So plants such as the 2nd one -- oxalis -- will be baaaack!

The reason? Oxalis has a fleshy root which can easily generate new top growth.

Bill

The main reason for trying vinegar is that it is a much safer alternative than Round Up. I can spray vinegar and not worry about my 2 year old running around barefoot.

Thanks,
Chris

I use 20% vinegar. When I use it on oxalis, you can almost watch the leaves shrivel up. At the end of 20 minutes the weed is shriveled up like your 3-hour picture. In 3 hours you cannot find anything left of the oxalis. Poetry in motion.

You should remind that vinegar is a foliar spray, not a soil drench. You don't use very much.

It does not work on plants with large root systems such as warm season grasses...or poison ivy...etc...

There are severasl univ. studies on the matter...

Also, it is a good pH down product when dilluted properly...

I had some poison ivy in a spot where pulling it (suitably protected, as I react badly!) was not an option. I sprayed it with 3% vinegar about 3 times, as it came back, and did manage to eradicate it. BUT, it had been there not too long, so didn't have a root system that went for yards. The BIG vines, like honeysuckle, greenbrier, big poison ivy, etc., will only be discouraged by vinegar - it isn't systemic like Round-Up. With enough discouragement, and maybe over a year, they will go away.

I have been told that the pH altering effect of vinegar is very short acting - the soil recovers back to what it was in a month or less. Not having read the direct citation, nor tried for myself, I can't say for sure. However, it is my understanding that most of the pH altering substances break down and need to be reapplied, whether over months or years. None are a one-time solution, but if vinegar's effects last such a short time, I doubt it's worth it. After all, if you get any on the plants, accidentally, you might kill that plant!

Thanks.

Mary, many grasses evolved to withstand repeated grazing. Therefore, they have a good capability to grow back from their roots or crowns. If you don't want to use a systemic herbicide, such as Round-Up, then you will have to be persistant on well established grasses. If you can get them while they are young and their root system is small, then one spraying may work. Otherwise, persistance.... If you get really fed up, then digging them out will also work - you will have to fill in the holes with topsoil or compost, and maybe be sure you have dug out all the roots....

Strong rooted perennial weeds are the same - you have to keep after such weeds as curly dock, horse nettle, poke weed, honeysuckle vines or any of the others that have deep roots and come back, bigger and beter, year after year. Persistance WILL work, just maybe not in a summer. You have to exhaust the reserves of the root....

this is obviously a let down.

lmao

This is THE salient point. Not allowing much regrowth of green leaf/stem, over and over, will starve the roots.

Anyone who has ever fought Yellow Nut Sedge knows that it is probably the most formidable adversary a gardener can have. In extensive beds that had been, in many areas, taken over by it, faithfully hand pulling it weekly (getting very little root, and seldom any of the nuts) made it manageable in one growing season.

Spraying with a top kill such as vinegar is faster and easier by far than hand work. At a bargain price too.

rangier

Since muriatic acid is a common cleaner for stone such as granite, I very much doubt vinegar (especially if you are using household or pickling vinegar, as opposed to the horticultural strength) will hurt slate - it might have an effect on limestone and possibly on marble, however. If you are in doubt, try in an inconspicuous corner, and see what happens. If it should look like the slate is being affected, wash it down well with water. And if you want to be REALLY sure, wait a couple of hours so the sprayed weeds/grasses are affected, and then wash the whole patio down.

We have an acre to kill before planting new grass. Some of it is brown due to not getting watered much this summer.

Thanks for any help anyone can give.

You should be able to find Bradfield Organics 20% Horticultural Vinegar at Red Barn Feed & Supply in Loxahatchee, FL (561-790-0004) or look for 'Burnout II' (St. Gabriel Labs), 'Brush, Weed and Grass Herbicide' (Greenergy) or a Garden-Ville product that is very similar at local retail garden centers (not box stores). These have a lower concentration of acetic acid (vinegar) but also contain both citric acid and other essential plant oils (clove oil is a biggie) that have strongly herbicidal properties.

Fortunately, the effect is short-lived, as the acetic acid degrades rapidly with irrigation or rainwater. But you've set the order of things back, at least temporarily.

This is why I'd advocate limiting the use of acetic acid/vinegar for the control of weeds in gravel or in the cracks of driveways or other paved areas where soil conditions are inconsequential. And it is also a broad spectrum herbicide, so will have a similar effect on any plant material it encounters, making it more difficult to use in an open garden situation.