animaux wrote in
:
I don't know what the "correct" concentration is, but you might want
to start with 1 tablespoon vinegar to 1 quart water. (I could be way
off).
You are way off. Why make the suggestion without knowing anything
about it? So, if this person asked how to use orthene, you'd make a
recommendation without knowing the correct concentration? Sorry if I
sound ****y, but gee wiz, why make any recommendation.
Let's see, first Meteor-man responds saying it will not work at all.
Second, I say it will. This is why I bothered to make a recommendation.
Third, if nobody else chimes in (although I anticipated someone would), I
have given a starting point and a disclaimer. Fourth, there two ways to
kill a plant. You can 1) completely destroy it or 2) gradually and
repeatedly injure it until it exhausts it's ability to repair itself.
If someone had asked how to use orthene, I would have told her to read the
directions on the label.
As for knowing nothing about it, I do know *something* about it, although
some may consider the modicum of information *nothing* at all. As I have
implied, I've have used vinegar as a herbicide. This vinegar was ordinary
household vinegar from a *grocery store*.
The correct dilution is NOT TO DILUTE it and to buy 20% by volume
acidity vinegar sold in horticultural centers. It's not the kind you
use for food.
If want to go out and buy 20% vinegar I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Use more or less depending on how dilute your vinegar is to start
with.
Oh, that so much better. Sheesh.
Thank you peanut gallery.
The idea is to make your own mini-acid rain storm, vinegar being
acetic acid. I also don't know if this will kill your weeds, but
having used this method, I know it sure will make them turn brown fast
on a hot day.
Acid rain is vinegar? Wow, learn something new every day.
I never said acid rain is vinegar. I said vinegar is acetic acid. If you
want to be picky: vinegar is a water diluted form of acetic acid.
P.S. If you have hard water or even regular municipal water that is
usually slightly basic, use more vinegar or substitute rain water when
diluting the vinegar.
P.S. What do you base this suggestion on? Just curious.
I don't remember what my original sources are, but here's a start. If I
recall correctly hard water is water with calcium or other group II
element cation in a water suspension. From high school chemistry, the
electronegativity of group II elements weakly dissociates water into
hydrogen ions and hydroxyl radicals. Binding the hydroxyl radicals with
calcium ions increases the hydrogen ion concentration. By definition pH is
the log10 of the molar hydrogen ion concentration. pH higher than 7
indicates a basic solution. Basic solution and acidic solutions neutralize
each other, ergo hard water will reduce the acidity of vinegar. Of
course, I could be wrong.
Municipal water:
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p...water&ei=UTF-8
read link #4
"... in pH. Iowa City's current drinking water has an average pH of 7.7
mg/L and an average of 175 mg/L of "
Of course it doesn't prove anything except that there exists a municipal
water supply with a slightly basic pH, if you trust that source. You can
look for more if you've got the inclination.
Acidity of rain water:
http://ks.essortment.com/acidraineffect_rqmz.htm
Paragraph 9 or so:
"If there were no pollution, the rain would still be acidic. Natural
rainfall has a pH of around 6.0. "
Again, only if you trust that source.
I'll leave it to someone else explain the mechanism that vinegar uses to
cause defoliation.
-- Salty