Before spraying, determine which herbicide (natural or synthetic) is right for your garden. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you end up taking out your biggest weed control weapon chemicals. Think carefully before using chemical herbicides in your environment and make sure they are part of an integrated pest management approach that includes.
Identify specific problem plants
Understand the life cycle of plants. Is it annual or perennial? Does it spread by seeds, roots, or both? If I sow a seed, when will it sprout?
If possible, use growing conditions or mechanical control measures to suppress weeds first. Recognize when and how weed infestations can cause devastating damage to natural habitats, crops or structures.
Once you determine that an herbicide is the right step for managing your weed problem, you can evaluate your options and choose the right product for your situation.
First, let’s look at the terminology. Herbicides inhibit the germination of plant seeds and are used as pre-emergence or post-emergence herbicides. That is, it acts on actively growing plants. Some are non-selective. That is, they affect all plants they come into contact with, while others selectively control only certain plants.
Contact herbicides only affect the plant tissue to which they are applied, whereas systemic herbicides are absorbed into the entire plant and root system. Chemical controls may be natural or synthetic. Ideally, all herbicides should be applied by a licensed pesticide applicator.
Natural Herbicide
The active ingredients in natural herbicides come from plants or minerals. These products are subject to government regulations for personal and environmental safety. Read and follow all product labels carefully.
Corn gluten meal. The protein portion of corn kernels is a selective, pre-emergence herbicide most commonly used in lawns to control annual weeds such as oxalis, purslane and spurge. It also has a nitrogen content of about 10%, which helps keep your lawn healthy. Corn gluten meal is most effective when applied twice a year. Apply before seeds sprout and form roots. A drying period is required even after germination. Learn more about when to apply corn gluten meal here
Vinegar. This is a non-selective, post-emergence contact herbicide against annual weeds. Spray weed leaves with a horticultural vinegar solution containing less than 20% acetic acid. The acid acts as a contact desiccant, burning only the leaves but not the roots, and is most effective when applied to annual weeds in the summer heat.
Soap. Horticultural soap derived from fatty acids is a non-selective, post-emergence contact herbicide. When sprayed on the leaves of weeds, it suffocates the leaves and hinders the growth of the plants. Horticultural soap is most effective on young, actively growing annual weeds.
Synthetic herbicides contain artificial ingredients that are subject to government regulations for personal and environmental safety.
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Experts in tree removal, stump demolition, stump removal, tree trimming, tree mulching, tree pruning and emergency tree removal in Buffalo, NY!
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Todd Wilhelm2024-10-01Had sod installed at my house in Amherst. Job done very quickly and well. Highly recommended. Will be using them again for spring 2025 project.
Md Mia2024-09-27RDK Tree Service removed a large maple by the power lines. It was definitely not a easy job. They did the job safely and did it rather quickly. I will definitely recommend them for your tree services.
Bike Lover2024-09-27Residing in Buffalo NY, and needed to remove a large tree in the backyard and front yard. The crew did a fantastic job with removing it along with the stump. We are so impressed. Thank you RDK!
selvachandran saravanan2024-09-25Did a job here in my rental property in Amherst of removing two 60-70ft pine trees with stump removal and prepped an area for parking. RDK Landscaping is the one you should go to with your tree and landscaping/hardscaping needs. They are just the best overall!!
jackary Rootis2024-09-24I highly recommend them. Great crew, Super easy to work with. They’re doing a great job out here in East Amherst. Not only did I use them, but my neighbor and their son did as well and we couldn’t be happier.
DIANE Abram: Toot-Toot Daycare2024-09-21I hope these pictures speak for itself. I had called couple of companies to my property in Northampton, Buffalo, but only RDK Landscaping had come out so quick to give a quote for a project we started and couldn’t finish. They were so quick, efficient and had completed the project in about 2 days. They did a beautiful job, and answered all my questions throughout the entire process. I am so very thrilled about the results and could not recommend more! They are doing wonderful projects.
Dan Duggan2024-09-19RDK Landscaping did an amazing job! We had 8 dead ash trees at our property in Clarence that needed to be taken down given their proximity to the house and garage, in addition to two trees close to the power lines. I was very impressed with how quickly Roy and his team responded, came out to the property and got the job done. I would highly recommend them!
Andres Martinez2024-09-14Everybody at RDK Landscaping was a pleasure to deal with, we had a big project with them to clear up some really overgrown gardens beds around our garage, they went above and beyond making our space useable again. Once the project was complete they made sure to clean everything up and even cleared some weeds we had on our driveway that we hadn’t even mention to them. Can’t recommend them enough and will be calling them first for any future landscaping projects.
Esther Guess2024-09-12The guys were quick and effective at getting all that ivy down. Great work!
