# Can I "salt the earth" to prevent weeds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-salt-the-earth-to-prevent-weeds/515611 "2009-10-29T15:01:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-salt-the-earth-to-prevent-weeds/515611/41 "2012-06-12T01:37:19Z")
> [@Tvaughanx](#): > > they are all harmfull because they are petrochemical based. Many prescription drugs are petrochemical based - so are many parts of the computer you typed on. Petrochemical based does not equal harmful. In fact, unless you haul the salt from the mine to your house in a buggy - it also needs petrochemicals to make the journey. Well - correction - even if you use a buggy - you need to make sure the horses eat only organic vegetation since most feed use crops raised with fertilizers made from petrochemicals. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-salt-the-earth-to-prevent-weeds/515611/42 "2012-06-12T01:59:08Z")
[Advice from those Other Guys.](http://www.giraffeboards.com/showthread.php?t=26148) ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-salt-the-earth-to-prevent-weeds/515611/43 "2012-06-12T02:20:39Z")
I’m going to guess that posting from an iPad and shoeing horses at the same time isn’t an easy task. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-salt-the-earth-to-prevent-weeds/515611/44 "2012-06-12T02:59:16Z")
> [@madrabbitwoman](#): > > I also like using boiling water for instant results and will use both - boiling water and then vinegar. I do the boiling water thing too on weeds coming up in the driveway and pathways. Done on a hot sunny day, it’s very effective, and then when they dry out over the next few days, I just briskly sweep them up. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-salt-the-earth-to-prevent-weeds/515611/45 "2012-06-12T03:25:20Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > [Advice from those Other Guys.](http://www.giraffeboards.com/showthread.php?t=26148) I’m SO gonna try that. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-salt-the-earth-to-prevent-weeds/515611/46 "2012-06-12T04:11:58Z")
I put a few cups of rock salt (ice melter kind) in a 2 gallon watering can and filled it with water. I shook it for a couple of minutes, and watered the weeds in my mom’s gravel drive with it. Since not all the salt dissolved the first time, I refilled and reshook and watered down some more driveway weeds. It took about four refills and reshakings to saturate all the weeds. They were all dead and crispy the next afternoon. Of course, if I had gotten any of the salt water on the yard, it would have killed the grass just as well. The weeds started growing back in about a month after a few rains, [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-salt-the-earth-to-prevent-weeds/515611.md?page=2)