The Common Pantry Staple That May Solve Your Pesky Crabgrass Problem

If you study the origins of crabgrass, you'd be surprised to learn that what many gardeners consider to be a weed used to be grown for food. For many gardeners, however, intentionally planting crabgrass in our yard seems unthinkable. Instead, we are often looking for foolproof ways to easily kill and eliminate it from our lawns. Not only is crabgrass unattractive, growing in unsightly patches on your lawn, it's competitive, stealing resources that other plants in your yard actually need. Its cyclical life pattern also could increase the risk of erosion when the plant dies back and leaves loose, exposed soil. This is especially true when it's grown on a slope. 

Store-bought herbicides are effective, but if you are looking for a natural weed killer, consider a common pantry staple that may do the trick. Baking soda — widely used as a natural cleaning agent, deodorizer, baking ingredient, and even a health and beauty product — is pure sodium bicarbonate, and is may be able to effectively kill crabgrass, small weeds, and even weed seeds. Used on crabgrass, baking soda essentially works like a vampire, sucking moisture out of plant cells. Unable to retain water, the plant eventually dries out and dies. 

Using this pantry staple is quick and easy. Since baking soda depletes plants of moisture, using it on a hot, sunny day amplifies this drying effect. One method is to first spray the crabgrass with water before sprinkling a liberal amount of baking soda on the foliage. Triangle Lawn Care suggests a different approach: dissolve 1 cup of baking soda into a gallon of water and then spray the mixture on weeds.

Unlike some herbicides like Roundup that will kill the entire plant above and below the ground, baking soda only kills what it touches. This means it will only affect the exposed portion of the crabgrass, leaving its roots to continue thriving. Extra vigilance and multiple applications of baking soda, especially after the rain, will be required. However, if your efforts continually kill off the leaves, the roots will no longer be able to survive, and you can then easily uproot the dead plant.

Regardless of which method you choose, remember that baking soda isn't selective in what it kills. Therefore, as much as you can, avoid getting it on your lawn and other plants that you don't want to damage. An accidental light dusting won't harm the surrounding grass or plants, but a heavy dosage will. Similarly, a small amount of baking soda is not harmful to humans, but if your skin is easily irritated, consider wearing protective gear since you'll be working with a large quantity .