Daylilies often spread over garden beds and shade out weeds, making it difficult to get rid of them. To kill daylilies, there are six easy ways to do so:
- Dig them out by hand and discard them in plastic bags. Carefully comb the soil to remove any small bits of dirt.
- Pour boiling water directly on the plants to damage their roots and foliage, leading to their death. One popular method is to pour boiling water over the plants and they should die within a few days.
- Mix vinegar with boiling water to kill invasive weeds and ditch lilies. However, this method is not as effective as using salt on invasive weeds and ditch lilies.
- Cover the area with plastic weed bags if you are immune to superstition. Digging up a patch of wild daylilies or ditch lilies is backbreaking work and may not be enough to kill them completely.
- Watering needs are essential for daylilies, as they typically rely on natural rainfall but need to be irrigated when the underlying soil begins to perch, particularly during the growth phase.
- Light conditions play a role in the success of killing daylilies. Boiling water will damage the above-ground tissue but won’t do much to the roots.
- If you can’t hire someone to dig, use glyphosate (Roundup) to kill anything green and growing. A quick spray of glyphosate and triclopyr mixed in water works well.
- Be cautious with herbicides near water sources due to the potential for water contamination.
- If daylilies are small and divide easily, either dig them up or kill them with boiling water.
- Roast, fry, boil, or mash them if needed.
📹 This Is Why You Should NOT Use Vinegar Weed Killer In The Garden
Warning! Watch this before applying vinegar in your garden!!
📹 How to Weed Out Lilies of the Valley
How to Weed Out Lilies of the Valley. Part of the series: Transplanting & Maintaining Garden Perennials. Weeding out lilies is …
Vinegar is the only way to eradicate weeds here in PAC NW. Overspray not an issue, soil acidification is a positive. GMO vinegar residual bs is bs. I’ve done it all, till, no till, permaculture, hog fuel and sheet mulch. I have learned it takes all those methods to be a successful gardener here. Glad that your method works for you.
Many weeds are deep rooted and cannot be pulled out. The vinegar, by killing the plant leaves, will deprive the weed of nutrients, and the root may subsequently die. Also, by killing the foliage, you prevent the weeds from seeding, preventing its spread. Yes, pulling is best, but not always possible, especially in large, difficult landscapes.
I am glad I stumbled upon your article. I planned to spray weeds with vinegar, albeit not in my garden. I planned to spray weeds growing up on city owned land across the street from my house that is over grown with “trash” trees and all sorts of weeds. I never thought about it killing ladybugs, butterflies, etc. I am a senior now and cannot do as much physical work as I once did. I just do not have any answers of the best way to take care of things anymore….
Huh? I am newly widowed and the garden, which used to be my husband’s area of expertise, has fallen onto my lap. I couldn’t cope with the enormous early season growth and last week got a team of gardeners in to cut everything back before the house was overcome by all the branches. Now I have a vast pile of waste in the middle of the lawn (kept out of loyalty to my husband, who was into composting everything); and I am gradually shredding it all and putting it into compost bins. But my neighbours are worried I am attracting vermin which they do not want in their houses (nor do I!); and I have just got back from the supermarket, armed with four bottles of distilled vinegar to water down and deliver, via a watering can, onto this vast heap to deter animals and insects from making a home in it. I have a wasps nest at the far end of my garden, and a gardener was stung twice: I consider that more than enough wildlife for this long but narrow town garden. I do not want anything in my garden that is not human unless it has a root. I am one of those people who spends five minutes outside and comes back indoors covered in bites! So I think vinegar as a deterrent, is very useful for someone like me who really is only interested in the garden as something nice to look at through a window.
Thanks for the post. The info about using organic vinegar is helpful. While I agree that vinegar shouldn’t be the first choice in the garden, it is definitely useful in landscape weeding, and even more so for those who are disabled, including myself. I don’t have a garden, but there are landscaping beds around all of the apartments here. I do occasionally go outside with a bottle of vinegar to tackle especially aggressive weeds. I don’t use industrial grade vinegar, just the regular strength stuff. That actually does a very good job, without being too hard on me. Also, because I only use it directly on the weeds, the actual landscape plants aren’t harmed. A food and herb garden would do better with mulch, instead.
Thank you Dan, I was just looking at organic solutions and vinegar was everywhere. I am going to choose, as you said, the carboard, leaves, grass clippings to control the weeds. THANK YOU! you are correct! don’t need to add these chemicals to my yard, plants, fruits and veggies, and especially, kill off the little animals and bugs etc. in my yard. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
I had weeds and grass growing in between the pavement outside my door where I worked and used to use a weed waker ( whipper snipper here in Australia ) constantly to cut them back then one day some old dude told me to pour boiling water on them and that will kill them at the root. I tried it and came back after a couple of days the plants were dead and I just pulled them out easily!
I suppose it depends on your criteria. For me, plants in the garden are almost all weeds… I’m not at all a gardening guy. Vinegar, so far, is what I’ve used to kill off stuff encroaching on the deck pretty badly, some growing under it. I didn’t want to have to dismantle the deck and go digging. I also had some moss buildup on the asphalt in the front yard, some of it quite stubborn even for a power washer. Strong vinegar with a dash of detergent so it breaks surface tension and really penetrates into the moss and two days later it was brown and dead and was very easy to power wash away the remnants. Either way, if it’s between Roundup (or similar) or vinegar in a garden growing food crops, lord knows I’d rather use vinegar. It’s the same vinegar I literally consume in foods to make it acidic… if I can drink it directly, I can sure see tossing some on plant if need be. For people who are really serious about the whole organic thing and using nothing at all, sure, more power to you. But as herbicides go, vinegar is probably one of the most nature friendly options you can find. One downside might be that used too much it can turn the soil acidic, which isn’t good if you want something to grow on it, but you can probably counter that with a solution of bicarbonate to neutralize or something.
If it’s on a lawn, regularly pulling any weed or nettle and mowing seems to be get most things under control. On tarmac drives or concrete areas with no plastic sheeting beneath, where it’s tricky or impossible to scrape up all of the leaves and stem without damaging the surface, direct heat is one of the best ways.
I appreciate your ideas. I’ve got a quandary for you to tackle, if you’d like to help. So I’m beginning to grow Lavender in Northern Colorado. I have about 30 field production acres filled to the brim with weeds. I will not use chemicals. Yet it would take a lifetime to pull them all by hand. I have been spraying weeds with organic 30% vinegar, salt & soap. I’m all for allowing some natural growth in the field between my Lavender rows. But Russian thistles 6ft tall and other weedie monsters will consume my Lavendula’s nutrients. I pull & I spray all day long. So my question to you, is how do I accomplish deweeding on such a large scale any other way? This is the question that must be answered for toxic conglomerates like Monsanto to stop what they’re doing and switch over to something healthier for our world too. It’s a daunting task. Great website. Thanks for doing what you’re doing. It’s important work.,:)
I have an acre of desert weeds. Spraying them with vinegar as soon as they pop up is our safest option. It would take me weeks (I am at work most of the day) to pull them. And if I wait that long they seed and dry quickly so the wind blows the seeds all over. It becomes a nightmare. Tumble weed is the worst as I’m highly allergic. They will grow on top of each other if there is no room. If I were retired and didn’t live in the desert I might consider leaving my vinegar. But until then…
4:00 yes that’s true, but the bindweed doesn’t care. It grows through 20 inches of woodchips and compost. It’s a nightmare! What I’m trying now is covering the affected area (400 m2) with thick black plastic to starve them of light. Then remove it after 6-8 weeks and apply a light vinegar solution. Hopefully that will kill it off. Any other tips you have are highly appreciated!
I have a black clover problem in my flower beds as its taking over. I can pull the weeds and roots (especially after it rains) for days and it still comes back. I can’t use commercial weed killer as it kills my myrtle ground cover. I do not use any pesticides or herbicides in my vegetable garden. The black clover has now started to germinate in my veggy garden, which I do pull out. I do not know what else to do.
Ah yes… let me sheet mulch my grabel driveway. All jokes aside i was going to use a weed torch until i found out about the vinegar option, which apparently works better than the actual nasty stuff. I live in florida and was concerned about how miserable that process would be not to mention breathing in all that propane or butane release or whatever. This vinegar stuff seemed too good to be true so i clicked on your article to make sure I was aware of any possible downsides… what i learned: there are literally no downsides… ESPECIALLY if you get it organic, and you are a very close minded person. Maybe mulching works for you, but in my yard it is raining and i got invasives everywhere that we still need to cut down (we just bought the house). Gravel drive way aside, i cannot hand pick and mulch as an alternative. And trust me, i have tried!
hula ho and hory hory ? hahahaha im glad i watched this. attempting to get rid of a japanese knotweed and i see people injecting them with herbicide so i looked up diy herbicide and it a concoction of vinegar, dish soap, and salt,… which…. in general i dont wanna use. the knotweed is in a place where theres been nothing else growing but theres still little critters to think about
I try to use heavy mulches too but poison ivy is getting prolific around the garden and deck and there’s no way to mulch these areas. Need to avoid it spreading into the garden and growing up,the sides of the deck. Don’t have the time or energy to expend in much digging and old man always wants to use a buzz machine kill,,,which can splatter poison ivy oils….and doesn’t kill,it anyway. It’s too hardy. I’ve got flower beds around the deck and also don’t have time and energy any more to dig up everything and start over…nor money to hire it done. I’d rather mix salt and organic vinegar and pour on the ivy in its particular spots. It’s taking over….no matter what….
The reasons you have given are valid yet using vinegar in walkways that have extremely stubborn weeds is more acceptable than battling with hand tools. I use tools on most weeds but it makes since to use vinegar on others. Work smarter not harder. I agree once a garden is established and clean use of vinegar should not be needed
Dealing with an invasive grass like Bermuda grass is far from easy, and it’s misleading to suggest that using an organic pesticide as part of the eradication process is a lazy or quick fix. I have Bermuda grass in my front yard, and my neighbor uses it as his main lawn—it’s nearly impossible to eliminate. If you’ve ever spent countless hours pulling out rhizomes, you’d understand the need for alternative solutions. Despite my efforts of pulling the grass, applying vinegar, covering, and mulching, the Bermuda grass persists. This isn’t about being lazy; it’s about trying every possible method to reclaim my garden.
Opinion, not fact! If you don’t want to use vinegar in your garden, than don’t. But others find it totally acceptable and worthy for their method of weed control. Face it, we ALL are going to die one day from something. I highly doubt that time span will be effected even a little, by using vinegar… Just My opinion, since we all have them.
I used mixture of vinegar, salt, and dishwashing liquid to kill grass in cement cracks primarily, but then decided to take out a few weeds near a burning bush and it killed the bush almost overnight. Didn’t think I was that close, but surmised rainfall may have had the mixture travel to the roots of the bush. Won’t be doing that again.
Won’t be using any vinegar even though I considered it. I’ve heard that wood mulch kind of solarizes (deprives sun) to weeds, but I’ve also heard that wood mulch can also bring in termites so don’t mulch close to your house. I still might try painting the leaves of poison ivy by brushing on some vinegar and see what happens.
NO. Don’t do any sheet mulching! Most mulch in this country is created, shipped and sold by people who have been eating GMO Corn or animals that were fed the same. This makes as much sense as your logic since the vinegar is no longer corn after it’s chemical structure has changed from a sugar into an acid.
Dan, you should also know this about adding vinegar to your soil. To make vinegar, you use anaerobic bacteria. So when putting vinegar in your garden, not only are you going to be killing aerobic bacteria, but you will be adding anaerobic bacteria too, and also changing soil ph in the process. The cons far out weigh the pros! Thanks for the article!❤️
Acetic acid is acetic acid. Glyphosate (trade name Roundup) is a separate issue, and the article makes no claim that there is glyphosate in commercial white vinegar. GMO organisms are yet a third issue, and a complex one. The first GMO was arguably the domesticated dog, and it comes forward from there. Most of the content here seems to be what the author thinks should be done to prevent weeds, and matters more philosophical than horticultural.
Thank you so much for sharing this information ! I have been telling people this for years and no one listened or if they did listen they ignored what I said and told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. I have been vindicated lol. And the lazy gardening comment was spot on 😉 I love this website and subscribing was the best thing I have ever done ! The website is such a wealth of information and thank you again for sharing your knowledge with us.
Herbicide such as Roundup, Bayer, etc… causes cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc… vinegar is non toxic to humans or wildlife. I don’t know what this guy is talking about when he says vinegar is harmful to wildlife. He needs to do lots more research on vinegar so he won’t be disinformed about vinegar.
I see your message as a little over dramatic. First off corn is not the only grain used for vinegar. Not all corn is GMO and I live in corn farming country. Now what research is there that shows that there are remnants of Roundup in distilled vinegar? Any data? Put i deny that it may be a possibility, I just don’t know for sure. Your solution was mulch, how many tons of mulch do you use?……and you can swear no chemicals come in with your wood chips? I challenge that you can’t make that claim with data anymore you can make the claim with data that distilled vinegar has roundup in it. To try to get people to fall for your opinion that using vinegar is just as bad as using roundup is absurd. Other claims….it won’t kill the roots. Some plants may not, but many more plants if they lose all leaves they lose energy and die. And if they don’t, knocking down the vegetation gives a person better success with mulching and mulching prevents the plant from getting to the sun or prevents water which is why some tougher weeds still grow in mulch. The vinegar is an acid because of it PH, some plants like neutral, alkaline and acidic so vinegar is not poisonous in that sense. People put lime or sulphur on their soil to purposely change the PH, they could use vinegar but it won’t stay. Not all people have tons of mulch or can pluck weeds all day long so they found a solution better than Roundup and your shoot them down without acknowledging the pros of vinegar.
The past six months I tried vinegar and also tried boiling water to kill the weeds in a section of pavers. Both of these methods did kill the weed above soil level, but did nothing to the roots. After six months time, I am back to manual removal of weeds and roots. What was created by these two methods (#1 vinegar and #2 boiling water) were weeds that had mega roots aka roots on steroids. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger said, ” I want to pump you up”. The roots looked like muscle upon muscle body lifter bodies, no joke. It took an insane amount of time to remove one weed.
“Lazy gardening techniques” is pretty judgy. We have physical, medical problems that prevent us from doing “manual weed control” so that kind of attitude is rather elitist and tone deaf. Enjoy your high horsey ride, if you ever fall no one will catch you. We’ve decided on the flame thrower. Cheap at harbor freight, and everything burns into beautiful natural stains of charcoal :). Vinegar would have definitely been our second choice after flame throwers.