chloride as a weed killer

Question

I was told by an old timer that he used to spread it on his garden every fall after he harvested and he never had any weeds of any sort. The next year he always had a bumper of a crop. He did this every year. How much would one spread on it? Is it safe?. . . wayne

Answer 1

I could see why it would work. Chloride (and bleach) will destroy the cells of anything it comes in contact with so would kill weeds, weed seeds and just about everything else it comes across – including beneficial bacterial and organisms (like worms).

The Chloride would break down after a few weeks to be just salt, and as long as you did not use too much, you would not have any poisoning of the soil.

Whether you want to do that is up to you. There are pros (no weeds) and negatives (no worms). If you want to go ahead with it, I would try starting with a 10% solution. Any more than that and the salt may be too much in the soil.