Earth Friendly Ways to Kill Broad Leaf Weeds

Many yards and garden are taken over by dandelions, mullein, plantain, and other broad leaf weeds. Those gardeners who do not want to use poisons and chemicals to kill them may think they just have to live with them. There are, however, some earth friendly ways of killing broad leaf weeds once and for all.

The first line of defense against broad leaf weeds is to prevent their seeds from sprouting to begin with. You do not need chemical herbicides sprinkled or sprayed all over the lawn to do this. Using your fertilizer spreader, apply corn gluten all over your yard. These yellow granules can be purchased at most garden supplies stores. It prevents weed seeds from germinating by coating and basically smothering the weed seeds.

If there are existing broad leaf weeds in your yard or garden, you need an earth friendly way to kill them. One way to get rid of broad leaf weeds is to walk around and dig every single one of them up. This can be very tedious, especially on a large property. You will probably prefer to do this by pouring or spraying various solutions on them. Most of these are designed to destroy the leaves, stems, and roots of the broad leaf weeds.

First, you can destroy the weeds completely with a generous dousing of boiling water. This method is best for earth friendly weed destruction in sidewalk cracks or driveways. It will kill surrounding plants, so do not use it in the yard or garden.

If you do need an earth friendly way of killing weeds near other plants, there are several spot treatments you can try.

White vinegar sprayed on the leaves will burn the plant up within a day. You can also use a spray bottle filled with six tablespoons of all-natural liquid soap and one quart of water. Another substance that will kill all the plants in a specific area is a liberal application of gin or vodka. All of these sprays should be used on a hot, sunny day where the weeds can cook or burn.

After using any of these applications carefully on only the broad leaf weeds, you will have to remove the dead plants. If necessary, reseed the small patch of lawn or garden that you disturbed.

These earth friendly methods for getting rid of broad leaf weeds are easy to use and very effective. Not only will you have a beautiful lawn and garden, you will be protecting the earth at the same time.