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  • From: "Jill Taylor Bussiere" <jdt AT itol.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Vinegar spray
  • Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 20:09:49 -0500


Have any of you ever tried this?
Jill, Wisconsin

SPRAY WEEDS WITH VINEGAR?
May 15, 2002
Agricultural Research Service, USDA, News Service
Some home gardeners already use vinegar as a herbicide, and some garden
stores sell vinegar pesticides. But no one has tested it scientifically
until now.
Agricultural Research Service scientists offer the first scientific evidence
that it may be a potent weedkiller that is inexpensive and environmentally
safe--perfect for organic farmers.
ARS researchers Jay Radhakrishnan, John R. Teasdale and Ben Coffman in
Beltsville, Md., tested vinegar on major weeds--common lamb's-quarters,
giant foxtail, velvetleaf, smooth pigweed and Canada thistle--in greenhouse
and field studies.
They hand-sprayed the weeds with various solutions of vinegar, uniformly
coating the leaves. The researchers found that 5- and 10-percent
concentrations killed the weeds during their first two weeks of life. Older
plants required higher concentrations of vinegar to kill them. At the higher
concentrations, vinegar had an 85- to 100-percent kill rate at all growth
stages. A bottle of household vinegar is about a 5-percent concentration.
Canada thistle, one of the most tenacious weeds in the world, proved the
most susceptible; the 5-percent concentration had a 100-percent kill rate of
the perennial's top growth. The 20-percent concentration can do this in
about 2 hours.
Spot spraying of cornfields with 20 percent vinegar killed 80 to 100 percent
of weeds without harming the corn, but the scientists stress the need for
more research. If the vinegar were sprayed over an entire field, it would
cost about $65 per acre. If applied to local weed infestations only, such as
may occur in the crop row after cultivation, it may only cost about $20 to
$30.
The researchers use only vinegar made from fruits or grains, to conform to
organic farming standards.
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency.






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