11 Ways to Control Weeds Without Chemicals

Weeds are many home gardeners’ biggest enemy. Roundup and other chemicals may seem like the best weapon in the arsenal against weeds. However, many experts discourage the use of chemicals. They can leach into fruits and vegetables. They also runoff and trickle down into groundwater.

Moreover, they are more expensive and less effective than many other methods. Ronald Smith of the North Dakota State University Department of Plant Sciences said, “Weed and seed” combinations in particular are typically weak and practically useless on home gardens and lawns. He said a blanket herbicide application cannot reverse a heavy weed infestation in a lawn.

“This is not a debatable point. It is something we nailed down here at NDSU years ago in field trials,” Smith said.

Fortunately, there are better ways to prevent and control weeds before they take over. However, Smith notes that only a full-time assault on weeds can keep out every weed.

“It is totally unrealistic to think that anything short of the efforts, budget, and fanaticism that a professional golf course superintendent puts into caring for the greens, tees, and fairways, will produce a weed-free lawn,” he said.

Here are seven strategies for preventing weed growth, and four methods of controlling existing weeds, with the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

(Click through to the end, or click the left arrow, for a printable list.)

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Susanna F.

1:17PM PDT on Jun 8, 2012

I'm trying to cultivate a moss carpet, but pulling and digging weeds is tedious and unending. Any suggestions?

June 8
send a green star

Elizabeth M.

3:32PM PDT on Jun 14, 2011

I definitely will try newspaper under my mulch. I have found that a commercial grade of fabric is needed as weeds will still come in any areas where the mullch is thinning. I used black plastic on a slope (what was I thinking??) before wheelbarrowing in rock and a lot of it slipped to the bottom. ;>) Thanks for the article with lot of tips Chaya.

June 14
send a green star

Belinda E.

7:32PM PDT on Jun 8, 2011

@Megan Saxbury: your point being? Are you saying that since God condemned man to eat bread in the sweat of his brow, we shouldn't find better or easier ways to garden? I guess we'd better give up the the rototillers...and the long-handled cultivators...and even the hoe, since I'm sure Adam didn't have one.

7:28PM PDT on Jun 8, 2011

@Mike & Janis: with that big a dandelion invasion, you basically have two choices: poison, or learn to live with them. In the latter vein: when my children were small I encouraged them to bring me daily bouquets of dandelions (when they got a bit older I had to pay them a small bounty, but it still got the blossoms into a flower bowl instead of sending seeds all over the neighborhood). In addition, I harvested the leaves for the table. Neither trick will eliminate dandelions, but they'll help control them and keep them from spreading even further.

Megan S.

10:49AM PDT on Jun 8, 2011

Genesis 3:17 -19

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”

Chelsea M.

4:20PM PDT on May 26, 2011

Thanks!

May 26
send a green star

Lana W.

12:33PM PDT on May 26, 2011

Some great ideas, weeds here I come.

Alicia M.

12:33AM PDT on May 17, 2011

It's such a shame that people's gardens are usually a battleground between "Man and Nature" - with people feeling justified in using any and every toxic, violent means to control and dominate the beauties that nature offers for free.

The first lesson in Gardening 101 should be that one man's weed is another man's treasure - here in Europe goldenrod or sumac are often deliberately grown in gardens as the attractive plants they are. And most people seem to have forgotten that for centuries many of our "weeds" were cultivated by herbalists as effective, easily-obtainable cures. Every plant has active chemical properties that can be used to cure disease or soothe pain. Now the only medicines we know or care about have to come from labs where they develop and test them on animals.

I have a small garden in the city and I've chosen to let nature do her thing - no pesticides, no herbicides, no chemical fertilisers, no unsustainable obsession about a green carpet of grass - and my family and friends always comment how beautiful it looks. Plus it's full of wildlife - as much as you can have in a city - and the neighborhood birds choose it for nesting.
And, last but not least, I have more time to just enjoy the garden, rather than fighting back weeds and "pests" all day....