# Killing weeds the cheap way.



## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

If you don't use it up all in one sitting, how long do you have to use up the rest before it expires and becomes impotent?


----------



## Hankhill11 (Nov 23, 2020)

I am by no means a lawn expert so this is just as good as Facebook knowledge ... but I do not think that solution will wipe out weeds' root systems. depending on the weeds, it may burn the foliage but the plant will still be alive, and just come back. It may. however, be less toxic if you have pets and things running around.


----------



## wooleybooger (Feb 23, 2019)

Due your due diligence. Epsom salt doesn't kill plant it supplies needed nutrients and helps them grow. Name brand "cleaning" vinegar costs twice store brand at Walmart. Finally read this.

WATCH: Can We Just Quit with the Vinegar-Epsom Salts Weed-Killer Nonsense?


----------



## SARG (Dec 28, 2020)

Time will tell .... Always does. Sorry for spreading bad info.


The thread does remind me of a story from a decade ago. The small village I worked in had a fellow that had issues with his neighbor all the time. The older gentleman in his eighties always had something to complain about. The fella that lived next door that was always on the receiving end of the complaints.
He would mix up a sprayer of expensive lawn fertilizer and then after dark when the wind conditions were just right ... he would spray the mix into the air so it would land on the larger portion of his neighbors lawn.
Over time you could readily see while driving by that a portion of that lawn was incredibly healthy .......... but the neighbor had to mow it every three days.


----------



## jc27310 (Sep 12, 2020)

LOL: "from Facebook so it must be true."!!!

2 cheaper weed control options that actually work:

boil water in tea kettle, pour on weeds.
burn weeds with blowtorch (damage/ wilt foliage, not incinerate!)
plain cheapo Vinegar/ table salt/ dish detergent solution, does damage and kill the weeds, but you will need to over-mulch to block sunlight for potential re-growth. You will need to apply many times over the growth season...

Epsom salt is great for veggie gardens: 10 Ways to Use Epsom Salts in the Garden

glyphosate is best for hardscape weed control
2-4-D is best in cool season grasses (no warm season grass experience) 
My experience has been to apply these more sparingly with a second application 2 weeks from the first.


----------



## J. V. (Jun 1, 2007)

You can buy generic Roundup (glyphosate) on the cheap, online and some stores in your area. Tractor Supply seems to always have it on the shelf.
I buy it by the 2.5 gallon container online. The generic is slightly less concentrated as compared to Roundup's strongest concentrate. But works just as good. I use 3 oz per gallon vs 2.5 for Roundup. Kills anything I spray it on.
The cost was about $50 on Amazon with free shipping. I have a couple acres and use quite a bit of it. It still lasts me about 3 years. In fact I have some down stairs that must be 4 years old by summer and it will work as good as new stuff.
In fact I think they say it has a short shelf life to get you to buy more sooner than you need to buy more.
Glyphosate works as intended and is completely reliable.

Edit. Glyphosate kills through the foliage and has no action in the soil. The reason farmers can spray today and plant tomorrow.
These home concoctions mentioned above will have action in the soil as well as the foliage. This can be a problem as it will kill other nearby plants and grasses and will remian in the soil for extended periods. This is not a good thing.


----------



## wooleybooger (Feb 23, 2019)

I buy Walmart's Eliminator brand glyphosate concentrate. Same concentration an Roundup concentrate. I mix it according to instructions. I could get a ready to use mix but figure why pay the premium for a bunch of water when I am quite capable of mixing per instructions in a sprayer. The last I bought several years ago was $12/32oz. Use 1 1/2 oz. per gallon I think.


----------



## J. V. (Jun 1, 2007)

wooleybooger said:


> I buy Walmart's Eliminator brand glyphosate concentrate. Same concentration an Roundup concentrate. I mix it according to instructions. I could get a ready to use mix but figure why pay the premium for a bunch of water when I am quite capable of mixing per instructions in a sprayer. The last I bought several years ago was $12/32oz. Use 1 1/2 oz. per gallon I think.


I thought the only reason generic Roundup was a tiny bit less strong was to get around the patent on Roundup. After all, isn't Roundup/Glyphosate invented and patented by the Monsanto Corp?
I cannot find any generic at the same strength as the brand Roundup. Only a little less strong.


----------



## SARG (Dec 28, 2020)

Walmart Eliminator and Roundup concentrate both listed at 50.2%


----------



## J. V. (Jun 1, 2007)

SARG said:


> Walmart Eliminator and Roundup concentrate both listed at 50.2%


Where? The strongest I can find is 41% And its almost $90 for 2.5 gallons. Look like 41% is tops for generic. I checked Amazon and Tractor supply and all are 41%

You got me looking and I found one with 53% Glyphosate acid. Not glyphosate salt like Roundup and the others above. Never heard of the acid type. Its made by a company called Syngenta and the formulation is called Refuge. There was no price with this one.

18% https://www.walmart.com/ip/Eliminator-Weed-Grass-Killer-Plus-Concentrate-32-fl-oz/698070517
41% https://www.walmart.com/ip/Eliminator-Weed-and-Grass-Killer-Liquid-Super-Concentrate-32oz/187158075


----------



## wooleybooger (Feb 23, 2019)

J. V. said:


> Where? The strongest I can find is 41% And its almost $90 for 2.5 gallons. Look like 41% is tops for generic. I checked Amazon and Tractor supply and all are 41%
> 
> You got me looking and I found one with 53% Glyphosate acid. Not glyphosate salt like Roundup and the others above. Never heard of the acid type. Its made by a company called Syngenta and the formulation is called Refuge. There was no price with this one.
> 
> ...


41 % is what I bought and all I can find on the website now. I see version of Roundup with 50% glyphosate listed, that must be since I bought. At that time I looked at both and both were 41% which works just fine.



https://www.walmart.com/ip/Eliminator-Weed-and-Grass-Killer-Liquid-Super-Concentrate-32oz/187158075


----------



## wooleybooger (Feb 23, 2019)

Just looked at the links J.V. posted and it appears things have changed since I bought. I have the red label and it claims 41%. I'll just say that glyphosate will kill the entire plant regardless of how much is applied. I have inadvertently gotten 1 drop of the mixture on a medium size shrub and the whole thing eventually died. Percent glyphosate seem relatively unimportant.


----------



## SARG (Dec 28, 2020)

If you look at various sites for the Wallyworld stuff the bottles say 41% and then go to another and it has 50.2% listed. Go figure


----------



## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

Epsom Salt to kill your weeds..... oh wait....


----------



## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

We use epsom salt to prevent blossom end rot on tomatoes. Dawn is a surfactant, and vinegar is acetic acid, which some plants like, so I don't put too much credence in the mixture.

We had the University of Georgia send over a group of students for a "field trip". We had a bad outbreak of honeysuckle along all our fences. They took Roundup and artists brushes and "painted" the Glyphosphate on the top leaves of each of the vines. Just enough to coat a leaf. Within a week it all died. There was no reason to spray the entire area, possibly killing good stuff. It is systemic and kills only the plant it comes in contact with and does not leach out into the ground via the plant's roots. I was impressed.


----------



## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

You can also get rock salt dirt cheap, especially around winter.


----------



## wooleybooger (Feb 23, 2019)

SPS-1 said:


> Epsom Salt to kill your weeds..... oh wait....


Yes, Epsom salt is beneficial to your plants and as which anything else used judiciously.


----------



## Missouri Bound (Apr 9, 2011)

Forget the epsom salt.
Make it with regular salt. It works fine.
I have a friend with a garden farm and he sprays the solution on his gravel walkways and has no weeds whatsoever.


SARG said:


> *He would mix up a sprayer of expensive lawn fertilizer and then after dark when the wind conditions were just right ... he would spray the mix into the air so it would land on the larger portion of his neighbors lawn.
> Over time you could readily see while driving by that a portion of that lawn was incredibly healthy .......... but the neighbor had to mow it every three days.*


Another idea that works well is buy some wild flower seeds and sow them in the problem neighbors yard at night.
Works especially well if the yard is one of those perfect manicured lawns.


----------



## J. V. (Jun 1, 2007)

wooleybooger said:


> 41 % is what I bought and all I can find on the website now. I see version of Roundup with 50% glyphosate listed, that must be since I bought. At that time I looked at both and both were 41% which works just fine.
> 
> 
> https://www.walmart.com/ip/Eliminator-Weed-and-Grass-Killer-Liquid-Super-Concentrate-32oz/187158075


It does work fine. I still mix at 3 oz per gallon. It lasts so long and I like to try and use it up. I have some downstairs I think will be 4 years old this summer. I do not store mixed solution.



wooleybooger said:


> Just looked at the links J.V. posted and it appears things have changed since I bought. I have the red label and it claims 41%. I'll just say that glyphosate will kill the entire plant regardless of how much is applied. I have inadvertently gotten 1 drop of the mixture on a medium size shrub and the whole thing eventually died. Percent glyphosate seem relatively unimportant.


It really does work well and I see no reason to try and make something up when glyphosate is the bomb.



SARG said:


> If you look at various sites for the Wallyworld stuff the bottles say 41% and then go to another and it has 50.2% listed. Go figure


Yes, I look at the label on the bottle. Not the listed specs.



chandler48 said:


> We had the University of Georgia send over a group of students for a "field trip". We had a bad outbreak of honeysuckle along all our fences. They took Roundup and artists brushes and "painted" the Glyphosphate on the top leaves of each of the vines. Just enough to coat a leaf. Within a week it all died. There was no reason to spray the entire area, possibly killing good stuff. It is systemic and kills only the plant it comes in contact with and does not leach out into the ground via the plant's roots. I was impressed.


Me and my neighbor fell several trees out back in my woods. They were very big and we most likely should have not done this ourselves. One was almost 4' across the stump. Big tall giants. Many years old I assume. They were invasive of some sort. They were very prone to cracking and falling limbs into the yard. The wood was remarkably light. They also had runners that came up all over the place before and after we removed the trees. 
So, anytime I saw one I sprayed it. Killed them every time and they did not come back. I see these trees around and want to get out and spray them!



huesmann said:


> You can also get rock salt dirt cheap, especially around winter.


This is not safe for any vegetation in the immediate and not so immediate area. Salt is deadly to most all plants and grasses and will remain active in the soil for a long time. Rain can move the salt to other areas and kill things there as well. It does kill, but at what cost?
Glyphosate is a systemic chemical that is absorbed by the leaves or the blades of grass. It has no action in the soil.
You could spray your yard with glyphosate today and plant grass seed or sod tomorrow.
Had salt been used, nothing would grow there for a very long time. 
I have some areas I want dead and want nothing to grow there. I buy another product for that. It does have action in the soil. Nothing will grow there for several months. Its predictable unlike salt would be.


----------



## wooleybooger (Feb 23, 2019)

J. V. said:


> It does work fine. I still mix at 3 oz per gallon. It lasts so long and I like to try and use it up. I have some downstairs I think will be 4 years old this summer. I do not store mixed solution.


I will mix it at 3 oz per gallon also if I want a quicker knock down. Usually mix at 1 1/2 oz. per gallon though. It does the job.


----------



## J. V. (Jun 1, 2007)

wooleybooger said:


> I will mix it at 3 oz per gallon also if I want a quicker knock down. Usually mix at 1 1/2 oz. per gallon though. It does the job.


To think I was buying Roundup for all those years!
I had someone tell me about generic roundup and so I went to Tractor Supply and saw the 41% strength. I was across the street from Lowes so I went in. Guess who I ran into in the garden chemical area. The Roundup rep.
I talked to this guy for close to 30 minutes and he tried to keep me buying roundup. I went in to see the strength of Roundup super concentrate. Then back to Tractor Supply and talked with a customer buying the Farmhand brand of glyphosate. He told me he quit using Roundup and used generic. I have never looked back.
And glyphosate prices seem to stay low?


----------



## BruceLem (Jan 25, 2020)

SARG said:


> (Stolen from Facebook so it must be true. ( Heinz makes a hi-acid white vinegar for cleaning that's available at the grocery store )


I don't know about weed killing but White Vinegar is very good for cleaning and prepping metal for welding. It removes mill scale from new steel after soaking overnight, and it's super cheap.


----------



## Tom153 (Nov 10, 2016)

Or, you could try the old fashioned way. Pull them up by hand. Repeat...forever. No chemicals.


----------



## Bret86844 (Mar 16, 2016)

The vinegar/salt/dishsoap solution works great. I buy the concentrated stuff on amazon, I think it's 9x stronger than standard vinegar. Spraying twice wiped out a lot of the overgrowth in my backyard. My kid plays back there so I feel better using vinegar than Roundup.


----------



## HotRodx10 (Aug 24, 2017)

chandler48 said:


> We had a bad outbreak of honeysuckle along all our fences. They took Roundup and artists brushes and "painted" the Glyphosphate on the top leaves of each of the vines. Just enough to coat a leaf. Within a week it all died.


I used to make a strong mix of roundup in an ice cream bucket, put on a cotton work glove, dip my hand in the mixture and just touch the leaves of weeds in our raspberry patch. Worked like a charm - the weeds died and the raspberries were unaffected.


----------



## vandamme (Aug 19, 2016)

J. V. said:


> This is not safe for any vegetation in the immediate and not so immediate area. Salt is deadly to most all plants and grasses and will remain active in the soil for a long time.


Five feet away from our driveway, the plants and grass are totally unaffected by salt and vinegar. I like the smell - like an Italian restaurant. Glyphosate smells terrible, and I don't like the cancer risk and the high cost. Salt for water softeners is real cheap. We use gallon jugs of regular vinegar from Aldi.


----------



## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

Tom153 said:


> Or, you could try the old fashioned way. Pull them up by hand. Repeat...forever. No chemicals.


Come on man, that's no fun. At least not compared to spraying it with something and pretending:


----------



## J. V. (Jun 1, 2007)

vandamme said:


> Five feet away from our driveway, the plants and grass are totally unaffected by salt and vinegar. I like the smell - like an Italian restaurant. Glyphosate smells terrible, and I don't like the cancer risk and the high cost. Salt for water softeners is real cheap. We use gallon jugs of regular vinegar from Aldi.


Then it hasn't leached over there yet. Salt kills. And stays around for a very long time. You know it kills yet you say it doesn't kill? 
Vinegar IMO smells bad. I grew up in an Italian and Spanish home and it never smelled like vinegar. Garlic and onions maybe. Glyphosate has no odor. Even directly from the jug it has no odor at all. High cost? $50 for 2.5 gallons for a proven herbicide.
I get the cancer scare. But I use it so infrequently and I take care not to get it on me.


----------



## vandamme (Aug 19, 2016)

The combo stuff my wife used to use smelled like a chemistry lab, and we had to walk on it and track it in the house. So the vinegar was a welcome change, but it takes days to kill. It's been a couple years and the bushes and hostas right off the driveway are still quite happy. The salt leaches down, not sideways. 

I used to spray Roundup on the asparagus bed to keep down the spring weeds. Not so effective. Then I tried strawberries as a ground cover, getting two different crops!

I saw a YouTube video where some anti-Chemtrailer sprayed vinegar around to "neutralize the chemtrails". It did a good job on his lawn, LOL.


----------



## J. V. (Jun 1, 2007)

Glyphosate takes longer than many other preparations to do its job. But worth the wait.
I like it and use it regularly.


----------



## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

J. V. said:


> Glyphosate takes longer


Not sure about your statement, but Glyphosphate works basically overnight. Maybe not as fast as a propane torch, but fast enough, IMO.


----------



## J. V. (Jun 1, 2007)

chandler48 said:


> Not sure about your statement, but Glyphosphate works basically overnight. Maybe not as fast as a propane torch, but fast enough, IMO.


Glyphosate is Roundup and Roundup takes several days to prove itself (see weeds dying). You are confused with another product. Most likely Ortho Weed and grass Killer. It is supposed to work in 24 hours. I sprayed weeds coming up on my driveway last Monday. You cannot even tell they were sprayed. But in the next couple days they will show they have been sprayed.
Glyphosate takes about 2 weeks to actually kill the weed or grass completely.

Edit: Just double checked and Roundup will provide visible results in less than 12 hours. But in my experience it takes days and even weeks to prove itself.


----------



## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

IME it depends on the weed. Some show signs in a few hours, some don't seem to be affected but a very little bit after days!


----------



## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

The honeysuckle they painted the Roundup on were dead, or dying the next day.


----------



## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Yes.

Glyphosate, under any name works. Like bullets.


----------

