Weeds and the wife

[Panik]

So with the recent development of my wife having been diagnosed with several chronic illnesses she has become significantly more aware (possibly hyper aware) of the amount and type of chemicals being used in and around her house. One of the concerns that she has brought up to me is my use of glyphosate to control weeds in the extensive number of planter beds we have around our house.

I realize that there is plenty of controversy these days about the alleged toxicity and non toxicity of glyphosate. I'm really not interested in starting a debate about its merits and possible concerns. Personally, I still feel it is still one of the safer, relatively speaking, chemical treatments available. However, in the interest of making my wife feel more comfortable and generally speaking looking at alternatives to roundup products I figured I might inquire about folks experiences using alternative products.

In particular the little reading I have down would indicate that 10% acetic acid mixed with a surfactant such as molasses might be a viable alternative via leaf burn down. Granted it is certainly a more expensive option. Anyone have any thoughts or experience using acetic acid in this manner. I know that I can get glacial acetic acid relatively locally in bulk, however I am not sure whether or not it is worth dealing with. Also I am unsure as to whether I really want to be mixing to ratio and bulk storing such a strong acid. Any thoughts, experience and alternative ideas would be appreciated.

 

[davesl708]

Sorry to hear about your wife's illnesses. I have noticed several of the commercial non-glyphosate weed killers use a high consentration of nitrogen. Seems a lot of weeds don't like nitrogen. That may be an option.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Sorry about your wife too. I have not found anything to compare with glyphosate for killing any green vegetation. A lot will depend on how much of an area you have to cover. Table salt will kill small weeds but it does not do the surrounding plants much good unless they are originally coastal plants - seakale and asparagus for instance. If you want to use acetic acid, vinegar is usually about 5 to 6% and you could consider reducing the volume by half through heating, but it is a slow process.

There are supposedly "organic" weedkillers, but they will have to have some chemical component to do the job. I also use a flame gun. I have had this particular one for over 20 years, and used one just the same 60 years ago. Made in the UK by a company called Sheen.

Using physical means - hand weeding or hoeing is really only for those who have time and a small area to cover. Mulches are sometimes a possibility depending on the plants you have - multi stemmed bushes will still have weeds coming up in the middle of them. I fear there is no easy answer and that is why I regularly fill up my tractor sprayer with a glyphosate mix and either use the booms or a hand lance.