October 2004 Homemade Vinegar Proves Effective in Controlling Weeds

Two groups of fresh herb growers recently participated in an experiment that has profound implications for improving crop management. They sprayed their own commonly made household vinegar (acidic acid) on weeds in their plots of tarragon and within one hour saw dramatic results: the weeds that they normally must remove by hand hoeing every 10 days were rapidly dying. "The results are simply dramatic" was the reaction of Alvard Tovmasyan and the 10 women of Nalbandian Village who witnessed the demonstration. The participants in Mrgashat Village echoed the same reaction. Four concentrations of vinegar were demonstrated: 6%, 10 %, 15%, and 20%. Dr. Sergey Yeritsyan of the AAA carefully prepared them. Growers under the supervision of Dr. Hrant Terlemezyan did the actual spraying. Nuneh Sarukhanyan of Agrogitaspir served as extension leader for the project. According to Sarukhanyan, the random plot findings showed that vinegar concentrations of 15% and 20% had the most immediate effect on weeds. However spray drift caused slight damage to the tarragon. The 10% and homemade 6% concentrated vinegar worked slower and also proved effective however they caused no damage to the tarragon crop. The idea for the demonstration came from Paul Sommers and Felix Vardarian of USDA MAP. "The idea was to validate research conducted by the USDA National Research Center at Beltsville under Armenian conditions," said Mr. Sommers." Vinegar is bio-safe, low cost, and is traditionally made by farm families. This successful exercise has great implications for reducing one of the most labor demanding and costly aspects of growing quality crops-weeds.