• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Nancy Reading
  • Carla Burke
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Liv Smith
  • Leigh Tate
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin

Natural home herbicide

 
Posts: 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I need to remove a lot of wild parsnip and want to do it without chemicals.  Too much to dig, some will be mowed but some is in areas mower cant go.  What natural items can i spray on it to kill them???
 
master pollinator
Posts: 1749
Location: Ashhurst New Zealand (Cfb - oceanic temperate)
533
duck trees chicken cooking wood heat woodworking homestead
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Try some vinegar. It's a potent herbicide, especially if sprayed on a sunny day. Non selective, so don't get it on the plants you do care about.

If the parsnips are few and far between, you can chop them at ground level and put a spoonful of salt on the root. This method has been the death of many giant thistles at my place and it works on anything with a big taproot that tries to resprout.
 
steward
Posts: 15516
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
4850
7
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
They're a biennial so if you mow them before they set seed a couple years in a row it might make a big difference.  I assume...
 
pollinator
Posts: 2339
Location: Denmark 57N
598
fungi foraging trees cooking food preservation
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Let them start to flower and then chop the flower spikes off, they flower and then die so do that a few times and you will get them. mowing takes several attempts but will do the same thing and kill them in the end.
 
pioneer
Posts: 84
Location: Douglas County, WI zone 4a 105 acres
13
fungi pig solar
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I have a horrible "hay" grass that is invading my garden spot from the fields nearby for many years before I came along. Spreads by rhizomatous roots which can be as deep as 4 inches or more and still put up shoots because there is a green leaf somewhere feeding the whole complex mat!
Lasagna didn't work from last year because I didn't fully understand this habit. I did the best I could this year before planting potatoes and onions, but it's still coming up in there.
Will vinegar kill this? before it kills me!!
 
See where your hand is? Not there. It's next to this tiny ad:
GAMCOD 2025: 200 square feet; Zero degrees F or colder; calories cheap and easy
https://permies.com/wiki/270034/GAMCOD-square-feet-degrees-colder
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic