weed spray

Some where I read about 'vinegar and Epson salt' for a weed killer. Can't find where. Anyone see it. Going to try it on some plants coming back after they were dug-up. Thanks

Me too!!!
My field has been taken over by dandelions and there
is very little grass for the goats and llamas.
So unless I want to feed hay all year I need to kill then
off with out cemicals.

I tried it and it didn't work. Weeds came back quickly.

Will your animals eat the dandelion? Dandelions actually have a decent amount of protein and other benefits. You may want to keep it!

A good read...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I send my kids out with pails and get them to pick the dandelions (flowers and leaves) from other areas of the yard to feed to the chickens.

Until I kill it all with chemical, of course. Mwahahahahahaha!

Aren't dandelions considered fodder?  Why all the poison?  Just because someone told you it was a weed?    What about salad?  What about WINE?  Surely what's good for the goose is good for the gander?  Or in our case, good for whatever you have running your place Pigglet, be it kids or Kids or otherwise? Do they not eat them?  

I avoid using Monsanto Brand poisons whenever possible.  I agree the vinegar/epsom concoction may not work (so told to me by friends - I haven't tried it yet) but I'd sooner leave some greens and yellows for the bees and the goats than poison my yard for a Harrowsmith cover shoot.

Once the weeds spread to your fields and impact your yield, you'll know why they have to be killed. Farming - real farming, Alberta style, with crops spreading across hundreds of acres - is serious business. It's our responsibility to keep our land clean so it not only doesn't ruin our crops, but the crops of our neighbours. Everyone must do their part.

Looking pretty has nothing at all to do with it.

For small scale applications there is a new selective herbicide that contains no 2-4D. It uses an iron chelate to kill the weeds. apparently it is effective but needs reapplication.


I don't think this will work for Pigglet though. I see she has taken her question over to ACE and supplied more info. She is trying to remove not dandelion, but a hedgerow of established caragana!

I'm trying to kill caragana (spelling). It was here when we came 30 years ago, and I've tried almost everything to get rid of it. The bushes I've cut down, tried to burn the roots, put Round-up on. It is around our yard and I want to open up the space. Hopefully next year we will move a house (really good shape, around 1900 sq. feet on one level, well looked after) on the place to replace our 1967 mobile home. I hired a back hoe to come in and remove one row but we have it between the maple trees, on two other sides. It was just too expensive to get the back hoe in to do all three sides. Any ideas on how to remove them?

I would cut it down below the soil then keep running the lawn mower over it to nip off the leaves. Without leaves it will eventually die but you should be able to keep it down long enough to get your house in and out. Or...do you plan to put the new house right ON the growing patch?

authenticfarm wrote:I tried it and it didn't work. Weeds came back quickly.

I was referring to this quote by yourself, not to what you call "real farming". Sorry, I must have misunderstood. I get the reasoning behind using chemicals on large applications. I thought you were saying you use the chemicals in your yard where everyone is in contact with it - not in your crop fields.

pigglet wrote:I'm trying to kill caragana (spelling). It was here when we came 30 years ago, and I've tried almost everything to get rid of it. The bushes I've cut down, tried to burn the roots, put Round-up on.  It is around our yard and I want to open up the space. Hopefully next year we will move a house (really good shape, around 1900 sq. feet on one level, well looked after) on the place to replace our 1967 mobile home. I hired a back hoe to come in and remove one row but we have it between the maple trees, on two other sides. It was just too expensive to get the back hoe in to do all three sides. Any ideas on how to remove them?

Could you do as Sue suggests and cut it down as low as possible and then cover it with newspaper or black plastic or something? Weight it down with rocks or logs?

Farmchiq wrote:I get the reasoning behind using chemicals on large applications.  I thought you were saying you use the chemicals in your yard where everyone is in contact with it - not in your crop fields.

I use them where ever the weeds are. Weed seeds will blow from my yard to the adjacent field just as easily as they will from field to field.