Looking for natural weed control products?

    Are there really natural weed controls other than digging or pulling weeds? If you are concerned about harming the environment or pollinators, there are some new products for weed control that are safer for the environment. Hand-pulling or digging is largely ineffective if you have a large property. In fact there are quite a few newer possibilities on the market.
    There are some using essential oils. Others are citrus-oil based. Some use acetic acid, which is vinegar, which has a higher concentration of 10 to 20 percent. Our household/culinary vinegar is only a 5 percent solution. Other selections of natural herbicides contain fatty acids and/or iron salts.
    Like Roundup or glysophate, some of the types listed above are nonselective. They would be fine to use for the driveway, alley or patio, but when applied in flower beds or lawn, these herbicides will kill everything. They kill on contact with the plant material. These products range from one application to repeat applications.
    Unfortunately, there is little research to evaluate their efficacy compared to traditional herbicides such as Roundup. According to Dr. Tony Koski, Colorado State University Extension turf specialist, one thing is for certain: They all function in the same way. The natural herbicides are designed to destroy the leaf cuticle. Once the cuticle is damaged, this causes cell leakage, and eventually the leaf dies.

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