The Weed Killer That Works!

Thanks to the Ohio Valley crew I found an organic weed killer spray that torches these “woodland orchids,” the weed that’s been appearing in our gardens for the last few years. They are REALLY hard to dig out, because the root stem goes deep and it usually breaks off before you get to the source, the tangled ball of roots way underground.  You can see the happy, healthy weed in one photo and the well and truly dead weed in the next, taken 24 hours later. (The things that look like white larvae are the droppings from the pine tree in my neighbor’s yard - it was an early evening photo.)  The product is called Burnout, made by Bonide and available at garden centers like Bremec’s. It’s safe to use around pets and people and if you hit something you want to keep you just rinse it off with water.  Burnout has clove oil and citric acid in it - nothing like the glyphosate in Roundup, famous now for the $10 billion settlement for cancer claims.

Burnout also works on the pesky weeds that come up between bricks and patio paving stones.  I can’t promise that it kills that tangled knot of roots underground, but I haven’t seen any signs of resurrection where this one was, and I’ll know what to reach for if I do.