Weed Control for Beekeepers

 

Indea in my field of dandelions

Beekeeping is full of conundrums, and trying to maintain an all-natural yard without having your neighbors completely hate you is definitely one of them. I have been fortunate that no one has complained (yet) about my beautiful crop of dandelions!

I too, can appreciate a nice yard and control over the non-flowering, non-nectar producing weeds. At the moment, my yard has an over-abundance of these less desirable plants. My first plan of attack was to pull out, by the roots, these non-contributing intruders. But after the first couple hours, having hardly made a dent, I decided to search for other options.

Roundup weed killer

You don’t have to look much farther than your local hardware store or garden center to find a quick and easy solution. I’m sure nobody has missed the negative hype that surrounds this popular product. Not only is it extremely harmful to honey bees and other pollinators, it’s been proven to not be too healthy for us either … but that’s for another blog.

So, what to do? I had read about a recipe that is ‘guaranteed to kill weeds’. It sounded simple enough. I thought I’d give it a try and aim for an only-the-weeds-I-want type yard.

A fabulous invention!

I bought a pressurized sprayer as my yard is too overrun for a handheld spray bottle to do the trick. This is an absolute must and I can’t believe I have never owned one before!

The recipe calls for four liters of plain white vinegar. If vinegar is such an effective weed killer … should I really be putting it in my beets to make pickles?? Something for future pondering …

Two cups of Epsom Salt was the next ingredient. Epsom Salt is good for just about everything; why not weed killing as well!

And finally, a half cup of ‘blue’ Dawn dish soap. Not sure what’s in this, but it shows up a lot in ‘deep cleaning’ recipes.

With my weed killer mixed, the pressure sprayer filled and pressurized, I headed out to do battle with the weeds invading my wooden walkways and flowerbeds.

This was the result only four hours later! The weeds are looking dry and turning brown. I’m very happy with the results and can’t wait to mix another batch and continue on.

With this effective recipe, I don’t have to live with unwanted, invasive weeds, nor do I have to spray with harsh chemicals that hurt/kill pollinators, can make my dog sick, and are harmful to the environment and me. I can rest assured I’m not harming the pollinators that visit my yard and the honey bees that live here are not being poisoned by the very food they eat. (Something we all need to think about.)

Butterfly sipping nectar on a dandelion

This is the hive in my yard. I checked it yesterday to find a very productive queen bee at work. The population is still low, but considering the trauma they endured, they’re doing quite well. You can still see the muddy bear paw print on the bottom box.

Honey bee hive that survived the bear attack