Spray Weeds With Vinegar?

**Ron Whitehurst bugnet@rinconvitova.com>**

Thot I would forward this from ARS

Ron

From  ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>

STORY LEAD:
Spray Weeds With Vinegar?

___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Don Comis, (301) 504-1625, comis@ars.usda.gov
May 15, 2002
___________________________________________

Some home gardeners already use vinegar as a herbicide, and
some garden
stores sell vinegar pesticides. But no one has tested it
scientifically
until now.

Agricultural Research Service scientists offer the first
scientific
evidence that it may be a potent weedkiller that is
inexpensive and
environmentally safe--perfect for organic farmers.

ARS researchers Jay Radhakrishnan, John R. Teasdale and Ben
Coffman in
Beltsville, Md., tested vinegar on major weeds--common
lamb's-quarters,
giant foxtail, velvetleaf, smooth pigweed and Canada
thistle--in
greenhouse and field studies.

They hand-sprayed the weeds with various solutions of
vinegar, uniformly
coating the leaves. The researchers found that 5- and
10-percent
concentrations killed the weeds during their first two
weeks of life.
Older plants required higher concentrations of vinegar to
kill them. At
the higher concentrations, vinegar had an 85- to
100-percent kill rate at
all growth stages. A bottle of household vinegar is about a
5-percent
concentration.

Canada thistle, one of the most tenacious weeds in the
world, proved the
most susceptible; the 5-percent concentration had a
100-percent kill rate
of the perennial's top growth. The 20-percent concentration
can do this in
about 2 hours.

Spot spraying of cornfields with 20 percent vinegar killed
80 to 100
percent of weeds without harming the corn, but the
scientists stress the
need for more research. If the vinegar were sprayed over an
entire field,
it would cost about $65 per acre. If applied to local weed
infestations
only, such as may occur in the crop row after cultivation,
it may only
cost about $20 to $30.

The researchers use only vinegar made from fruits or
grains, to conform to
organic farming standards.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief
scientific research
agency.

___________________________________________
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* * * * * * * * *

Ron Whitehurst
Marketing Manager

Rincon-Vitova Insectaries,
P.O. Box 1555, Ventura, CA  93002-1555
805-643-5407   800-248-2847 (BUGS)   fax 805-643-6267

e-mail:  bugnet@rinconvitova.com
web:  http://www.rinconvitova.com

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