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Crabgrass is very resilient, and homemade solutions like vinegar may not be strong enough. Typically, hand-weeding is the most effective option that doesn’t involve harmful chemicals. You can use corn-meal gluten as a natural pre-emergent herbicide, but it’s not as effective as chemical weed killers.

It’s not legal to intentionally damage a neighbor’s tree. Even if the roots of a tree encroach into your yard, if you damage or kill a tree that belongs to your neighbor, you can be held liable for the damage in most cases. Since herbicides can spread through the tree, causing damage to the whole tree and not just the roots that are on your side of the property line, you shouldn’t poison your neighbor’s tree. The other downside to this method is that if the tree dies, it can fall onto your property and cause more damage, so herbicides are best avoided in this circumstance.

If you have a lot of tree roots in your yard or have experienced issues in the past, you should use tree root killer every six months to prevent roots from infiltrating your pipes. If you have an active invasion and aren’t seeing results, check the instructions on the bottle to see how often you can use it in a short period of mine.

Yes, vinegar can be an effective way to kill individual dandelion plants to help in the hand-removal process. However, vinegar can also kill turfgrass, so use a targeted spray.