How To Kill Crabgrass With A DIY Remedy From Your Kitchen

What is crabgrass? Crabgrass (Digitaria) is an aggressive warm-season annual plant that is an unwanted visitor in gardens and yards. It often outperforms other plants, crowding them out and using up important nutrients in the soil. Its pale green color and distinctive shape look out of place in a healthy, bright green lawn, so it is a common nemesis to those trying to create a perfect yard. (To get that perfect look it's one of many lawn problems you'll need to repair.) Crabgrass is also persona non grata in vegetable and flower gardens. It's a very hardy plant but can be killed with herbicides. However, another surprising way to do so is with baking soda. Yes, you can get rid of crabgrass using the crystalline white powder found in your kitchen. Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is chemically identified as a base, an alkaline that will desiccate plants and kill them if properly applied.

It is important to remember that sodium bicarbonate will kill most plants, not just crabgrass. For that reason, it is important to accurately apply baking soda as a weed killer, only on the weeds and not near a plant or plants you favor. For that reason, it is recommended to shield off the plants you don't want harmed. Sheet plastic, cardboard, newspapers, or the like will create an effective physical barrier. In addition, use a method of putting the powder on the crabgrass that allows you to direct it exactly where it needs to be. Before you apply the sodium bicarbonate, wet the crabgrass. The moisture will help the baking soda to stick to the crabgrass and do its work more effectively.

As mentioned, baking soda is a mild desiccant. That means it will draw some moisture out of crabgrass leaves and roots. Simultaneously, the sodium bicarbonate will also temporarily change the pH of the soil surrounding the crabgrass, inflicting additional stress on the plant. Don't worry, you won't have to adjust the soil pH later. After you've applied the baking soda, keep an eye on the plant over the next few hours or even a day. When you see the plant shrivel and die, get a shovel or other garden tool and remove the plant, roots and all. Crabgrass has fibrous roots as opposed to a tap root (like dandelions), so make an effort to remove all of the root system.

Sodium bicarbonate is less aggressive than rock salt and can be neutralized by acids in the dirt. For that reason, the soil should be okay to plant in shortly after the baking powder is used (as long as you don't use too much). For a more precise application (on less mature plants that don't need as much of a shock), try 1 cup of baking soda mixed in a gallon of water, transferred into a spray bottle. When you are finished, flood the area to dilute the salts that the neutralized baking soda will leave behind. While baking soda will kill nearly any plant, using it on crabgrass as directed above is an effective way to get rid of the persistent pest that is crabgrass without resorting to chemical herbicides.