Walk With Me To The Weed Patch, Doubletime With Me To The Cow Trough

NOT leafy spurge, this weed is pretty and the only one in bloom on the property.
All photos taken with Samsung Galaxy cell phone

Leafy Spurge is designated a "noxious weed" in Idaho, and the county has been by asking permission to spray Round Up on a patch of it that is on our property. We told them "No" and have been trying to use less horrific means to control the plant. The first year we dumped several inches of molded hay on it to attempt to cut it off from light and air, and to improve the soil enough that this "pioneer species" no longer likes the living conditions. The cows went over and picked through all the hay, spreading it liberally around and making our efforts utterly useless.

Leafy Spurge, demanding to be poisoned.

The next year we tried to put tarps and sheets of plastic and such to raise the temperature, cook the stuff to death in the field. We used what rocks and such we could find to weigh it all down. The wind grabbed at the edges and as soon as the cows could get a nose under it, they rolled the rocks and branches right off barriers.

The first area I sprayed seems to be dying off. Check back with me next year...

We bought agricultural vinegar this year. If you have heard that vinegar kills weeds, that is a lie. Your bottle of household vinegar for pickling and making salad dressing will NOT kill weeds. 20% (or higher) acetic acid kills weeds. Vinegar just happens to be a convenient way to purchase 20% acetic acid. I want to make this point because 1. We wasted our kitchen vinegar trying to kill weeds, hate to see anyone else waste the time, money and effort on a losing proposition and 2. If you use this and get any on your skin, I do NOT want you thinking "Oh well, it is just vinegar." It is ACID. Get it OFF. Do whatever is required to rinse it COMPLETELY.

Does that sound like the voice of experience...? It is. It has been quite the experience. Even the simplest task can become an exercise in ridiculousness...

We have had the vinegar since last fall, and have been waiting for weeks to apply it. You want to get the weeds while they are actively growing. You want to spray LEAVES so you can't wait until they are dried up. You want to spray on a hot day, above 80F ideally. You want it to NOT RAIN for a couple days after you spray. The weather report finally indicated we had a hot day, with no rain in the forecast for 48 hours. I made a batch of weed killer, 1 gallon vinegar and 1 tablespoon of dish soap. I sprayed a section. By the time I was done the storm clouds were gathering. Seriously, in about an hours time, the weather channel changed the forecast and the weather IMMEDIATELY obliged. I quit spraying for the day. Within the next hour, we got about a ten minutes spit-storm, maybe half a gallon of water on the entire property, so we watched and hoped.

Yesterday we had another favorable forecast, and the first section I sprayed seemed to be wilting so I mixed up enough to finish the patch. This time I added a bit of table salt. The salt is supposed to give an extra punch to the weed killing aspect, but I did not want it so strong it kills the soil under the weeds. I loaded up my handy-dandy backpack sprayer and went to wage battle. I was about 2/3 done when the hose on the sprayer broke and began squirting ACID down the back of my pants.

How far I goose-stepped my hot butt.

Wim Hoff would have been proud of me. I did not panic, I just concentrated on even breaths and walked double-time down the hill. It was going to be undignified. It was going to be cold. It was going to save my hide, so in we went... Me, my pants and all the vinegar solution they contained.

My buttprint in the algae in the cow trough.

This morning the patch that got sprayed twice looks pretty sad. The patch that only got sprayed once still looks a little too happy, but maybe it will start to wilt today. If not, I will go give it another dose in a couple days. The good news is the strong vinegar does seem to kill it if you apply enough, and the better news that the dunk in the cow trough worked like a charm and my bum is not burned at all.

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