• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
The Healthy Home Economist

The Healthy Home Economist

embrace your right to a lifetime of health

Get Plus
  • Home
  • About
  • My Books
  • Shopping List
  • Archives
  • Log in
  • Get Plus
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Get Plus
  • Log in
  • Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Archives
  • My Books
  • Shopping List
  • Recipes
  • Healthy Living
  • Natural Remedies
  • Green Living
  • Videos
  • Natural Remedies
  • Health
  • Green Living
  • Recipes
  • Videos
  • Subscribe
Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Gardening / 4 Safe Herbicides and Pesticides for Lawn + Garden

4 Safe Herbicides and Pesticides for Lawn + Garden

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Herbal Herbicide+−
    • How to Make a Safe Herbicide with Clove Oil
  • Corn Meal
  • Boiling Water
  • Ladybugs

Four green herbicides and pesticides to use for the home garden and yard that are safe for children and pets.

Spring has sprung and so have the weeds and bugs! Instead of using chemical based herbicides and pesticides to keep things in order, why not try natural and green versions this year?

After all, these chemicals are linked to diabetes, dementia in adults and ADHD in children.

And that’s what science has only uncovered so far. There are likely other health risks over the long term as well from regular exposure in the home environment.

It is worth the effort to make the change to safer alternatives!

Here are a few of the tricks I use around my yard to control the growth and save myself loads of time, with no chemicals.

We’ve lived in our home for almost 30 years and have never resorted to conventional chemicals for the yard or garden even in buggy, hot, humid Florida.

Herbal Herbicide

With so much rapid growth in your flower beds, it’s important to be able to spray once in a while to control the undesirable plants.    

It’s also convenient to spray around the bases of trees in the yard to simplify seasonal mowing duties. Perhaps you weren’t aware that clove oil can be used as a strong, yet nontoxic herbicide in your yard.  

It is stronger than the vinegar and salt based herbicides that you may have tried in the past.

It is very expensive to buy clove oil based herbicides at the organic nurseries, so be aware that you can make them yourself much less expensively.

How to Make a Safe Herbicide with Clove Oil

To make a herbal herbicide with clove oil, mix the following ingredients in a one-gallon sprayer and mix gently.

  • 8 Tablespoons clove oil (this would equate to one 4 oz bottle like this one).
  • 1 gallon water
  • 12 drops of dishwashing liquid. This functions as a nontoxic adjuvant which helps clove oil more easily penetrate the leaves.

Spray this mixture on all undesirable plants early in the morning after the dew dries making sure it will not rain at all that day.    

Take care not to spray desirable plants as this mixture will burn any plant’s foliage, not just weeds.  Weeds should begin to wilt and die within 8 hours or less!  

I like to spray around my yard on a Saturday morning and many of the weeds were wilted and dead by dinnertime.   Plus, my yard smells fabulous from the lovely clove scent!

Be aware that clove oil will burn your skin if it comes into contact, so it is wise to use gloves and protective goggles if applying on a breezy day.

Corn Meal

Once you have eliminated the weeds with your clove oil herbicide, you can prevent them from coming back by sprinkling corn meal in your flower beds and other areas to control new weed growth.

I usually reapply every month or so, and it sure does save a lot of time and effort preventing the weeds from growing in the first place! You will find over time that using corn meal will result in less and less weed growth.

I recommend using organic cornmeal that is also nonGMO verified (due to widespread issues with organic/GMO cross-contamination) to ensure you aren’t inadvertently adding glyphosate to the soil on your property. This is especially important if you use it on the garden.

I don’t recommend using masa harina as it has been treated with lime and isn’t as effective in preventing weeds.

The effectiveness of this treatment definitely grows with regular use over a period of time.

Boiling Water

I use a boiling tea kettle of water to eliminate those pesky weeds that spring up between bricks, pavers, and concrete seams. It also works quite well to eliminate ant piles from your yard!    

It may take 2 or even 3 treatments before the ant pile is completely dead, but I have found this to be the best nontoxic way to get rid of those little critters without using any poison.

Ladybugs

Ladybugs are a beautiful and natural way to control pests in your yard and garden.

They mostly feed on aphids. However, they also consume other undesirables such as moths, insect eggs, mites, scales, thrips, leaf hoppers, mealybugs, chinch bugs, asparagus beetle larvae, red spider mites, and whitefly.

You can actually buy and ship ladybugs to your door very inexpensively if you don’t already have any in your area to naturally attract.

This article contains more information on how to use ladybugs for your garden.

Children find it very exciting to see them released when they arrive! It’s a beautiful sight!

I hope you find these natural and green yard tips helpful in your neck of the woods.  

It is comforting to know that your children are playing in a yard that is pesticide and herbicide free!

woman with gallon sprayer with green herbicides
FacebookPinEmailPrint
Category: Gardening, Pest Control
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: the bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

You May Also Like

Jail For Planting a Vegetable Garden?

Local Food Haven to Ban Growing Food Without Authorization

DIY insect repellent spray bottle in greenery

How to Make Bug Repellent Spray (that really works!)

How to Attract and Use Ladybugs for Garden Pest Control

How to Attract and Use Ladybugs for Garden Pest Control

woman applying epsom salts fertilizer to garden plants

Best Natural Garden & Lawn Fertilizers (inexpensive too)

natural indoor flea infestation solutions

Natural, Nontoxic Flea Infestation Solutions for Home and Pets

Safe Flea Control for Pets: No Pesticides and No Drugs (+ Video)

Going to the Doctor a Little Too Often?

Get a free chapter of my book Traditional Remedies for Modern Families + my newsletter and learn how to put Nature’s best remedies to work for you today!

We send no more than one email per week. You will never be spammed or your email sold, ever.
Loading

Reader Interactions

Comments (23)

  1. Anita Adolf

    Jul 28, 2021 at 5:09 pm

    How long does the clove oil herbicide stay potent? (in other words, must you mix/use each time or can you make a batch for the season?)

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope MGA

      Jul 29, 2021 at 10:59 am

      Not sure … I use it all up very quickly batch I make.

  2. TL

    Apr 28, 2021 at 12:25 am

    Will ths kill poison ivy? Do you know of anything that really works for that besides the bad chemicals?

    Reply
  3. Kirk Rush

    Apr 9, 2021 at 5:32 pm

    Is the clove oil safe to use in a vegetable garden? Also, how heavily do you spread the cornmeal?

    Kirk

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope MGA

      Apr 9, 2021 at 8:12 pm

      Sprinkle the cornmeal fairly evenly across the soil. Here is a commercial brand (don’t use it …it’s GMO), but the directions tell you how much to spread. Use organic, nonGMO cornmeal and do the same thing. https://amzn.to/3s6Ecne

      Clove oil will burn your garden plants, so if you use it to weed the garden, be sure you have good aim with the sprayer.

  4. Natalie G

    Apr 7, 2021 at 10:13 am

    Any tips on preventing or killing off poison ivy? We live in the wooded area and it’s spreading everywhere.

    Reply
  5. Des

    Apr 7, 2021 at 8:13 am

    Do you buy clove oil in bulk? I have a large yard and several flower gardens and it would be quite pricey to use small bottles of clove oil.

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope MGA

      Apr 7, 2021 at 8:24 am

      You probably can …. any full strength clove oil brand would be fine. I would make a gallon and test it around your property first. Note that this herbicide does not work as well for large weeds that are well established. It is best on younger, tender weeds just emerging in flower beds and such.

  6. GUILIANA

    May 23, 2016 at 4:03 pm

    We spray white vinegar on weeds that grow in the cracks on and around the driveway and pavers. You don’t have to worry about accidentally burning yourself. It kills most weeds within a day or two; some may take a bit longer. It’s pretty inexpensive. We use white vinegar every day for laundry and cleaning.

    Reply
« Older Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Sidebar

Mother Nature’s Medicine Cabinet

5 Secrets to a Strong Immune System

Loading

The Healthy Home Economist

Since 2002, Sarah has been a Health and Nutrition Educator dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. Read More

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Check Out My Books

Mother Nature’s Medicine Cabinet

5 Secrets to a Strong Immune System

Loading

Contact the Healthy Home Economist. The information on this website has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease. By accessing or using this website, you agree to abide by the Terms of Service, Full Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Affiliate Disclosure, and Comment Policy.

Copyright © 2009–2023 · The Healthy Home Economist · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!