Glycerine weed killer

[tigerone Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tigerone]

I have heard if you spray glycerine on weeds it suffocates them. I am going to filter the glycerine and give it a go on some, just not sure if it will spray out okay because of it being quite thick. Has anyone had any experience with this or any info? Also i am going to try it to degrease some tractors, using a pressure washer that will suck it out and mix with the water. I have about a 1000litres and its either this or pour it out somewhere, anyone have any comments?

[tillyfromparadise Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tillyfromparadise]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

Hello Tigerone

I have heard that too. It seemed to make the prickles in my yard gorw better. On the other hand, the grass was not impressed

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

Tigerone,
I have heard that the biodiesel byproduct can be diluted 50:50 with water and can be sprayed using a hand pumped sprayer. It may need thinning further to perhaps 66:33 ot 75:25, to spray using your equipment, but the weed killing effect could be reduced at lower concentrations.

Heck, with 1000 litres, use a squeegee and coat the weeds thoroughly!

Tony

[gwalker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gwalker]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

Does your glycerine by-product still contain methanol or has it been removed? Is it NaOH or KOH by-product?

I read yesterday that KOH glycerine by-product is used commercially to reduce dust on fertilizer but I don't know in what concentration.

It's said that you can add by-product to compost but I haven't read how long before it breaks down and the compost can be used, or the quantity that can be added to compost before overloading it, or if it can be either KOH or NaOH by-product.

Adding phosphoric acid turns KOH glycerine by-product into a usable fertilizer but I don't know much phosphoric acid would be needed to treat a litre, diluted 3:1, and make it a useful garden spray.

Yes I have heard that it kills weeds but not if this is by-product from NaOH or KOH. One may be a killer and the other a fertilizer.

Please post the results of using a diluted by-product as a pressure spray degreaser.
My only concern would be:
1. if it still contains methanol and was used in a confined area.
2. what the runnoff would do to your local environment - kill things or make them grow?
George

[zigparacingtadpole Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zigparacingtadpole]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

If you are going to use it as a degreaser, my advice would be to remove the methanol from it. I cut it down to around 1 part byproduct to 3or4parts water (Hope you have lots of tractors to wash!). Even at those ratios, I would still consider the cleaning action to be more industrial strength than some of the 'industrial strength' products available commercially. Of course if its really stubborn, use it neat with a brush, leave to penetrate and hose off.
As for a weed killer, I would classify the byproduct as broad spectrum antivegetation agent (of any kind). I did a few experiments behind my shed and found that I no longer have a problem with anything growing there.

George, the methanol left is biodegraded quite quickly and therefore cannot run anywhere.

[pangit Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close pangit]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

My own experience with KOH based glycerin is that it kills any vegetation if it still contains methanol. I often dump mine down the side of the house or on the drive and it keeps the weeds at bay.

I tried using a watering can with large holes, but undiluted it still blocks these up pretty quick. So I usually just pour it from a bucket. A bit messy but quicker.

I also put some on our compost heap but ended up killing all the worms and a lemon tree! Again that was probably because it still had too much methanol in it, so be careful!

[tigerone Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tigerone]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

Thanks for your input, i dilluted it tday 50/50 with water and it sprayed out good on a few marshmallow weeds, sprayed another patch with round up interesting to see what works better. I gave it a go with the pressure washer which sucks the glycerine out undilluted and mixes with the pressurised water, seemed to work quite well. The glycerine has been building up in a thousand litre container with the lid off, i know all the methanol wouldnt evaporate but im not educated on how to remove or recover it completely, any advice would be great. The reaction uses koh by the way. In the future i would like to use the glycerine on my farm as a broad acre weed spray if it goes okay and has no major side effects, i will post how it compares to round up,.

[cass Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cass]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

I have about a 1000litres and its either this or pour it out somewhere, anyone have any comments?

Hi there was wondering if you could spare some, I'd like to try making soap, I don't have enough yet
Caroline

[tigerone Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tigerone]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

Yep no worries my number is 0407433889.

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

Tigerone,
How much water does the pressure washer add to the undiluted byproduct?
I would be surprised if it is less than 20:1
This may not be concentrated enough to act as a herbicide.

Note that if your soild are hydrophyllic, the caustic in the byproduct will help in allowing water to soak into the soil as well as the other components of the byproduct improving the soil microbal activity.

Tony

[tigerone Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tigerone]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

I am using the pressure washer to degrease not as a weed killer, the weed solution is 50/50. Thanks for the other info, cheers.

[GBeverley Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close GBeverley]

Re: Glycerine weed killer

I wonder if it would work on a tree that has been cut down poisoned, and repoisoned and repoison and just does not wont to die. It was a nice tree that sprung up right beside the driveway and refuses to die.