We mostly associate white vinegar with kitchen usage. But it can also help out in gardening given its eco-friendly nature. While most commercial fertilizers come loaded with harmful chemicals, vinegar doesn’t harm the environment. Let’s now take a look at some of its biggest advantages in gardening:
#1 Removes Fruit Flies
Want to keep household flies and fruit flies at bay? Then let vinegar come to your rescue. For this, you will have to mix one tablespoon of molasse with half cup vinegar, one cup water and quarter cup sugar.
Next you will have to transfer the mixture in a container and hang it from the fruit tree. It traps in the fruit flies as and when they try attacking the mixture.
#2 Wards Off Fungus
Fungus is infamous for impeding the growth of plants. They are also known to leave dark spots on their leaves and stems. You can however tackle this problem with white vinegar. For this, you need to add 2 teaspoons of white vinegar into freshly brewed chamomile tea.
This mixture has to be next transferred into a spray bottle for being sprayed onto your plants. The best thing about this mixture is that it can boost up the growth of your plants.
#3 Nemesis Of Weeds
Want to get rid of the annoying weeds lining your walls and walkways? Then think no more and make use of white vinegar in your daily gardening chores. For this, you will just have to spray it on your weeds.
This deters those pesky pests from recurring time and again in your garden. You can prepare a mixture by adding 2 tablespoons of dish soap with 5% white vinegar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and one cup of salt.
#4 Deters Cats & Pests
Cats, rabbits, dogs, rodents and moles despise the smell of white vinegar. You can keep your precious garden out of reach from these household pets as well as pests by spraying some white vinegar.
Alternatively, you can hang clothes soaked in vinegar on stakes all around the garden.
#5 Removes Ants
If you want to keep your home garden protected from the attack of ants, then you can use white vinegar. This powerful organic insecticide can be sprayed all over your garden for removing ants.
But for best results, you need to keep doing it every now and then. A mixture can be prepared by mixing water and vinegar in equal amounts. Ultimately, you will have to spray this solution atop ant hills. Vinegar has a strong smell which causes ants to avoid the places where it is sprayed.
#6 Eliminates Garden Insects
Want to keep those garden insects at bay? Then think no more and opt straight for a mixture of 1 teaspoon dishwashing agent, 3 parts of water and 1 part of vinegar. This can be stored in a spray bottle and sprinkled atop your garden plants and flowers.
#7 Enhance The Longevity Of Cut Flowers
You can cater to the nutrient requirement of your garden flowers by using white vinegar. For this, you will have to store the flowers in a vase filled with 1 teaspoon of sugar and 2 tablespoons of vinegar. But for best results, you need to prepare a fresh mixture every 3-5 days.
#8 Make Garden Tools Rust Free
Do you feel that your garden tools are getting rusted in the aftermath of continued usage? Then dip those tools overnight in undiluted vinegar and rinse it clean.
Alternatively, you can spray some vinegar on the tools. Even the toughest traces of rust and grime will get wiped off from your tools such as hoe or rake.
#9 Delight Acid Loving Plants
White vinegar is loved by acidic plants such as gardenias, rhododendrons or azaleas. You can easily use it to impart an acid boost to your garden plants.
However, the effect is temporary in nature. For doing this, you will have to mix one gallon of water with one cup of white vinegar and spray it over the plants.
#10 Germination Of Seeds
You can add inertia to the germination of seeds coupled with white vinegar. This specially holds true in the case of moonflowers, okra, glories, asparagus and similar seeds which take time to germinate.
You need to use a coarse sandpaper for rubbing the seeds the night before planting the same. Then you can add some washing liquid, 500 ml warm water and 125 ml of white vinegar together. The seeds need to be soaked in this mixture prior to being planted in the morning.
#11 Clean Clay Pots
Don’t we all love decorating our garden with clay pots? Apart from decorative purposes, clay pots are also useful for protecting plant roots by preserving moisture of soil during summer months. But they tend to get lacklustre over time.
You can however counteract the same by using a mixture of 5% white vinegar and 3-4 cups of water. This can be done by keeping the pots submerged in this mixture before wiping off the residue.
Final Words
So, opt for white vinegar in the place of chemical pesticides and make the most out of your gardening chores.
Khaja Moinuddin, a computer science graduate, finds joy in gardening and homesteading. Join him on this blog as he shares his experiences in homesteading, gardening, and composting