Using Borax to Kill Creeping Charlie
Wednesday August 4, 2004
As this story points out, "Twenty Mule Team Borax" is a commercial name for sodium tetraborate, a mineral salt containing boron. Borax has been used in landscaping to kill creeping charlie, a vigorous lawn weed. Get the recipe here.
Comments
You claim “Get the recipe here,” but where is the recipe?
When the writer of a blog post says to get something “here,” that’s an invitation to click on the link provided in the body of the blog post. If you click on the link I provide in the body of my blog post, you’ll be taken to an article that someone wrote on using Borax to kill creeping charlie. Within that article, the author mentions a “recipe” used for eradicating creeping charlie.
The following paragraph appeared in your article concerning borax and creeping charlie.
“They compared various rates of dry and liquid borax with Super Trimec (2,4 D + dicamba + dichlorprop) and Sharpshooter (saturated fatty acids of potassium salts). All borax treatments and Super Trimec provided greater than 90% ground ivy control the spring following application in 1991, when soil moisture was good. In 1992, a dryer year, only liquid borax and Super Trimec controlled 85% of the ground ivy the spring following application. They also found that cooler weather may reduce effectiveness. So if liquid borax and Super Trimec provide comparable results, which would a homeowner want to choose? As you would expect, “it depends.” ”
I am a little confused about the wording and I want to get this straight in my head if you can help me – you state that, “All borax treatments and Super Trimec provided greater than 90% ground ivy control the spring following application in 1991″ which is good news, then you say, “In 1992, a dryer year, only liquid borax and Super Trimec controlled 85% of the ground ivy the spring following application.” – ‘only liquid borax and Super Trimec, isn’t that the only products you used in the previous sentence? ONLY LIQUID BORAX AND SUPER TRIMEC seem to indicate that there were more chemicals used in the previous sentence, why do you use the word ‘only’?
Please help me.
Joe,
Sorry, but that’s not my article. I merely linked to Iowa State University’s article on using borax to kill creeping charlie. For detailed explanation of the wording, you would have to contact them. My own article on creeping charlie mentions borax only in passing.
Here is the recipe from the ISU site. 10 oz. Borax dissolved in 4 oz. warm water, then dilute in 2.5 gallons of water. Hope this helps!
My invasion of creeping charlie is in my flower bed of mostly perenials. My question is will the Borax formula kill everything it is applied to?
Jeanne,
I would not use Borax to kill creeping charlie in a flower bed.