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http://www.king5.com/detailtopstory.html?StoryID=2290 Weeding without chemicals June 15, 2000 SEATTLE - With concern growing about some toxic herbicides and pesticides, Seattle and King County are loading their sprayers with something more old-fashioned. Maintenance crews are seeing if simple boiling water can replace chemicals as a weed killer. Reported by Environmental Specialist Scott Miller In a park in South Seattle, Phil Renfrow fired up a pressure washer in an experiment to see what boiling water does to weeds. "Many plants they just instantly wilt. Some turn black within 5 minutes. It's like taking a fresh vegetable and dropping it into a pot of boiling water. You'd get the same effect," he said. Seattle and King County are anxious to find alternatives to chemicals. Last year, the Mayor and the County Executive told their departments to stop using several dozen of the most toxic chemicals by the end of this month. At a park on Mercer Island, King County tried an even bigger hot-water weeder - with mixed results. Most of the scalded strip is still brown, but some weeds are growing back. "It definitely kills weeds, no doubt about it. Our question is how long do they stay dead," said Al Dams, King County Parks Department. Phil Renfrow has his doubts, too, but he has found that applying something so benign yields some unusual pleasures. "One day we did it and there was some mint and the smell of the mint was wafting through the air. It was amazing. It was like mint tea," he laughed. Ultimately, hot-water weeding may be too time-consuming to use in big public parks, but with many of yesterday's powerful chemicals no longer an option, anything is worth a try. Seattle maintenance experts say hot-water weeding could be an excellent tool on smaller properties, such as residential yards. If you have an old kettle at home try this: boil water, add salt (like 1/4
cup per kettle) and disolve, bring back to boil and immediately take outside and
pour on weeds in sidewalks, cracks in driveways, between pavers, etc. It really
works. In fact just salt water works but the boiling part adds an extra punch.
Most weed plants can't stand the high level of sodium they get and what goes to
ground in walkways and driveways is a non issue. Don't use this method in the
veggy garden as the accumulated salts will effect soil micro-organisms. Besides,
weeds in the garden are easy to control.
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