Organic weed control.

[Duffster]

What are you guys doing to help control weeds in the garden.

I have some pesky grass growing that I can't seem to get a handle of and was wondering about spraying vinegar to kill it.

Any ideas?

[niemeyjt]

Roundup - not organic though!

Is the grass growing in with other things? If not, maybe the best organic control is to cover with cardboard or old carpet (although some would argue the chemicals in the latter are not organic either!).

There used to be an aluminium based selective weedkiller called "Weed Out" for killing grass amongst other plants (again not organic) - but I have not seen it for years - so I will be watching others' replies with interest!

J

[2manyrocks]

Google search suggested vinegar and hot water with some reservations that household vinegar is too diluted already.

I suppose you could use a propane burner like used to melt sidewalk ice.

I've got a fresh area of garden I started this year that I can't keep the grass out of myself.

[kenmac]

anyone ever tried this product? http://www.lowes.com/pd_5312-316-531...Grass%20Killer. I also need to control some weeds/ grass in the garden

[niemeyjt]

anyone ever tried this product? Shop Garden Safe 24 Oz. Ready-to-Use Weed and Grass Killer at Lowes.com. I also need to control some weeds/ grass in the garden

Seeing results in 20 minutes suggests a paraquat-based product.

I used to use paraquat, but now I have animals and children I just do not use it.

J

[DocHeb]

I have some pesky grass growing that I can't seem to get a handle of ...

You really need to identify it better to get the best ideas for good control. When the adjective "pesky" is used, it suggests the grass is Nutsedge or Nutgrass. Very difficult to control by pulling, but frequently re-pulling eventually starves out the roots and "nuts" of this grass.

[bp fick]

I fight grasses the first year, when I till up an area that was soddy and never gardened before. The following year will find 90% less. I do not like to even use a garden plot the first year, quite honestly. I prefer a full year of cultivation and soil enhancement before use.

Of course, smothering through the use of matting materials, except for a small hole for the plant, works well. I just don't like matting because I like to hoe/cultivate for aeration which matting, it seems to me, prevents. I also do not know how to side dress, mid course, with matting.

Grasses come from root systems or from seed. The seed gets introduced how? The root system grasses are eventually destroyed by cultivation.

[The Haymaker]

Mist waste gasoline on the plants. Organic? Gas does come from the ground.

[bp fick]

Mist waste gasoline on the plants. Organic? Gas does come from the ground.

Not in that state. You might not want it's original state either. Ask the folks in Louisiana.

Anything that kills weeds won't do the friendly plants nearby any good. Weeds are matter of prevention, not cure, other than pulling and hoeing.

[bp fick]

Many, if not most, weeds are introduced to the garden through well intended steps toward organic reliance and not wanting to introduce deadly herbicides onto one's food. People rake their yards and put the rakings onto their garden plots. They rake the leaves in Fall into their gardens. They may even purchase manure in bulk from a neighboring farm.

All of these steps to introduce natural material for decomposition are filled with weeds and weed seed. How many people, thinking they are doing something good, dump a load of manure on their plots only to awake in late spring to a bumper crop of weeds? I know I've done it.

Proper composting eliminates the vast majority of weeds as hot temperatures in properly composted material "sterilizes" it. It also takes two years to properly make compost and most of us are too impatient.