What Is an Organic Herbicide?

The battle against weed is an eternal one. Weed is one of the reasons maintaining a lawn is tedious work for homeowners. Often, many of us spend long hours pulling the irritating nuisances. You might have considered using an herbicide to make your job easier but are worried about the effect it’ll have on your edible plants, kids, pet, or yourself. It’s time to consider using organic herbicides. Read on to discover what an organic herbicide is and how it works.

Organic Herbicide

Herbicides can be organic or inorganic. When it’s inorganic, it means it’s synthetically manufactured in a lab. Organic herbicides are made from chemicals that naturally occur in nature. Both types of herbicides have their advantages and disadvantages.

Organic herbicides break down quickly and are low in toxins. They’re also very popular due to their environmental and health benefits to both the plant and the soil. But organic herbicides are often reapplied because the result doesn’t last like the inorganic counterpart.

Organic herbicides can’t differentiate between weed and plants. They’re most active on post-emergent weeds (weeds that are currently growing). Therefore, sadly, your days of pulling weeds might not be over, but organic herbicides will reduce the work.

Applying Organic Herbicide

Since most organic herbicides are nonselective, they’re great for eradicating weed from a specific area than using it on the whole garden. The organic herbicide called corn gluten meal is a natural pre-emergence herbicide used to remove grass weed and broadleaf in grasses. To use corn gluten meal, spread around 20 pounds per 1,000 feet of garden to cover the areas you need to weed out. After five days of application, water the applied area well, its effect will last for up to 6 weeks.

How Organic Herbicides Works

Also called contact herbicides, these weed killers kill only the parts of the plant it touches, which is generally everything above the soil level. While it’s enough to kill some plants, it isn’t enough to kill plants that regrow from root fragments. One benefit of contact herbicides is the ability to kill weeds quickly. Some herbicides contain a mixture of both contact and systemic (inorganic) for better weed control.

Some Organic Herbicides Available in Stores

1. Vinegar (Acetic acid)
2. Corn Gluten Meal (CMG)
3. GreenMatch and GreenMatch EX
4. WeedZap
5. Matran

Weed is something homeowners will continue to battle. These stubborn plants give the home an unpleasant look, not to mention that it competes with the plants in your garden for nutrients and sunlight. Weeding is very time consuming and strenuous, so consider hiring the services of Eden. We have experts on ground to help you get rid of those annoying plants and restore your lawn to the beauty you desire.