Get Rid Of Weeds In Your Lawn With The Help Of A Bar Cart Staple

Have you ever rewarded yourself with a martini after completing a long list of gardening tasks? If you answered yes or can imagine yourself doing this, consider using vodka to banish weeds from your yard. Vodka is just one type of alcohol that can be diluted and used in this way. You may get similar results with other spirits from your bar cart too. Whether you choose vodka, tequila, or that bottle of chartreuse that's been gathering dust since last Halloween, turning it into a spray can help you control weeds without bleach or glyphosate-based herbicides. For full weed-fighting power, you'll need a couple of other ingredients as well.

If you don't finish that celebratory martini, you might be able to use the leftovers to remove spurge weed and other stubborn lawn invaders — or, at the very least, weaken them. Enjoying a drink that contains more than vodka and vermouth? Don't worry. It's okay if the cocktail contains melting ice or a bit of juice. You'll need to water down the alcohol when creating your weed-fighting spray, and these ingredients can help. Bits of sugar and salt are fine too. In fact, they may support your weed-fighting efforts since they're components of quite a few other DIY herbicides. Also grab some dish soap as you prepare to make your spray. In general, you'll need about 1 oz. of alcohol for every 2 cups of water or other liquid, plus a tiny squirt of dish soap.

To make a weed-banishing spray, put your vodka, dish soap, and water — plus any cocktail dregs — in a spray bottle. If you run out of vodka, swap in rubbing alcohol or vinegar, which work in a similar way. Shake the bottle to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Then, douse the foliage of unwanted plants with this solution. Both the dish soap and the vodka dissolve protective coatings on the exteriors of the weeds. The dish soap is also thought to help the alcohol adhere to plant tissues. This type of weed killer is best to use on dry and sunny days. Apply it in the middle of the day, when the sunlight is most intense. These conditions encourage the solution to sink into the weeds right away, and the sun may assist in removing moisture from the foliage.

Be sure to apply your vodka-based weed killer with care. Non-selective DIY herbicides like this one and Martha Stewart's three-ingredient weed killer, which is powered by vinegar and dish soap, are likely to damage any plant they touch. Though these natural herbicides are made of nontoxic ingredients, keep children and pets away from the plants you've sprayed until the solution is dry. In addition to being the safest route, this helps the spray to do its job with minimal disruptions. If all goes well, this spray will start to desiccate weed foliage the day you apply it. The weeds should look pretty dead by the following day. That said, you may need to apply this solution to stubborn weeds several times over the course of a growing season.