Problem: There are too many weeds growing in my yard and I need to find a way to kill them all without killing the plants around them.
Hypothesis: If I pull out each weed individually, I will have a greater advantage of killing all of the weeds instead of just spraying them with sodium chloride because the roots will be pulled out too, making it not possible for the weed to grow back again.
Limitations:
-Weather affecting the results
-can kill other plants, not just the weeds
-inaccurate measurements
-Time affecting data
Explore Ideas:
-use weed killer from store
-burn weeds with fire
-kill weeds with salt
-kill weeds with boiling water
-pull weeds and root out with hands
Hypothesis: If I pull out each weed individually, I will have a greater advantage of killing all of the weeds instead of just spraying them with sodium chloride because the roots will be pulled out too, making it not possible for the weed to grow back again.
Limitations:
-Weather affecting the results
-can kill other plants, not just the weeds
-inaccurate measurements
-Time affecting data
Explore Ideas:
-use weed killer from store
-burn weeds with fire
-kill weeds with salt
-kill weeds with boiling water
-pull weeds and root out with hands
Research/ Gathering Information
Drench with boiling dihydrogen monoxide: This homemade herbicide is by far the simplest to prepare, and unless you happen to spill boiling water on yourself, is also the least harmful to both people and the environment. Simply bring a big pot of dihydrogen monoxide (that's a fancy way of saying water) to boil on your stove, and then pour it over the leaves and stems of the weeds you wish to get rid of. Using boiling water is an effective method for killing weeds in places such as sidewalk or driveway cracks, or over a larger area that you'd like to replant after the weeds are gone, as it doesn't leave any residue or have any harmful long-term effects. As with all of these homemade herbicides, it's still important to only apply it to the plants you wish to get rid of, as they can easily also kill your flowers or vegetable plants.
Douse with sodium chloride: Sodium chloride, or common table salt, is an effective herbicide, and has some historical notoriety for possibly being used to lay waste to the soils of conquered peoples (salting the fields prevents plants from growing there). Because salt can have a detrimental effect in the soil, it's important to only apply it directly to the leaves of the weeds, and to not soak the soil, especially in garden beds with other, more desirable, plants. Dissolve 1 part salt in 8 parts hot water (it can be made stronger, up to 1 part salt to 3 parts water), add a small amount of liquid dish soap (to help it adhere to the leaf surfaces), and pour into a spray bottle. To apply, cover or tie back any nearby plants you don't want to kill, then spray the leaves of the weeds with the solution. Be careful to not soak the soil, and keep this mixture away from cement sidewalks or driveways (it may discolor them). Multiple applications may be necessary.
One more thing, if you only have a few weeds, you may not need the weed & feed on your entire lawn. You can spot treat weeds in a Ky Bluegrass, Fescue, Perennial Ryegrass, Zoysia, Buffalograss, or Bermudagrass lawn with Ortho Weed-B-Gon MAX plus Crabgrass Killer (note: may cause temporary discoloration on Bermuda) and then keep your grass healthy with a feeding of Scotts Turf Builder. And before I forget: If you have St. Augustinegrass, (including Floratam), Bermudagrass, Zoysiagrass, Seashore Paspalum, or Buffalograss you can use Scotts Bonus S Weed & Feed instead of Turf Builder Weed & Feed.
By definition, a weed is any plant that is growing where you do not want it to grow. Flowers growing in the lawn or grass growing in the flower bed would be considered weeds. Botanically, there are three types of weeds:
- Broadleaf (ex. dandelion)
- Grassy (ex. crabgrass)
- Grass-like (ex. wild onion)
There are three main classifications of weeds:
Annuals normally grow, produce seeds and die within a single year. In warmer climates, some annuals may survive a second year. In general, annual weeds are the easiest to kill.
Biennials live for two years. Biennials devote the first year to vegetative development and the second year to flowering and seed development.
Perennials live from season to season and produce seeds each year.
http://www.lowes.com/projects/lawn-and-garden/control-weeds-lawn-garden/project
-Plan:
I will kill weeds by marking off two 5x5 sections of the grass in my yard that has weeds in it. On one of the sections, I will douse with sodium chloride and on the other, I will pull the weeds out by hand. I will observe and record my data.
Materials:
-salt
-garden gloves
-small shovel
-spray bottle
-water
-liquid dish soap
-rope
Steps:
-How many weeds died?
-number of weeds in poisoned area vs. number of weeds in hand pulled out area?
-Is there a size decrease on the weeds?
-Which weed killer worked better?
-How many days did it take for the weeds to die?
Data:
Conclusion: Overall, my hypothesis was correct. More weeds died with manually pulling the weeds out by hand. In my data, a total of 7 weeds died in pulling the weeds out by hand and a total of 7 weeds also died in the salt killer spray. It took the weeds 3 days to start dying in the salt killer spray section. This must of happened because it slowly takes time for the weeds to die from the salt, not automatically. In the manually pulling out weeds section, the weeds died very easily because I dug them out. I dug out one weed a day and none of them grew back. I would have liked to try another technique to kill the weeds to compare more of the data. Pulling the weeds out by hand worked best because I was sure that I got all of the roots pulled out of the ground so no new weeds would grow.
I will kill weeds by marking off two 5x5 sections of the grass in my yard that has weeds in it. On one of the sections, I will douse with sodium chloride and on the other, I will pull the weeds out by hand. I will observe and record my data.
Materials:
-salt
-garden gloves
-small shovel
-spray bottle
-water
-liquid dish soap
-rope
Steps:
- Pick an area in the yard that has a lot of weeds in it.
- Get some rope and put it around the measured 5x5 patch of grass.
- divide the 5x5 section into two parts.
- In one section, spray all of the weeds once with the salt concoction.
- in the other section, pull out one weed.
- repeat parts 4 and 5 everyday for one week.
- record data on how much smaller the weeds got or if they died.
-How many weeds died?
-number of weeds in poisoned area vs. number of weeds in hand pulled out area?
-Is there a size decrease on the weeds?
-Which weed killer worked better?
-How many days did it take for the weeds to die?
Data:
Conclusion: Overall, my hypothesis was correct. More weeds died with manually pulling the weeds out by hand. In my data, a total of 7 weeds died in pulling the weeds out by hand and a total of 7 weeds also died in the salt killer spray. It took the weeds 3 days to start dying in the salt killer spray section. This must of happened because it slowly takes time for the weeds to die from the salt, not automatically. In the manually pulling out weeds section, the weeds died very easily because I dug them out. I dug out one weed a day and none of them grew back. I would have liked to try another technique to kill the weeds to compare more of the data. Pulling the weeds out by hand worked best because I was sure that I got all of the roots pulled out of the ground so no new weeds would grow.