Protect your yard from weeds by using products safe for pets.
Warm weather brings the onset of unruly weeds --- in your garden and lawn, and around your pavements. These weeds kill plants, give your outdoor space an unattractive look and can even weaken stone and cement if left untreated. Conventional weed killers are effective, but they often contain harsh and dangerous chemicals that may harm pets. Safer, natural alternatives made at home protect both your yard from weeds and your pets from weed killers. Does this Spark an idea?
Acid Treatments
Acidic treatments draw the moisture out of the leaves of any plant, including weeds. White vinegar contains acetic acid, making it an effective weed-killing treatment. While white vinegar may not be the best thing for a pet to consume, if your pet is exposed to vinegar in your yard or chews a weed treated with vinegar, it causes no harm. Vinegar sprays or straight vinegar applied to weeds kills most weeds within 24 hours. Adding soap to the spray helps the vinegar to stick to the plant's leaves more effectively. Remember that acid treatments are not selective and will kill any plant, even grass or garden plants, if it touches them.
Water and Water Vapor
Simple water provides nourishment and hydration to weeds. Boiling water, however, is quite an effective weed killer. Boiling water and the vapors from the water's steam cook the weeds when it's poured over them. The weeds cannot survive the shock, and they burn from the water and often die immediately. In fact, this method of treatment is often more effective than conventional chemical weed killers. Best of all, water is perfectly safe for use around pets --- just keep them away from the boiling water when it is being poured to avoid burns. This method kills all plants, not just weeds.
Salt
Salt is extremely dangerous to plants, drying them up and rendering the soil around them unsuitable for plant growth for months. Salt is a nonselective weed killer, killing weeds and other garden plants alike. In order to prevent your entire yard from being destroyed by salt, simply sprinkle a small pile of salt around the base of each weed you wish to eliminate. The salt kills the weeds and dilutes to safe levels for your garden after a few rain showers. Keep pets out of your salt stash, but their exposure to the small amount on your weeds is perfectly safe.
Smothering
Weeds need light and oxygen to grow. If you cut off their supply of those things, they begin to die out. Mulching heavily over weeds cuts off their oxygen and light while increasing the visual appeal of garden beds by making them look tidy. Mulch may be made of pine needles, grass clippings, clipped weeds and even wood shavings. However, another easy option is to place at least four layers of newspaper over the ground, covering the weeds. The paper smothers the weeds and kills them as effectively as mulch. None of these items are harmful to pets.
Corn Meal
Corn meal does not kill mature, active weeds. This product does, however, prevent the seeds of weeds from germinating into seedlings. Again, this is not a selective weed treatment and will prevent all seeds from growing. To prevent weed seeds from germinating in your yard, simply sprinkle the corn meal around the area where you wish to prevent the weeds from growing. Corn meal is completely nontoxic for pets, making it effective and appropriate for pet-friendly yards.
Tags: your yard, weed killers, yard from, from germinating, from growing, from water