If you mean a homemade DIY weed killer, the classic “nana” recipe is usually white vinegar + dish soap, sometimes with salt.
🌿 Classic DIY weed killer
Ingredients
- 1 gallon (3.8 L) white vinegar — ideally 5% acetic acid
- 1–2 tablespoons liquid dish soap
- Optional: 1 cup table salt for especially stubborn weeds
How it works
- Vinegar burns the leaves and dries out the plant tissue.
- Dish soap helps the mixture spread across and stick to the waxy leaf surface.
- Salt draws water out of plant cells, making the treatment more aggressive—but it can also remain in the soil and prevent other plants from growing.
How to use it
- Mix the vinegar and dish soap in a spray bottle or garden sprayer.
- If using salt, dissolve it thoroughly before spraying.
- Pick a dry, sunny, relatively wind-free day.
- Spray the leaves until they’re thoroughly coated, rather than soaking the surrounding soil.
- Give it several hours without rain. You may see wilting or browning within a day or two.
- For perennial weeds, the roots can survive, so you may need to remove the dead growth and repeat the treatment.
⚠️ The important catch
This isn’t a selective weed killer. It can damage or kill desirable plants just as easily as weeds. Vinegar is generally much better at killing young annual weeds than established perennial weeds with deep roots.
I’d skip the salt if you’re spraying around garden beds, lawns, trees, or anywhere you want plants to grow later. Salt can accumulate in soil and cause longer-lasting damage.
Also, never mix vinegar with bleach, ammonia, or other household chemicals.
If you tell me where the weeds are (driveway cracks, gravel, lawn, vegetable garden, sidewalk, etc.), I can give you the best DIY recipe and application method for that specific spot.