It is expensive to kill weeds by using weed killer. You can use household bleach which works better.
Source: from a friend
By Stellalpe from New York, NY
Bleach is not good for the environment & will get into the groundwater when you use it to kill weeds. You might try vinegar.
Agree with the vinegar route. We might try it this year, as our dandelions are already out of control.
You have to be careful with bleach because it will melt some plastic containers. For instance, if you are using a weed killer sprayer traditionally used for chemicals like Round Up or such.
Bleach - not so much! Vinegar will work but it is not selective. Anything you put it on, it will kill. Boiling water or steam will work as well, but be careful you don't get burned yourself!
Sorry, but the bleach weed killer 50/50 water/bleach and 1/4 cup of dawn liquid soap is really the best, while bleach is toxic, it is less than the toxicity of regular weed killers... why? Because clorine bleach dissipates within 12 hours.
Household vinegar/soap combination will work but weeds will return. Vinegar with at least 10% acidity is required to completely kill the weeds to the roots. Be careful you don't get any on your skin as it will burn like heck. Add to this orange oil and you've one awesome weed killer.
Bleach definitely is a strong weed killer, simply because it will kill every single plant it touches. This is why if you decide to use bleach as a weed killer, you should be very careful not to apply it on your other plants by accident. I would usually use it to remove weeds growing from the crevices of a paved patio or something similar, where I can't harm other plants.
When using bleach should it be diluted first? And ' rainproof' is it? Like with roundup if you speay the plant and then 30 minutes later it rains, the plant will still be destroyed.
Bleach won't harm plastic containers and spray bottles. Common laundry bleach is sold in plastic bottles, so the manufacturers are confidant of this. Bleach in the environment, in contact with soil moisture eventually degrades to free chlorine (nasty for you and the weeds) and sodium chloride, or common table salt (the stuff you eat).
Bleach will absolutely destroy certain types of plastic if you put the bleach inside of one of those plastic spray bottles the commercial ones for spring larger amounts it will destroy it
Dawn says do not mix with bleach on the label
I wouldn't worry too much about bleach getting into the ground water. When we lived in Turkey we purified our drinking water with household bleach. Not as yummy as you might think. I believe a small quantity of bleach water occasionally applied to weeds will be easily handled by our wonderful filtration system brought to us by Nature.
Undiluted.
Isn't bleach used in metropolitan drinking water to kill bacteria? Doesn't beach also deteriorate with time?
Isnt household bleach used to disinfect drinking water and used in metropolitan drinking water -which is also used to water lawns and plants?
It would seem the concentration to negatively affect ground water would be impossible to attain when bleach is used as a weed killer.
Doesnt bleach decompose with time?
Bleach is used universally all around the world including America for water treatment! If you've ever had city water, you've also had bleach. It is used to kill bacteria and pathogens, without it in the water treatment entire cities full of people would all get sick and die! Oh yea a little bleach trickles into the ground water and and we have an environmental disaster?
Rubbish! Bleach will not damage plastic, it is not a solvent and is sold in plastic containers. It is also not a danger to the water-table/ All bleaches work by releasing or reclaiming oxygen from the atmosphere ans become inert within a few hours,
How much bleach and water to add to 1/4 cup dawn ?
vinegar will burn the leaves of weeds but it does not kill the roots . therefore your weeds will grow back.
Not true. Bleach is biodegradable. Once the chlorine dissipates, all that is left is salt.
A word of caution about bleach use:
1. Bleach will locally sterilise/disinfect the patch sprayed depending on grade and concentration used.
2. 'Disinfection by-products'(DBPs)are the result of the aggressive reactions between the chlorine salts with the soil's organic matter (think proteins and fats etc) of decayed, dead and dying plant and soil organisms (worms etc) in the sprayed patch.
3. These chlorine DBPs are called organochlorines right up there and next to organophosphates - as some of the most poisonous and persistent toxins around (as herbicides and insecticides). Look it up and you'll probably want to use the salt and vinegar spray.
What do u think is in our drinking water ? Bleach !!
When exposed to air, bleach becomes salt and water. The water evaporates. Before it breaks down though, it can harm the soil. It's important to spray the leaves of the weed, and avoid excessive contact with the ground.
Did you dilute it with water?
Bleach is sodium hydrochloride, when it dries it turns back into salt.
No harm no foul.
I am confused as to how the bleach can get into the groundwater but an actual weed killer would not? I would think the weed killer would be more toxic than bleach.
Bleach converts quickly to salt water when exposed to air. It shouldn't be too much concern if used in moderation.
I use boiling hot water on my weeds in sidewalk and driveway cracks. For other weeds, I hand pull them or use landscape fabric or cardboard for larger areas.
Bleach is sold in special plastic containers that aren't affected by it. But, there are weaker plastics that bleach CAN'T be stored in, because it does eat away at its existence.
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