Baking Soda for Weed Control: DIY Weed Killer That Works

Weeds grow effortlessly without even your plantation. Often, we get confused with some tiny floral plants with weeds. The excessive plants that grow in your garden, even without the plantation and proper care, are usually weeds. Though we consider weeds unnecessary, weeds may contribute to your daily life, from medicinal properties to garden ornamentation.

Weeds give rise to variant colors of flowers, like white, purple, and yellow, which are mentionable. You can check out the articles Weed with Yellow Flower, Weed with a Pink Flower, and Weed with Purple Flower if you want to know more about weeds and their usage.

Though weeds may help you, often, the excessive growth of the weed becomes a threat to your garden as it inhibits the proper development of other plants. You can use some home remedies to get rid of the weed growth. You can use baking soda for weed control as it is quite affordable and effective.

Recipe Making Process

Before making the weed killer with baking soda, we need to understand what it is and how it works as a weed killer. Baking soda is available in each household as a staple cooking ingredient.

• What is baking soda?

Baking soda is only sodium bicarbonate ( Na2CO3), mainly a salt that further breaks into sodium and bicarbonate in water. It neutralizes the acid by playing the role of an alkali.

• How does baking soda kill the weeds?

Applying baking soda will pull out the water from the cells inside the weeds and make it dry. Due to dehydration, the normal cell cycle of the weeds becomes interrupted, which causes the death of the weed. After drying out, you can easily pull the dead weeds out of the soil.

• Baking soda recipe to kill weeds

Take one and a half cups of baking soda and mix it with a tablespoon of vinegar in one gallon of water. Pour the solution into a spray bottle and spray it on the weeds regularly. Be careful not to spray on other pants accidentally. Otherwise, it will kill other floral plants. Though baking soda is gentle, it is dangerous to some necessary plants if it comes in contact.

Does Baking Soda Kill Weeds Permanently?

The answer is ‘ yes ‘; baking soda can kill weeds permanently. Once you have applied the baking soda spray on the weeds, it will drain all the water from the leaves from the cellular level. Due to internal dehydration, the weeds will lose the ability to germinate further and die.

However, the weeds will further grow from the area where you have sprayed after some time. Inside the soil, there must be seeds of weeds that are waiting to germinate. So, repetitive baking soda spray will keep your garden from unnecessary weeds.

How Much Baking Soda to Kill Weed?

The amount of baking soda required to kill the weeds depends on how many you want to remove. However, it has a specific ratio, and you can increase or decrease the balance accordingly. Usually, for one gallon of water, one and a half cups of baking soda is enough, and additionally, you can use one tablespoon of vinegar.

Though baking soda is a gentle yet effective weed killer, you should prepare the mixture in the amount you want. Excessive use of the soda mixture may affect other plants and harm them. You have to keep in mind some factors like-

• The ratio of baking soda along with other ingredients
• The amount of weeds you want to remove
• The type of weeds you want to remove
• How frequently you are using the baking soda mixture
• The concentration of the vinegar used with the baking soda

5% to 10% vinegar is quite effective if you are going to use it for the first time with baking soda. The increased amount will be more efficient, though excessive usage might damage the soil health. Depending on these factors, the amount of baking soda will differ from time to time.

How Long Does It Take for Baking Soda to Kill Weeds?

Baking soda is gentle as it is a home remedy. Despite being mild, baking soda is effective. But you cannot use it as a one-time treatment. The repetitive use of baking soda will help you to get rid of unnecessary weeds for a more extended period. It can take three to six weeks to get the best result. 

• Small weeds: Again, the small, tiny weeds near your sidewalks and corners of your garden comparatively have low survival capability. After applying the baking soda mixture, it will take one to two full sunny days to die.

• Older weeds: The older weeds will not grow stronger if grown back after the baking removal. One application of baking soda mixture will be enough to kill them. Then, uproot the weeds with your hand.

• Mature and robust weeds: You can increase the concentration of the vinegar from 5% to 10% to accelerate the effectiveness of the baking soda mixture. The vinegar we usually use for household activities contains 5% of the concentration. The higher concentration vinegar is also available in the market. The 20% acetic acid mixture (vinegar) will be pretty helpful for the vigorous weeds that are difficult to remove.

Baking Soda to Kill Weeds Between the Paver

Going through the sidewalks, you often notice tiny grass-like plants from the paving stones. The grass-like plants are usually the weeds that grow from the narrow space between the rocks. It deteriorates the beauty of the pathway. So it is essential to clean them as soon as possible.

While installing the paving stone, people suggest filling the gaps between the rocks with polymeric sand as it prevents the growth of the weed to some extent. You can also use geotextile fabric between the cracks. Otherwise, it will give rise to weeds and grass.

To kill the weeds between the pavers, you can sprinkle baking soda between the gaps and cracks of the stones. You don’t need to use the vinegar mixture with baking soda for this case. Sprinkling baking soda will be enough to deal with the weeds. You must apply it regularly to get the maximum result. The fully sunny day will accelerate the process and kill within a few applications.

Will Baking Soda and Water Kill Weeds?

Adding water to vinegar will dilute the acetic acid solution and make it mild. The baking soda and water mixture is not as effective as the mixture of baking soda with vinegar or lemon juice. It will help to kill the small weeds that are not difficult to kill.

Sometimes we ignore the ingredients that are inside our cupboard and we go for the expensive options. Baking soda is not only available but it is also super cheap. Vinegar is also another magical ingredient from our kitchen. Though the mixture is effective, because of is gentle, you have to use it repetitively to get long-term results.

DIY home remedies like baking soda and vinegar are great alternatives to expensive market products. You should try it at least once to understand its effectiveness. It will save you both naturally and financially.