Kill weeds with vinegar?

[Tom]

Goat head weed is a good tortoise food. Its one of the main foods for wild leopard tortoises according to one study I saw. It was one of many things that held a relatively high percentage of their over all diet.

I would suggest handling and feeding it out while it is still soft and flexible, before it goes to seed and becomes the horrible monster that it is.

 

[144 Grandpa Turtle]

Is that why I should put it outside?

Here in AZ 80 degrees outside and 71 degrees inside ( cause of AC )evaporation happens faster at 80 degrees then 71 degrees

 

[leigti]

Goat head weed is a good tortoise food. Its one of the main foods for wild leopard tortoises according to one study I saw. It was one of many things that held a relatively high percentage of their over all diet.

I would suggest handling and feeding it out while it is still soft and flexible, before it goes to seed and becomes the horrible monster that it is.

Oh crap you're freaking kidding me! I guess if I feel extremely motivated, it probably won't happen but anyway, I can try to get it in the green stage. I have to get rid of it before the stickers form. These things are evil. Once when I was a kid I was riding the horse at a full gallop and he tripped, I flipped over his head rolled down a hill and landed in a huge pile of those damn stickers. It literally took two hours to get them all out of my clothes. I hate those things.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

You mean just boiling water by it's self right? That would work for a small area but I have a large area so that might not work as well. Or did you mean that you have to use boiling water in the above recipe?

Yes, just plain boiling water. Another approach is to smother weeds. Or use Yvonne's recipe, I'm sure it's good.

 

[leigti]

Oh crap you're freaking kidding me! I guess if I feel extremely motivated, it probably won't happen but anyway, I can try to get it in the green stage. I have to get rid of it before the stickers form. These things are evil. Once when I was a kid I was riding the horse at a full gallop and he tripped, I flipped over his head rolled down a hill and landed in a huge pile of those damn stickers. It literally took two hours to get them all out of my clothes. I hate those things.

The horse was okay thank God, but he ran off home. So I had to walk a mile with a gazillion stickers poking me. I think I'm traumatized for life when it comes to those damn stickers.

 

[Yvonne G]

Here in my neck of the woods we call them puncture vine. I, like Tom, have heard that they are good tortoise food.

 

[Loohan]

acetic acid is relatively innocuous to breathe in dilute concentrations, i imagine.

What i'm trying to say is, sure the water will evaporate, but so will the acid. I don't know which is more volatile. If this method does work for people, it suggests that water is.
If so, then it might still be more economical, despite the waste, to evaporate cheap vinegar than to try to find/buy the strong stuff.

Incidentally last summer i tried straight cheapo vinegar with a bit of soap on some weeds in hot weather. It did suppress them and slow them down quite a bit, but didn't kill them.

I also tried this with d-limonene added:
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/make-w...-oil-vinegar-dishwashing-detergent-48333.html
which also had the same result. Due to lack of rigorous testing methods, i don't know how much better this was.

 

[Loohan]

Here in my neck of the woods we call them puncture vine. I, like Tom, have heard that they are good tortoise food.

If i'm correct, this is Tribulus terrestris AKA goatshead AKA sandspur. I had plantar warts for decades stemming from stepping on one in FL in 1974.
You could always grind them up and sell them
https://www.google.com/search?clien...f-8#q=Tribulus+terrestris&channel=fs&tbm=shop

 

[leigti]

If i'm correct, this is Tribulus terrestris AKA goatshead AKA sandspur. I had plantar warts for decades stemming from stepping on one in FL in 1974.
You could always grind them up and sell them
https://www.google.com/search?clien...f-8#q=Tribulus+terrestris&channel=fs&tbm=shop

Wow, I should have plantar warts all over my feet. I've stepped on about 1000 of these darn things.

 

[Loohan]

Wow, I should have plantar warts all over my feet. I've stepped on about 1000 of these darn things.

They won't all cause warts. I've stepped on lots too.
Warts are supposedly caused by a virus. Maybe it happened to be present on that one i stepped on.

 

[Tom]

Oh crap you're freaking kidding me! I guess if I feel extremely motivated, it probably won't happen but anyway, I can try to get it in the green stage. I have to get rid of it before the stickers form. These things are evil. Once when I was a kid I was riding the horse at a full gallop and he tripped, I flipped over his head rolled down a hill and landed in a huge pile of those damn stickers. It literally took two hours to get them all out of my clothes. I hate those things.

I don't have a story anywhere near that good, but I stepped on one in New Mexico and it punctured my foot right through my shoe.

I think Yvonne's moniker is an apt name for this weed. It certainly punctured my foot.

 

[leigti]

I don't have a story anywhere near that good, but I stepped on one in New Mexico and it punctured my foot right through my shoe.

I think Yvonne's moniker is an apt name for this weed. It certainly punctured my foot.

Oh yeah they will definitely puncture threw a shoe. Evil I say they are just evil! And if one pokes me then it itches for a few hours. The seeds are the stickers, and they can lay dormant for years before they grow another plant. Which is why they are almost impossible to get rid of.

 

[Yvonne G]

...and don't even think about riding your bike along side the road where the darned things are growing. You'll get flat tires for sure. When I take the hoe to the street in front of my house I end up with them sticking into the bottoms of my flip flops. If I don't stop at the garbage can on my way back to the house and pick them all out, they re-deposit on my property and grow everywhere I've walked.

 

[leigti]

Exactly. They hitch a ride on whoever and whatever they can. The poor dog will start hopping along on 3 feet and I know that she stepped on one.

 

[Tom]

The poor dog will start hopping along on 3 feet and I know that she stepped on one.

Oh yes. As much as I travel my dogs around the world, I see that one regularly.

They are such nice soft tender plants before they go to seed though...

 

[leigti]

I will try to get to them in time to feed them to my tortoise.

 

[Loohan]

I don't have a story anywhere near that good, but I stepped on one in New Mexico and it punctured my foot right through my shoe.

I think Yvonne's moniker is an apt name for this weed. It certainly punctured my foot.

They are also called caltrops:
http://jkherb.trustpass.alibaba.com/product/114550458-101442756/SMALL_CALTROPS.html

 

[leigti]

I will try to get to them in time to feed them to my tortoise.

I gave some to my tortoise tonight and she could've cared less. Granted, it usually takes her to her three times of feeding her a new item before she will actually eat it. So she may not get another chance at this one. We'll see. I mixed up a batch and poured it on.