Gardening without chemicals - horticultural vinegar

I trained as an organic gardener 25 years ago and as such I choose not to use chemicals. I don't need them, won’t use them. There are better ways.

You, as many of my clients are, may be stumped as to what to do about weeds on hard surfaces and gravel paths. Reaching for the weedkiller might be your first and only option. However, I'll offer you another solution.

Vinegar. A naturally fermented product, vinegar works on weeds without the environmental risk to you, your pets and your family. I use organic horticultural vinegar. It has 9.5% acetic acid, about double that of the vinegar you put on your fish & chips. Give the weeds a good spray on a fine day, and it works well on most weeds. Even very young gorse, liverwort and broadleaf. I recently sprayed a clients gravel path and the returned the following week for a followup. Well it didnt need the followup. It'd done the job first time. And it’s cheaper than chemicals at between about 20-50% of the cost.

Note, I don’t advocate spraying vinegar on garden beds. It’s non-selective (hits everything) and Im unsure as to the impact on your soil biology. Nor do I think you need to add anything to it e.g. salt (see reference below).

So, give it a go. I use Organic WeedX from Goulters. https://www.naturalherbicide.co.nz/product/organic-weedx-vinegar-weed-control/

And use a decent Spray unit. Check out the Solo range at Mitre10.

Salt as a weedkiller? https://organicnz.org.nz/magazine-articles/no-added-salt/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLNR3dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHkDziqjJYKDD6Ie3SDI2ZFFM7KZ-CsZGiLITgI9YYv0MMgGHl6BomQZLnhxH_aem_eP9mICACuyIEBTgqyQf9mg