The desire to move away from toxic pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and artificial fertilizers is gaining popularity as health awareness is on the rise.
Growing your own food organically is the alternative, but the tricky pest problem remains, fortunately, vinegar is a great alternative to these artificial toxins!
Vinegar can simultaneously enhance the life of a plant and kill weeds.
Get Rid of Weeds
Get rid of unwanted garden growth by pouring apple cider vinegar onto weeds.
Vinegar Weed Killer Recipe
- 1-gallon white vinegar
- 1 cup salt or Epsom salt
- ⅛ cup dish soap
- Combine all ingredients together and shake or stir until thoroughly combined.
- Let sit for a while before using it so that the soap bubbles can deflate.
- Use a hand or garden sprayer and apply the solution to grasses, weeds, or plants you’d like to kill.
- Thoroughly wet both the top and underside of leaves and all areas of the plant down to the ground. It is best to do this on a calm, windless day with strong sunlight, preferably early in the morning so that the sun can help the solution work.
Be sure not to spray this solution onto plants that you want to keep. Also, the vinegar can affect the soil pH, at least for a few days, which usually will not kill other plants but may cause some stress and upset soil balance. The salt in the solution can also be harmful to nearby plants and will remain in the soil longer than the vinegar’s effects. This vinegar-based weed killer is especially useful along paths and walkways where there are no other plants that can be potentially harmed and where you do not care to have any plant regrow anyway.
Keep Cut Flowers Fresh
On that note, vinegar can be used to in the following recipe as a flower preservative in cut flower vases. It will keep the water fresher and help your cut flowers to last longer, and possibly help prevent some of those unsightly rings to begin with.
Flower Preservative Recipe
- 1 quart of water
- 2 tablespoons of vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
Combine all ingredients, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Use to water flowers. Replace every few days or as needed if the water becomes cloudy.
Food for Acidic-Loving Plants
Plants like gardenias, holly, azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, and begonias grow beautifully in acidic soil. Spray them with a mixture of 1 gallon of water to 1 cup of white vinegar to help them grow.
Removes Fruit Flies
To keep fruit flies and household flies at bay, you should mix half a cup of apple cider vinegar, a tablespoon of molasses, a quarter cup of sugar and a cup of water.
Then, pour the mixture into a suitable container and hang it on the fruit tree. Fruit flies will be trapped in it as soon as they try to attack the mixture.
Cleanse Your Hands of Allergens
You can wind up with dirt and allergens on your hands after spending a day working in your garden. Wash your hands with some distilled vinegar to cleanse them of debris and make sure that they don’t itch.
Kill Ants
Spray ant hills with one part water and one part vinegar to kill them. Spray areas where ants are likely to invade to keep them at bay.
Wash Your Garden Tools
You can soak garden tools, like a rake or hoe, overnight in vinegar to get rid of rust and grime. You can also fill a plastic bag with vinegar and tie it over a water spigot to keep it submerged. Rinse everything off with water.
Get Rid of Slugs and Snails
If slugs and snails are compromising your plant growth, spray them with some undiluted vinegar. This will make them wither and die.
Clean Out Your Birdbath
Mix some undiluted water with white vinegar and use it to scrub your birdbath. Make sure to rinse it off with water.
Keep Kitty Away
If your kitty is using your garden or your kid’s sandbox as a toilet then you can pour some distilled vinegar into the sand or soil to keep them away.
Keep Flowers Fresh
Help freshly cut flowers from your garden last by adding two tablespoons of vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar to a quart of water before adding your flowers.