Press

How efficient is saturated steam equipment as an organic weed killer?

Dr. Cheryl Wilen from the University of California Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) tested the organic weed killer Satusteam™ machines from Weedtechnics and shared the initial results.

“We’re killing weeds with steam and that’s helped a lot, actually. We started using the weed control machine in July which worked out really well,” said Dr. Wilen.

The Department of Pesticide Regulation requested Dr. Wilen to do some weed control demonstrations for school sites in support of the Healthy Schools Act. The Act aims to stop the use of herbicides as a weed control solution around school sites.

Satusteam™: Safe and viable organic weed killer

Dr. Wilen considered Satusteam™ weed control machines from Weedtechnics as viable solutions that are safe even with children around.

“You can hold it with your hands and you’ve got a trigger where the hot steam comes out. You can do that while kids are playing in a playground which you can’t do even with the organic herbicides. In that case, you don’t really have to worry about the timing of it,” added Dr. Wilen.

Satusteam™ weed control treatment results

UC IPM conducted the weed control treatment at the end of July 2019, which resulted in super good edging, according to Dr. Wilen.

“What’s interesting is that we did not treat again the area with Bermuda grass, a typical perennial that usually regrows fast. I’m not sure what’s going on but we got very little regrowth of the Bermuda grass at the site after the weed control treatment.”

Dr. Wilen continued, “This type of weed control technique might shine in controlling weeds.”

Watch the full demo of Dr. Cheryl Wilen here.