Weeds love to take over many areas of the garden, whether it be patios, gravel pathways or lawns. For those who struggle with the pesky plants on their patios, Harry Bodell, gardening expert at PriceYourJob has shared how to use salt to “kill weeds effectively overnight”.
Saltwater can actually be a natural option to tackle those pesky weeds in your garden. It works by dehydrating and damaging the plant tissues, leading to their demise. However, it’s crucial to be cautious when using saltwater as a weed killer, as it can also harm the soil and surrounding plants.
Harry explained: “This method works by ultimately dehydrating weeds. Salt interferes with the weed’s ability to absorb essential nutrients such as potassium, magnesium and calcium.
“The disruption in nutrient uptake weakens the plant’s overall health, causing it to dry out from dehydration and die.”
“The salt method prevents further growth of weeds. There are certain ions present in salt which can be toxic to plants when accumulated in high concentrations, interfere with natural processes such as photosynthesis, leading to cell damage and dehydration of the plant.”
For the solution, a good rule of thumb is to mix one cup of salt into two cups of water. Either rock salt or table salt will work for this.
“Once you’ve prepared your salt solution, lightly pour the solution over gaps in between paving slabs on garden paths, specifically concentrating on areas that have weeds currently growing through.
It’s important to do this on a particularly dry day so humidity and rain do not wash away the solution.
Harry said, “Overnight, the solution will work on drying out the plant to the root, making the weed easy to remove the next day.”
However, the gardener also recommends using the solution sparingly to avoid it affecting other plants. He said, “While salt can effectively kill weeds, it can also accumulate in sand and soil and affect the growth of other plants.
“Use it sparingly and only on areas you wish to have no plants growing through, as it could impact future growth of other plants.”
Express.co.uk recently put this method to the test in hopes of killing patio weeds, and it worked well, and in under 24 hours.
