dead grass shows exactly where the water flows.

As I said the truly toxic components of gasoline are the light compounds you smell which evaporate, you can take very old varnished gasoline, they call it that for a reason, and paint it on wood for preservative reasons and it works even better with old engine oil, in hours but are absorbed into the green weeds quickly.
What is left is equivalent to the compounds of gasoline from boat motors that leave a slick on water.
Not pretty but not dangerous.

This is not the same, in any manner, as a underground storage tank where the gasoline components do not evaporate and its entire content of components enters the water table.
For decades here in Minn. the highway dept. would spray hot used oil on weeds along roadway shoulders to kill them.
Yet our only water quality issues are from garden/farm fertilizers not the oil spraying, although garden/farm weed killers are being looked at.

I had it and used it to great effect but i do not go looking for varnished gasoline or store any for that reason.

Up to you but I have a well and would not use that . Oil by the roads was made illegal many years ago here as trace elements were showing up in the wells.

I don't see how Roundup would get washed away to anywhere, unless used totally improperly.

And, just because the used oil was sprayed as a weed killer for years doesn't make it a good idea... DDT was used for years, too.

To increase the acidity in plain vinegar, I add lemon juice (from the bottle). The high acidity does great on the clovers or undesirable things growing on my patio, even the crap that grows between the pavers! I don't put anything else in, just vinegar & lemon juice.

I bought it at T.J. Maxx so it was an odd ball type thing but their is cooking vinegar with a 25 percent concentration available.

It is SURIG essex-essenz made in Germany. $2.21 for 14 oz.

Thanks so much for that info, RpR. I wouldn't have known that. I'm going to my local TJ Maxx now to look for it. I was getting a 1 gal jug of vinegar, 5% for $3 at walmart. With the higher concentration, I'll use less & it will be more effective.

Weedwhacker said:I don't see how Roundup would get washed away to anywhere, unless used totally improperly.

And, just because the used oil was sprayed as a weed killer for years doesn't make it a good idea... DDT was used for years, too.

I don't know either, but it does say on the label not to use near waterways, maybe because of direct overspray? I don't know.