Nontoxic Weed Removal - Safe Weed Killers To Help You Get Rid Of These Garden Pests

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By lumberjack

Weed Eradication Without Dangerous Chemicals?

For those of you plagued by weeds, but are hesitant to spray harmful chemicals on your lawn or garden, this hub is for you. For those seeking freedom from weed bondage, this hub is for you.

In the war against weeds, it may seem like it is necessary to fight back with dangerous sprays and chemicals that can harm you and wildlife. However this is not the case. Safe and nontoxic methods of weed control exist to allow you to get along with your life and enjoy your lawn and garden. The two courses of action I'll be covering are manual removal through the use of tools and by applying all-natural sprays and mixtures.

Method One: Manual Weed Removal

The first nontoxic and safe method of weed removal (unless of course you have allergies) is manual weed extraction, naturally. Pulling weeds out by hand (or with specialized tools) is in all ways nontoxic and cannot possibly harm wildlife (though a few plants might become collateral damage if you're not careful).

An evil yellow star thistle just waiting to take over your lawn.
An evil yellow star thistle just waiting to take over your lawn.

Weed Removal Tools

To remove a significant amount of weeds manually, I highly recommend against doing it by hand. Instead, investing in proper tools is advised. You can get by with using a simple garden trowel or a stirrup hoe for small weeds, but for larger ones I recommend using a specialized "weeder."

These tools work by jabbing a ring of claws into the ground, around a weed's roots, closing, and pulling out the weed - root and all. By elminating the weed at its base, you'll prevent it from returning. This provides a decent workout and is a good way to kill weeds without killing anything else! Below are some examples of such weeders from Amazon.  There are other types of weeders, which are little more than specialized trowels, so I recommend these claw types.

Weed Removal Tools

Yard Butler RKT-1000 Rocket Weeder Steel Weed Remover
Amazon Price: $29.90
List Price: $44.99
Hound Dog Products HDP1-6 Weed Hound
Amazon Price: $35.23
List Price: $26.99

Method Two: Nontoxic Safe Weed Killing With Chemicals

If for some reason you'd rather not handle your weed problem through brute force, there are nontoxic chemical ways to kill them. Now you may think that's an oxymoron, nontoxic and chemical being in the same sentence, but it really isn't. Technically anything is a chemical, including our food, so it stands to reason that there are chemical methods of killing weeds that are both safe and nontoxic.

Killing Weeds With Vinegar Water

The acetic acid in vinegar water is perfect for killing plants, but be careful as it can harm other nearby plants (ie. grass) in the process.  However, it's perfectly safe for animals and people.  Just create a solution of two parts vinegar to one part water and spray it on the weed.

Killing Weeds With Organic Herbicides

If you cannot be bothered with creating your own vinegar solution, or if it doesn't work.  Other safe and nontoxic weed killers are available.  These usually use citric acids, or other compounds that are harmless to animals but deadly for weeds.  Below are some organic herbicides offered on Amazon.com.

Have Fun Weed Hunting!!

Yeah, it's really fun.

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Comments

bknowles@pointrobertsmarina.com 22 months ago

Hi -- I work at a marina on the northwest coast. I'm looking for a product to kill weeds that grow up between the cracks on the docks, which are over the ocean. Avenger I'm afraid does not work due to label warnings about use over water. Will Burnout work? Thanks, Bill.

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