Weed Killer

When we moved into this home it was apparent that the landscaping had been pretty neglected for several months. The amount of weeds were very impressive.

Most people would get annoyed and complain about all the work they were going to have to do to get the yard looking decent.  Not me, my thought was "YAHOO! I have a reason to test my new weed killer."
My life must be pretty boring if I get that excited about weed killer.

Ivory’s Non-Selective Herbicide

2c vinegar
1 T liquid soap
1 T salt
Mix the three ingredients in spray bottle. Will kill anything it touches.

The website is very clear about how this mixture will kill any plant, so you need to be careful where you spray it.

I used Green Works liquid soap and mixed everything in my spray bottle.  I made sure I had a fresh bottle of face cleaner before heading outside for another several hours of yard work.

I picked three different spots to try this weed killer on. 

First, I sprayed it on weeds that were surrounded by grass. I wanted to see how much of the grass around the weeds would be effected. 

Then I sprayed a spot with the same type of weeds but nothing around them so I could spray liberally and not worry about killing anything else.

Finally, I picked a spot with a different kind of weed so I could see if the weed killer reacted differently to different weeds.

As you can see, I got very scientific with this DIY.

I sprayed each weed very liberally then went out every day to check on the progress.

The Verdict: Every day I went out and checked on my little science projects, and as each day passed I was more and more surprised to see them thriving and growing. After two weeks I got so annoyed at those little weeds that I committed weed murder and yanked them out by the roots.  Whose laughing now little weeds?

That afternoon, I read that some weed killers can take up to a month before you see any results. Guess I should have been more patient and not yanked them out of the ground so fast.

Not to worry, some more weeds were growing in the backyard.

This time the science nerd in me was to annoyed to be scientific, so I picked one spot with a lot of weeds and went to town.  I sprayed until those weeds were wet and the ground around them was wet.  I might as well have dumped the bottle on them.

This time I waited for 5 weeks.

The Verdict: Not only did those suckers survive their weed killer bath, but apparently they mistook it for plant food and grew to over 3 feet tall. 

I am really surprised by this.  How is it possible that vinegar and salt didn't kill any of my plants?
I have two theories;
1) We got a lot of rain during the two months that I was keeping track of these weeds and I wonder if the weed killer was washed away before it could take effect.
2) My weeds have sass and attitude and enjoy mocking me. 

I prefer the second theory.