Anyone Know Of A Natural Weed Killer, I Need To Kill Of Some Stubbon Grass And Weeds

[johnb]

Hi, I;m finaly getting round to doing a little landscaping at our house in Cebu, should finish off the concrete work by next week, then want to lay some gravel over some raised beds, however we have some very stubbon grass and some weeds that just wont go away, my plan was to cover the area with plastic then pierce it to allow for drainage then add 2 or 3 inches of gravel, I have done this before in a smaller area but some weeds still seem to find there way through, so this time i want to try to kill them all before laying the plastc, however i do want to plant in the beds in the future so its tricky, I thought the termite poison may work, so when poisoning the ground before laying my concrete slab I poured a little termite ground poison on the grass, didnt seem to have any effect lol

I layed a concrete slab as a parking area before moving to the back yard and the landscaping, i have poisoned as much as I can under my concrete slabs and paths, because other than just protect the property from termites I also used Bamboo as reinforment in my concrete slab, I'm hoping someone can help with a natural weed killer or any other ideas for ridding me of my weeds

[Adventurer]

Vinegar & a bit of dish washing detergent to make it stick to the plants...;)

[i am bob]

Plastic will hold too much water - even if pierced - and can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes and Dengue. It's best to use landscape cloth. And termite poison won't do anything for weeds that I know of.

Vinegar does well on some plants and won't affect later plantings if you water after killing and before planting. Or just wait a few days. With what you have done so far, I would use a propane torch with a spread nozzle. Rake out any small weeds and then burn the soil. Rake and do it again. You are burning out any weed seeds this way. The most cost effective way of all though? Just pull the little buggers by hand as soon as they appear!

For termites? Get a hose, attach one of the bottle attachments with a nozzle and fill that bottle with dish detergent. Use a stream starting at the base of the house and work out from the house. If you have termites now, you will be able to see them running for their lives! Yes, it will foam and the kids will have a great time playing in it! Rinse the kids after but not the ground. Do this every 2 or 3 days and repeat once every month or two. No termites!

[Call me bubba]

why not try SALT?

Not this SALT

[johnb]

Thanks all for the tips, termite ground poisoning is standard here and the treatment is readily available in most hardware stores, weed killer not so lol I will try the vinegar and salt methods, i have laid plastic before and not had any problem with it holding water, i just used the sacks that the building sand arrives in and lay them down with a good overlap, then pierce them, water can drain via the holes or between the joints, as long as enough gravel is added on top, this prevents day light from getting down to the bags, because they will breakdown with sunlight, just turned 6.40 am in Cebu, I start laying the next two bays of concrete at seven, I just have one guy working with me, so i like to start early to beat the worst of the sun, spent the best part of yesturday digging out the last area of the site and laying the bamboo, will poison the ground just before we shovel in the concrete, gotta make sure my dogs are well away and safe first..

[BooBoo]

Greetings! Did you really use bamboo for rebar in your cement slab???

now that is what I call a cheap solution. LOL BUT, will it work??

 

Good luck!

[johnb]

Greetings! Did you really use bamboo for rebar in your cement slab???

now that is what I call a cheap solution. LOL BUT, will it work??

 

Good luck!

Hi BooBoo, yes I used bamboo slats tied into a mesh for the concrete pads, it seems successful so far, Its not so uncommon and there's plenty of information on the net about it, I saw a picture of it being used in a commercial car park area in Manila some time ago, here's just one of many links to the use of bamboo,

 

http://www.chalet-bamboo.com/productsdetail/bamboo-poles-and-slats/bamboo-reinforcing-bars-for-concrete.html