Herbal pesticides?

Even though I and many others like the idea of going completely organic, I myself have not had much luck with that. It seems that, weeds just take over no matter what. Now one of my fellow twitter and blogger and Austinite mentioned the possibility of using vinegar. She suggested to google it and I did.

This is what I found;

"Currently, research is being conducted at Beltsville, Maryland, at the USDA site to determine the efficacy of vinegar for controlling weeds. I conversed via email with John R. Teasdale in Beltsville, who very kindly sent me the URL of a Web site where we can all keep abreast of the latest developments in this field.



Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education










I also talked with local Cooperative Extension specialists at both the U of I and WSU to determine if there was any research being conducted locally into this exciting development. Carol Miles, from WSU Vancouver, said that WSU is unable to recommend something as an herbicide unless it has herbicide information on the label–which vinegar does not–plus she hadn't seen this research yet. She did, however, recommend Scythe, an all-organic herbicide, as something organic gardeners could use, as well as using plastic with mulch (irrigating under the plastic). Tim Prather, from UI, is conversant with this new research and recommended that whoever starts using vinegar in an organic garden needs to be aware of the source of the vinegar. Otherwise, the organic certification could be compromised. He said that research is being conducted in California using vinegar and he's the one who recommended contacting John Teasdale, a long-time researcher in sustainable issues. He also said that you could use a surfactant, such as Ivory soap, to increase coverage ability of vinegar"

Read the whole story and click on the link ("this is what I found").

So I guess I ought to give it a try even if the article does not discuss the smorgasbord of weeds that are in my backyard. I'll see what I can do this weekend, rain notwithstanding. The smaller weeds with 3 to 4 leaves were considered the most effected, mine are so tall and bloomin'(g)..sigh..we'll see.

Weeds, the never ending story.