From Your Best Digs, July 29, 2019
If you’re looking for a proven organic weed killer, we recommend Natural Armor – All-Natural Weed & Grass Killer..."
Over the course of a week, we tested nine different post-emergent weed killers, five conventional and four natural or organic, in a backyard on broadleaf and grassy weeds. We applied the weed killers on a sunny day when there was no rain in the forecast for at least 48 hours.
We tested 18 equal sections (four square feet each) of lawn area, two for each weed killer. The majority of weeds in each section were dandelions, broadleaf dock, crabgrass and bluegrass. We sprayed each type of weed killer over one section and left all nine sections alone for four hours. If using a concentrate, we mixed it according to directions and applied it with a direct-spray nozzle to spread the mixture.
After four hours, we returned and recorded our initial visual results. Our primary indicators of effectiveness were: browning, wilting, and yellowing. After 24 hours, we again recorded visual results, and using lawn gloves, brushed away any plants that had been visibly affected by the spray. Here we looked for whether weeds were breaking upon contact, and whether the roots had loosened at all.
We visited twice a day thereafter for a week, which was the maximum time period for the weed killers we selected; if they hadn’t worked by then, we marked it a failure.
We had doubts about natural weed killers, since our research indicated they weren’t as effective as popular glyphosate-based products. However, Natural Armor – All-Natural Weed & Grass Killer surprised us by performing comparably with our top pick (a conventional commercial weedkiller containing glyphosate).