Dead Grass

Information

Dead Grass is an organic, fast, non-selective weed killer developed to assist the control of weeds on farms, lifestyle blocks, orchards and homes.

With our own farm being organic it was really important to create something compatible with our ethos of healing, preserving and assisting the soil - alongside protecting the waterways and the life within the environment at large.

Dead Grass is a non selective weed killer. It is acetic acid based, and we have developed a couple of secret sauces to potentiate it so the weeds suffer while the soil biome is protected and supported. (That aspect is VERY important to us).

Dead Grass is very fast acting (instant gratification when you see results only 24 hours later).

Dead Grass is organic and totally natural and biodegradable. 

Dead Grass is not systemic & contains no hormones.

Dead Grass comes as a concentrate. You dilute with water.

Dead Grass leaves no eco-toxic residues neither is aqua-toxic.

How To Use Dead Grass 

1.     Mix it up 1 part Dead Grass  with 4 parts of water in your sprayer (or 200ml made up to 1 litre).

2.     On a hot, dry day (over 20 degrees), spray the foliage.

3.     You will see the plant wither and curl up. The weed is tricked into sucking the Dead Grass into the leaves and stem thus drinking it in. Photosynthesis is inhibited. (Gorse is especially interesting – it goes a bleached colour and soft). Death to the weed!

4.     Dead Grass  will eat the rubbers on your spray gear so it is really important to wash out the sprayer with warm, soapy water. Be thorough.

5.     Check on your efforts the next day!

How to apply Dead Grass

The best time is on a hot sunny day (20 degrees) with no rain on the horizon. Spray the foliage fully. For well established weeds a second application. A respray may be necessary for the parts of the plant that haven’t emerged at the time of the first spray.

How about Dead Grass on grass and lawns?

You can completely spray out your lawn if you wish – useful for prickles (Onehunga weed). The prickles will be hit and the grass will pop through instead. If you wish to put down grass seed this is safe as soon as you have finished spraying. Otherwise spot spray the weeds. Kikuya/twitch/couch type grasses will burn off but will come back so you may need to keep spraying it. (We have a solution for Kikuyu grass on farms and orchards)

How does Dead Grass organic weedkiller work?

Being a contact herbicide with a secret sauce or two, the plant will drink the Dead Grass in and instantly regret it. The acetic acid has been potentiated so the burn effect on the leaf is strong and cellular structure is broken down within. With no photosynthesis able to happen, the weed dies quickly. With no residue in the soil, you can go ahead and re-seed or not be concerned about plants growing nearby. But it is best to shield the plants you do want to keep and not spray on a windy day.

Is Dead Grass safe around animals? Absolutely

Is Dead Grass organic? It is.  Every component is classified as organic but we haven’t put it through the certification process – so it is organic but not certified organic. We wouldn’t have developed it if it wasn’t organic.

Can I use Dead Grass around trees? Yes – around the base is no problem but as it works by contact you won’t want to get it onto leaves.

Why use Dead Grass? Because it is safe for the health of people, animals and soil. Our ethos at Ecofarm Aotearoa is to promote health and that is done through the environment – which is where the nutrition comes from. When current herbicidal options have an overwhelming effect on harming health that is firmly supported by studies, it is important to have a healthy option that is safer around the home and farm. The soil contains ‘good bugs’ that do a great job in the soil of creating a healthy nutritious soil and current sprays kill them. Dead Grass is proven to protect the soil biome while, at the same time destroy the weed that you have sprayed it on. Any spray drift is not dangerous for the user either. It is a bit pungent, but not dangerous. We are not trying to copy the effects of glyphosate (Roundup) – that dead dirt/scorched earth look. So if you want those awful dead circles under trees, Dead Grass will not provide that. Grass will grow back!

What is the active ingredient in Dead Grass? Dead Grass is acetic acid based and we have developed a couple of secret sauces to potentiate it, along with supporting the soil biome too. With our farm being organic it is really important to use something compatible.

What is the dilution rate of Dead Grass? 1l Dead Grass with 4l water to give you 100l of spray from a 20l container.

Gorse and Blackberry: Dead Grass will clobber gorse. The rate of 1 part DG with 4 parts water. To be used on a fine, sunny day.   20 degrees HOT. (For blackberry, DG won’t work in the spring. You need to be late summer – hot, dry day).

Both weeds are indicating a serious lack of silica in the soil – all prickly weeds are there to bring silica to the soil. So while they are weeds, they are actually doing a job. So….. if you provide the soil with the silica, you will make them redundant and as we have found on the farm, the places where we can get the spreader are weed free. It is clear that the places that are too hard to drive over with the tractor and spreader are not as fertile and that is where the gorse has a job to do – so it goes away.   (A neighbouring farm uses chemicals and herbicides on their farm every year and every year the thistles come up in glorious abundance. But they don’t come through the boundary fence. The long term answer is to correct the soil).

Silica is part of the system we blend to achieve the correction. It is fertiliser that gives long term satisfaction! (And probably more cost effective).

Having said that using the Dead Grass will give you instant gratification and where it has been used specifically over gorse plants, they just don’t come back.

Dead Grass comes in 30l, 200l and 1000l - please enquire regarding these sizes. For use in cropping please call us! There is a procedure to use and the rather neat thing is that it doesn’t waste time, money, product or diesel. 😊