Killing weeds with boiling water is actually a fairly effective way to get rid of weeds, especially ones that are wedged into cracks where pulling them is almost impossible.
If you're one of these "I love everything that grows" types you probably think a field of dandelions is beautiful. You're some kindda hippie, aren't you?
They might be nice to look at and even eat, but when a dandelion gets in your crack it's pretty hard to get rid of without some sort of dangerous, deadly, dastardly poison. You know. The kind of stuff that makes birds start to grow beaks out of their bellybuttons.
So when you're looking to eliminate a weed in a hard to reach place, look to boiling water. It's a bit of a pain because of course, you have to boil a lot of water to get rid of a lot of weeds. But it works.
This is a perfect technique for dealing with weeds in sidewalks or pavers.
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Boiling Water.
Yup. Just pour boiling water on them. I know. I didn't think it would work either. But it does. One caveat to using boiling water is you'll have to repeat the treatment until the tap root eventually decides it can't take it anymore.
It make take 3 or 4 treatments to get rid of the weed for good. Each time it grows back, treat it again. It will grow back less and less vigorously as time goes on until it doesn't grow back at all.
The weed before boiling water treament
Pouring on Boiling Water.
1 hour later.
2 days later.
One half of the longgggggggg area I had to treat with boiling water.
The entire brick wall had hundreds of weeds sprouting out of where it met the sidewalk.
How does this work?
Boiling water kills the leaves instantly. The weed leaves are how they gather energy to grow, so if you get rid of those you're on your way to killing the entire weed.
It's more effective than simply removing the leaves because the boiling water also damages the top of the taproot.
As soon as you see them return, repeat the process on the young leaves before they have time to gather more energy for the taproot. Do this a few times and the root will die having lost its energy source.
After 1 treatment 90% of the weeds were dead. At least on the outside. But like I say, I think with a couple of more treatments they'll be gone for good. Dead to me. The larger weeds took 2 treatments of boiling water each to kill them.
Obviously you don't want to use this particular method if you have weeds in your grass. It'll kill the grass too.
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Hey Karen, you got any mother nature tips to keep bugs out of your vegetable garden? Those douchey little aphids are eating my peppers. Been squirting them with water and dish soap, but I just cant seem to get rid of them.
Kristen - I hate aphids. I hate them I hate them I hate them. I usually suck it up and go out and squish them with my fingers. Which is disturbingly gross. I've used the "Green Earth" brand of insecticidal soap to great success with white flies and to some success with aphids. Stupid aphids. I hate them. ~ karen
plant marigolds! the old-fashioned, heavily scented type
those marigolds keep a lot of nibbly buggies at bay
Damn...squishing eh? I don't know why but those damn little things freak me right out. Especially the pink ones. I was hoping you'd have a magic aphid murdering tea, or some form of aphid voodoo doll. My skin crawls just thinking about those little bastards.
How about unleashing a container or 2 of ladybugs? Apparentloy they LIVE to devour aphids.
"apparently"
*BOOOOOM!!* <--- my mind being blown
Good job Karen I knew that but I have a husband who dresses up in a villian suit at night and then goes around spraying everything with poison laughing hideously like the joker. So this will fall on deaf ears.
dawnajonesdesign.com
PS your blog is the best.
Thanks Dawna. :) ~ k!
Also, FYI...I tried to post a link to this post on my FB page and couldn't. Got a message that this post has been blocked for "spammy content." I reported it to FB to say that you are legit. I wonder if others are also having this problem.
Weird. Thanks for reporting it! ~ karen
Figures that this is your post today when I pulled weeds for 2 hours yesterday! Thanks for the tip though, definitely going to try this on my crack!
Karen, you are just super-duper. Thank you for everything. And just tell those judgemental neighbors to f-off.
Great post, Karen! My neighbour kept telling me that boiling water is the best way to kill weeds, and, though I`m sure this was a hint from her (my patio is all stone and the weeds have made themselves a lovely home there), and though her patio is completely free of weeds, I kinda needed to see it to believe it - and now I have! So I guess I know what I`ll be up to tonight!
Thanks for your informative posts!
wow! thanks for the boiling water tip! I'll try it today...weee
I've got enough weeds on my acre to try all of these methods and see which one works the best. Thanks for the tips, Karen and fellow fans!
Karen....any tips on getting rid of creeping charlie that has started to take over the lawn...aside from ripping everything up and starting over.
Thanks
Shannon
I tried the boiling water thing with very temporary results. Maybe I wasn't persistent enough. And I found it hard to have enough boiling water - had to take the kettle outside and keep plugging it in. Still have 'crack grass'. Tried the vinegar too. Same temporary result but not the boiling bit. I suspect I might be killing the weeds but new ones are blowing in. Bleh! Next thing to try is to treat the weeds and then apply a new layer of the sand you put in the cracks. Maybe this will prevent some reseeding. However I have one dandelion at the base of a wall like Karen shows that I suspect has a root to China! I cut it out, poison it, boil it, vinegar it and it keeps coming back bigger. Maybe we should all admire dandelions - they are pretty amazing:)
I'm going to try this Karen at least in my cracks on the sidewalk. Great idea! My Hubs will love this!
A little bit of bleach mixed in after the water is boiled kills weeds and ants.
This also works well on ant nests. We had a TON of ants last year making ant cracks (hmmm, doesn't sound as interesting as grass crack for some reason), and didn't want to use poison on them so I boiled them with a kettle or two of water. I had to do it a couple of times last summer since the survivors out hunting in the boonies came back and started new nests but it kept them down to a dull roar.
I have long used boiling water and love that it works so well and so fast. I am now adding some salt when I am working in an area that I don't want the weeds to ever come back. But you have to be careful using salt. It will act as a long term herbicide but it can leach out into areas you don't want to have it in. I use it down the middle of my gravel driveway but not at the edges and it seems to keep the worst of the weeds down.
Vinegar has been a dismal failure for me as a weed killer. Even the horticultural strength. Not worth the effort of spraying it.
Occasionally, and I do mean very seldom, I do use a glycosate product. Never, ever, ever do I use Roundup. Monsanto is the Devil's company in my mind and I will not use anything they make. But there are just some rare times and places I need to get quickly cleared of vegetation and it does do the job. I just spent a lot of money to buy an even more organic type weed killer on line and it was a dismal fail. I was hoping for a better alternative to glycosate but so far it is not to be.
And if you have a problem with pesky ants, the boiling water trick works on them too! Although they don't turn red like lobsters though :P I have been using the Vinegar/Salt/Dishsoap "Herbicide" for the past few years, stuff works like magic - especially on MOSS. That darn stuff would not die no matter what you sprayed on it, I almost resorted to gasoline in my quest to rid my patio of moss. Then I discovered the all-natural herbicide of just 3 ingredients, and it really isn't THAT much mixing! Try it - you'll be amazed. Remember to thoroughly mix the salt and vinegar together before adding the dishsoap, otherwise, you end up with a spray bottle full of bubbles!
Deborah, because of you I'm predicting Karen will next post a recipe for salt and vinegar chips (sans dishsoap). I thank you!!!
I am sure she will :) Here is my herbicide recipe that I use if you (or anyone else) is interested...
http://www.thehomesteadingrealtor.com/the-homesteading-gardener/weeding-through-life/
I tried planting irish moss between our paving stones but the weeds sprouted up before the moss could grow dense and out compete the weeds.
I gave up and tried digging up a portion and replaced it with gravel. Before I was finished with the whole area, weeds started growing up in the gravel. So, I'd abandoned ship and left the walk half finished.
But now I have hope, I am going to try this on the gravel- thanks for the idea.
Seriously ? I have been staring and hating my weeds for all these years for nothing?!
Gotta run...I'm off to make a cup of tea and boil the heck outta some bad a$$ weeds.
You d'best, you d'best, you d'best... Pretend I sung that in a beautiful rainbow voice.
Lynne
Goodbye evil weeds.
This seems cruel ... I think it's better to kill them suddenly pulling them to avoid the suffering of dying slowly :-/
Hi Karen-
I have a cool thing I call my miniature flame thrower. It's in the shape of a candy cane and powered by a small propane tank. I turn on the gas and light it up by clicking a button - kinda like lighting a gas grill. In no time weeds are burned and their roots are destroyed with a couple passes of the flame. It's fast and easy. Just dont wear flip flops while doing this in case you need to stomp anything out. Works like a charm.