WEBVTT - Can You Make Weedkillers at Home? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.320 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:10.360 Hey brain Stuff, Lauren boglebom Here. Whether you're putting your 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:14.200 green thumb to use in your container, garden or home landscaping, 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:18.600 you're no doubt in a battle against weeds. Those pesky 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:20.800 pain in the you know what's for both people and 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:23.800 plants caused many of us to turn to hardware store 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:27.720 shelves for commercial weed killers. While it's true that they 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.560 pack a strong punch and do the trick, they can 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.040 also cause a lot more harm to the environment than 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:37.360 meets the eye. However, homemade weed killers can do the 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:39.839 same job as the store bought ones and with a 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:44.000 lot less damage. As we all know, bees play a 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.760 crucial role in pollination and in the ecosystem, but commercial 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.760 weed killers are contributing to the problematic decline bees population. 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:58.000 The culprit glyphosphate, this active ingredient in herbicides, punches bees 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.960 right in the gut quite literally. For the article this 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.399 episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke with Andrew C. McCall, 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:10.360 pH d, Associate professor of biology at Dennison University in Grandville, Ohio. 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.920 He said the most common herbicide glyphosphate or round up, 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.880 has been studied in bees. Mostly it can kill beneficial 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:22.160 gut microbes and bees, which could make the insects more 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:27.759 susceptible to harmful microbes. Glyphosphate can also negatively affect navigation 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.480 in honeybee workers. In particular, it looks like they have 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.120 a harder time finding their way back to the hive. 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.920 But bees aren't the only arthropods who feel the toxic effects, 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:45.240 McCall said. Glyphosphate can also indirectly affect many insects because 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.360 it can kill lots of plants that insects eat. The 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:52.160 most prominent example is the common milkweed, an important food 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:56.720 source for monarch caterpillars, and given that these sprays land 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.880 on the ground surrounding the weeds, it makes sense the 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:04.800 chemicals could affect the soil too. McCall added. Glyphosphate binds 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:09.079 to soil particles and can negatively affect bacterial communities and fungi. 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:15.160 Even the ingredient used as the transport mechanism for glyphosphate 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:18.120 plays a harmful role. It's known to be even more 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.800 toxic to aquatic life, including fish, frog, shrimp, and algae 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:26.560 than glyphosphate itself, and it can easily trickle elsewhere since 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.320 it doesn't get stuck in the soil and hangs around 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:34.160 longer before degrading. So how do you kill weeds without 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:38.200 harming the environment. You can, of course take the old 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:42.360 fashioned and uncomfortable approach and pull weeds up manually, but 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.680 with just a few common household ingredients you can safely 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:49.079 knock them out with less effort and money. Here are 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.600 three easy recipes for homemade weed killers that really work. 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:57.200 The first is a combination of vinegar, epsom, salt, and soap. 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.200 This simple concoction of three ingredients we most likely have 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.240 in the pantry or under the kitchen sink is guaranteed 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.519 to stop weeds in their tracks. A note about that salt. 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.800 Anytime you add salt to soil, you will affect the 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.160 soil and make it difficult to grow things there in 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:16.440 the future. So if you're targeting weeds where you want 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:19.600 nothing to grow, like a driveway or cracks on a patio, 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:22.480 for instance, go ahead and use the salt. But if 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.360 you want to plant in that spot in the future, 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:27.040 leave the salt out of this recipe or use it 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:32.079 very sparingly. That said, here's the basic recipe. For a 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.160 quart or one leader of white vinegar, you'll need half 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:37.920 a cup about a hundred millilaters of epsom salt and 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.920 a tablespoon or so about fifteen millileaters of liquid dishwhing soap. 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.720 Pour the ingredients into a spray bottle and shake until combined. 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.600 Then let it settle for two minutes and spray on 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:51.560 the weeds. Make sure to soak the whole weed, but 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.320 watch out anything you inadvertently spray will also be killed. 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.000 Let it stay on the weeds for twenty four hours. 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.240 The weeds should be dead within a day. Uh note 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.360 for best effect, spray weeds on a sunny afternoon when 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:09.160 they are dry. And The next homemade solution is even 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.720 more simple. It's just boiling water to get rid of 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.520 weeds in a driveway or sidewalk cracks. You can just 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:17.800 boil a pot or kettle of water and then pour 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.839 it on the weeds, and take caution and pour slowly, 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.880 being careful not to splash any on yourself. The water 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.400 will kill the weeds right away, but it won't kill 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.040 the roots, so you'll likely need to repeat the process 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:33.120 on new growth. For areas that require a bit more caution. 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.320 You can selectively trim down weeds and then cover them 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:39.800 with newspaper and mulch. The combination of a layer of 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:42.320 paper and a good couple inches of mulch will block 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.520 the sunlight and air from reaching developing weeds and stop 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.960 them from germinating and growing. As a bonus, newspaper will 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:53.520 break down over time, leaving nothing to clean up. Looking 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:57.560 for a healthy, long term solution, keep it native. Planting 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.160 native flowers in your garden and native grasses in your 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.760 yard can help cut down on the amount of weeds 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:07.479 they're inherently better at competing for crucial light, nutrients, and water. 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:10.560 Or you can take it a step further and replace 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:14.840 your lawn or landscaping with native ivy or moss. With 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.040 a little outside the box thinking and a few household ingredients, 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.640 it really is possible to win the war against weeds 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:24.159 without harming the environment, your garden, your yard, and the 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:31.760 bees will thank you. Today's episode is based on the 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.440 article natural weed Killers Made Gardening Safe and Easy on 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.599 how stuff works dot Com, written by Katie Carmen. Brain 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:40.800 Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.320 how stuff Works dot com and is produced by Tyler Clay. 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.480 Four more podcasts My Heart Radio because at the Heart 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.320 Radio app, Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:50.040 favorite shows.