by The Long Island Gardener

Created on: March 03, 2009   Last Updated: March 04, 2009

Lawns coast to coast are soaking in Round-Up, Weed-B-Gone and other chemical pesticides, spending billions of dollars to kill weeds while poisoning the planet. There are better ways to do this. You can make weedkillers at home.

VINEGAR

It's official. The U.S. Government says Acetic Acid - Vinegar - works on weeds.

USDA scientists studied Vinegar as a weedkiller in 2005. They picked a site in Oklahoma and sprayed it on everything - dandelions and other broadleafs, wild grass, crabgrass, carpetweed. When the results were finally in, even they were surprised at how well Vinegar worked as a weedkiller. It was most effective on broadleaf weeds, less on grasses. One formula, a 5 percent Vinegar solution, actually wiped out 90 percent of the wild Evening Primroses. 84 percent of the broadleaf weeds melted under a dose of 10 percent Vinegar.

Note that supermarket Vinegar is only 5 percent strength. Even full strength kitchen Vinegar can't do the kind of damage you want to inflict on most weeds. The most effective solution was stronger - around 20 percent, a caustic concentration sold in farm supply stores that can burn your skin.

But there's a solution to this, too.

Researchers at Cornell University found they boosted the weedkilling power of Vinegar by heating it up. Dandelions survived. Canadian Thistle did not.

Vinegar works on contact, burning foliage instantly. It works even better if you add a dash of liquid soap, which helps it to stick to leaves and extend the damage. But because sprayed Vinegar doesn't reach roots, perennial weeds like Dandelions often recover. Weeks later, they're sending fluffy white seedheads up into the air again.

The key to success here is multiple treatments. In the case of Dandelions, a triple dose of Vinegar is needed, spaced a few days apart - enough to cause pain and suffering that compounds instead of allowing recovery between sprays. And you have to do this while avoiding vegetation that you don't want to damage, like grass, flowers and vegetables.

RAISE THE TEMPERATURE

Early settlers got it right when they cleared land with the slash-and-burn system. Today, homeowners head out with their propane torch - the one you use to light BBQs, thaw frozen pipes, and caramelize sugar on creme brulee.

Turn the torch on, aim it at the leaves of whatever it is you want to vaporize, and hold it for 5 to 15 seconds before moving on to the next intruder.

A 50,000 BTU torch gets hotter than 2000 degrees F. Weeds don't literally go up in smoke; they wilt and

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