Did you know you can have a weed free yard and vegetable gardens without using Toxic Chemicals? With my eco friendly weed killer recipe you can have a beautiful, weed free landscape without any worry!

Who else has had enough of the weeds in their yard and garden?? Learn how I naturally kill those pesky weeds, as safely as possible, with The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Spray!

No I’m not joking. There is a healthy and safe way to spray away your weeds and I’m excited to teach you how to easily make your own!

I first shared about our homemade weed killer a long long long time ago when I first started blogging.  Over time I’ve diligently worked to improve my mixture saving so much time and money!

Why should YOU use a Homemade Natural Weed Killer?

If you’ve been using Round Up or other similar chemical based herbicides please READ THIS. They are toxic for humans, animals, insects and our environment as a whole.

For us personally we have pets, an organic garden, 50+ fruit & nut trees PLUS a flock of back yard chickens, none of which should be exposed to toxic chemicals. Not to mention we spend lots of time outside on our property, too!

And, food for thought, chemicals we use on our land seeps down into our ground water supplies and ultimately into major bodies of water too.

Eco Friendly Weed Killer Ingredients

You only need 3 ingredients to make The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer.

• 20-30% Vinegar 
• Cold Pressed Orange Oil Concentrate 
• Dr Bronner’s Peppermint Castile Soap

And of course you’ll need a sprayer, let me help you find the best one!

The Best Sprayer for Homemade weed killer

First things first, your going to need an inexpensive garden sprayer. I like to use a 1.3 gallon sprayer for our 3+ acre homestead where I’m spraying around our landscaping, trees, chicken run and in our garden. It holds 1 full-size recipe of weed killer.

If you have a smaller yard or want to keep some pre-mixed for touch ups, you can use any size spray bottle for unwanted weeds. Repurposing a spray bottle that’s been throughly cleaned will work great but if you are going to purchase a spray bottle, choose a glass spray bottle so that you can use it for years to come for a wide variety of uses.

NOTE: It’s imperative to throughly clean out your sprayer. Do not let your homemade weed killer stay in the sprayer in-between uses it will ruin the sprayer. Rinse well with water and spray to clean the hose, too.

How to kill weeds without toxic chemicals

Does vinegar kill weeds, is the most common searched question and vinegar is the MAIN ingredient in my eco friendly weed killer recipe, making up 95% of the solution. But we aren’t using any vinegar, the trick is using THIS VINEGAR as the active ingredient.

When we hear stories of failed attempts to use vinegar to kill weeds, it’s 99% of the time because they used kitchen vinegar and not the GOOD stuff. (no you also can’t use lemon juice to make the most effective eco-friendly weed killer either!) You can also find tons of much more complicated recipes with additions of ingredients such as table salt, corn gluten meal, citric acid, soda, and/or boiling water to duplicate weed killing that you’d see with toxic products like roundup.

The acetic acid in the vinegar draw moisture from broadleaf weeds and other unwanted plants, causing them to die. Without leaves, the plant cannot get vital sunlight the it needs to continue growing after spraying with this vinegar weed killer.

Before you ask using household or canning vinegar is NOT strong enough for through, long lasting, weed control. Over the past 10 years you name the vinegar, I’ve tried it. I can say with complete and utter certainty that THIS VINEGAR will give you the BEST results, 6x more concentrated than traditional 5% white vinegar!

And by results I mean you use less vinegar wet killer spray, less often to maintain results.

A word of caution, THIS VINEGAR, while natural is STRONG. Wearing gloves and/or a mask may be necessary for sensitive individuals when using this home made weed killer.

And don’t use it for cooking, duh. Read the info on the bottle before using so that you understand what you are working with.

To save money, if you have a large area that you’ll be using your homemade weed killer on (like us, we have have over 100 trees we spray around and lots of garden weeds to keep up with) I suggest purchasing a 5 gallon bucket of vinegar, we tend to go through 3-4 gallon of vinegar each summer when we keep up with weed growth, new plants and persistent weeds / perennial weeds.

Let me repeat myself one more time, you cannot use regular distilled white vinegar, apple cider vinegar or household vinegar to make the most effective organic weed killer recipe.

How to use Castile Soap to Kill Weeds

Adding soap to the vinegar acts as a surfactant, which is an agent that will reduce the surface tension that can cause the weed-killing concoction to bead on the leaves instead of being absorbed by the plant when sprayed with this home made weed killer.

Any all natural dish soap can be used HOWEVER to kick up the weed killing to also have safe insecticide properties, I recommend Dr Bronners Peppermint Castile Soap.   That little bit of peppermint in the Castile soap helps to deter ant and other pesky infestations, while still maintaining it’s safety. I also use it in my Asparagus Beetle Insecticide Spray.

Many others have shared that they make natural weed killer with vinegar and Dawn dish soap, while I find better success with Castile soap feel free to swap in Dawn liquid dish soap instead if that floats your boat!

For the pump (shown in the photo above) the fits the 32 ounce bottles CLICK HERE.

How to use Orange Oil to kill weeds

Concentrated Orange Oil is a natural and biodegradable product made from the oils extracted from orange peels during a cold press process that preserves the natural structure of the oil. Orange Oil has been found to be a key component of various gardening and household applications. As an ingredient in my DIY weed killer, orange oil like soap, helps to kill the weeds from the outer surface of the leaves. NOTE: Orange oil is not the same as essential oils.

Additionally Orange oil contains an extract from the peel called d-limonene, which is rated as an insecticide. According to University of Florida’s IFAS Extension, it kills fleas, aphids, mites, fire ants, house crickets, paper wasps and some flies as an added boost to your non-toxic week killer recipe!

How to use Eco Friendly Weed Killer

The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer should be applied after the weeds have emerged (postemergent) and have little or no soil residual activity. This homemade weed killer don’t control weed seedlings that germinate after application. They kill the plants by breaking down plant membranes and are considered contact or burndown herbicides.

Generously spray undesired plants with your DIY weed killer on a sunny day when the ground is dry and there is no rain in the forecast for the next 24 hours. Be sure to fully saturate the leaves of the weeds and take care when spraying in flower beds to protect nearby plants from over spray.

This natural weed killer is very fast acting, but to be most effective they must contact all or most of the aboveground plant tissue, unlike commercial weed killers that contain commercial herbicides and harsh chemicals. It is especially important to spray the growing points, or else the plant will regrow.

You need to be cautious of the plants growing nearby where you are spraying, for detailed applications apply The Best Homemade Natural Non-Toxic Weed Killer with a paintbrush toe sure you do not damage the leaves of neighboring plants.

Here’s screenshots of my Instagram Story where I’ve shared the how this is the best natural weed killers!

This eco friendly diy weed killer recipe can be used on dandelions in your lawn, cracks in your sidewalk, gravel driveways, mulch,

Homemade Weed Killer FAQ

I’ve recently added this section to help address questions that readers have asked. Please comment on this post if you need assistance and I’ll continue to add popular Weed Spray topics to this list!

• Epsom Salt Weed Killer: Should you add epsom salt to your weed killer recipe? Is Epsom salt a weed killer? Years ago when we first started switching to less toxic garden precuts, I made an all natural weed killer with epsom salt. After 15+ years of trial and error, perfecting this home remedy weed killer, I found that using epson salt weed killer is not as effective as this recipe, however if you want add epsom salt to your weed killer, I can’t find any reason that it would make this vinegar weed spray any less effective. If using vinegar and epsom salt weed killer works for you be sure to comment to help other readers too!
• Bleach Weed Killer: Does bleach kill weeds? Or better yet is does bleach kill weeds? Admittedly I’ve never tried bleach as a weed killer because I don’t feel adding bleach to our environment is a healthy choice nor would I advocate for you to do so. Additionally I would not feel comfortable with my pets/chickens/kids coming into contact with a homemade weed killer with bleach, this natural weed killer recipe is also a homemade weed killer safe for pets and the whole family!
• Is this a Natural Grass Killer? Not only will vinegar kill weeds, vinegar is also effective in a homemade grass killer. This homemade round up doesn’t descriminate, it’s also a homemade poison ivy killer. This homemade weed killer recipe is also effective at killing clover with vinegar too!

Want more homesteading and garden tips? Check out these related tips!

• How to use the Moon Phase for a Healthy Garden
• Recycling + Composting = Weed Free Gardening
• How to Fix Splayed Leg or Spraddle Leg in Chicks
• What to Forage for in April; Morel Mushrooms and Ramps

Yours in Health,