I switched from using RoundUp to a vinegar/salt/dish soap solution this summer and can't believe how well it works.
It seems to be just as effective as RoundUp.
It seems to be just as effective as RoundUp.
Rather, it's "which will give you cancer through long-term exposure".
Vinegar is less of an issue if you monitor soil acidity; and you can always compensate with lime (our soils here in the South East are naturally acidic so we often have to ammend them).
Yeah, salting the Earth is rather well established as a herbicidal practice known for millenia; increasing soil and runoff salinity has rather negative long-term environmental consequences, though (though, I guess, desertification can be a rather dramatic solution to the “plants I don't like grow here” problem.)
In the formulas I've read, there's very little salt. It's about a gallon of vinegar, a single squirt of dish soap, and a pour or two of salt.
Until it becomes salt in runoff, which is also a problem.
If it worked on scotch broom I'd be forever grateful.
Thanks!
1 gallon white vinegar (the kind we bought is 5% acidity)
1 cup table salt
1 tbsp Dawn dish soap
Mix and pour into a spray bottle.
Here's a paper I found with some info: https://extension.umd.edu//sites/extension.umd.edu/files/_do...
"Salt the Earth" is an established phrase in the English lexicon for a reason. The cancer-causing-ness of this mixture vs. Roundup may be in dispute, but this is certainly going to have a longer term effect than spraying Roundup, especially if you repeatedly apply it in the same place.
The acetic acid is going to eat your internal organs.
You may not like this, but that's science!
A teaspoon of regular vinegar a day is not going to have any lasting effects on your health other than making you despise anything that tastes even remotely like vinegar.
Saying "salt + vinegar is more toxic than glyphosphate" is only true if you bastardize the definition of both and willingly forget for a moment that one of the chemicals is specifically designed to kill things.
Ah, but now you've pointed out the problem with your own argument. Nobody uses 100% glyphosphate either. It's highly diluted.
"Saying "salt + vinegar is more toxic than glyphosphate" is only true if you bastardize the definition of both and willingly forget for a moment that one of the chemicals is specifically designed to kill things. "
Saying salt + vinegar is worse than glyphosphate is only true if you bastardize how glyphosphate is used. So yes, i'd agree with you that your point makes no sense :)
" forget for a moment that one of the chemicals is specifically designed to kill things."
Intent is irrelevant in nature. It's also not made to kill humans.
This point is just more of the same. Acetic acid is meant to destroy things too!
You are arguing "in the concentrations used, it's not destructive". That's quite literally the same as glyphosphate.
Chronic Effects on Humans: MUTAGENIC EFFECTS: Mutagenic for mammalian somatic cells. Mutagenic for bacteria and/or yeast. May cause damage to the following organs: kidneys, mucous membranes, skin, teeth.
The pKa for acetic acid is 4.76 . It is a "weak acid", but then again, so is HF, with a pKa of 3.17 . If you have ever seen Breaking Bad, you have seen what even a "weak acid" can do to the human body at high concentrations.
The usual story about acetic acid is that your chem prof was pipetting glacial acetic acid by mouth, and they accidentally got some in their mouth, and all the cells lining their oral cavity peeled off the next day. And they used bulbs or thumbwheel pumps on their pipettes ever since. Not sure if this story is especially common or if it is made up to scare students into using the lab equipment safely.
But anyway, the point is that the ill effects for caustic chemicals are largely dependent on concentration. "Vinegar" is acetic acid diluted to between 4 wt% and 18 wt%. You can drink vinegar, and just have skin rashes and weak teeth. If you drink enough glacial acetic acid (>99 wt%), you're going to die.