Re: BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS BT

cpl100 6/1/2014, 9:26 pm

Windmere wrote:
AtlantaMarie wrote:Windmere, I use Dr. B's in my vinegar/salt grass/weed killer. Works fine!
Marie, it's interesting that you mention the vinegar. I've read that spraying poison ivy with boiling hot vinegar will kill it (permanently if it gets into soil). Perhaps I will add some soap to it. I know that you cannot grow anything there for quite a while afterwards, so you have to be careful about where you do this.

Is this boiling vinegar method good for only poison ivy or will it kill other/all other plants as well? How long does it take to kill the poison ivy? I have some in my yard that I want to eradicate. Thanks!

Windmere 6/1/2014, 10:01 pm

cpl100 wrote:
Windmere wrote:
AtlantaMarie wrote:Windmere, I use Dr. B's in my vinegar/salt grass/weed killer. Works fine!
Marie, it's interesting that you mention the vinegar. I've read that spraying poison ivy with boiling hot vinegar will kill it (permanently if it gets into soil). Perhaps I will add some soap to it. I know that you cannot grow anything there for quite a while afterwards, so you have to be careful about where you do this.

Is this boiling vinegar method good for only poison ivy or will it kill other/all other plants as well? How long does it take to kill the poison ivy? I have some in my yard that I want to eradicate. Thanks!

I think this substance will kill anything. By coincidence, today I was talking to an older friend of mine who said that the vinegar does not even have to be boiling. However, the boiling effect may make it more herbicidal. My friend mentioned the salt as well and she told me that dish soap (or something like Dr. Bonner's) would be helpful too. HOWEVER, keep in mind that you will not be able to grow anything there for a long time.

**walshevak** 6/2/2014, 5:22 pm

The Garden Professors added 2 new photos.
About a week ago I posted something about how I used Round-up and it killed half of a shrub in my yard. This resulted in all kinds of flak from people opposed to the use of Round-up, including some suggestions that I should use vinegar which supposedly works just as well. I'm not going to defend my use of Round-up -- but I am very concerned that people think long and hard about using vinegar.
I have been using vinegar in trials for a few years now, and I could wax poetic about its efficacy or lack thereof, but instead let me tell you about my worst experience with vinegar. A couple of years ago, I decided to take a product that I had purchased for some trials at school and use it on the weeds under my back porch -- an area filled with gravel mulch. The product I used is shown in the picture below and contains 20% acetic acid. Once the bottle was open, the smell of the stuff brought tears to my eyes. This stuff is potent. I started spraying and, soon afterwards, saw something hopping erratically out of the corner of my eye. It was a young frog -- a helper in my garden -- something that eats insects, slugs, and other garden pests. It was obvious to me that I'd accidentally hit it with the vinegar while it was hiding in the low weeds (about 3-4 inches high). As you might expect, vinegar can be quite dangerous for frogs. I called for my wife to bring some water so that I could clean it off, and the water was in my hand in less than two minutes. I rinsed the frog off, but it was too late. The little guy was dead. And though the tops of the weeds under my porch were also dead, the roots survived and most of the weeds came back withing three weeks.
So, what about regular vinegar, about 5% acetic acid? After reading some literature, while it might be better, it certainly wouldn't be safe for frogs. But isn't Round-up dangerous to frogs too? Sure. I'm not arguing for Round-up, I'm arguing against vinegar. If you want to be safe use mulch and hand-weeding.
-JG-

Just more information on when or not to use vinegar.

Kay

CapeCoddess 9/3/2017, 3:37 pm

Bump.
Here you go, Rock. I don't use it but I can't remember why or what I read about it but maybe it's in this thread.

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BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS BT