There are many ways to cut the cash you spend on your money and some new ones I learn about on some days make wonder if some people are trying to fool others. Can you use hot water to kill weeds? I have no doubt that their roots will be scalded to death but what of the other vegetables or plants you have in your garden? Won't they also suffer the same fate? Have any of you tried killing weeds using hot water? If you haven't do you think it can work? Or is something you use only when preparing a garden for planting seeds?
A lot of people do use hot water to kill weeds, but the problem is they come back rather soon. Unless you pull them out by the roots then you are going to see the little buggers return frequently.
One of the problems with weeds is that their root systems can be deeper than your plants. You will kill or harm anything you pour hot water on but it is likely going to do more damage to the wanted plants than the weeds. The best thing to do is to try to pull up the weed and as much of the root as possible. You need to be vigilant so that the weeds are pulled before they have a chance to go to seed. While it is impossible to be on top of it all the time, routine weeding by hand is the cheapest and most effective way to keep the population in check.
I really don't know about boiled water, we always used salt as an inexpensive method to kill the weeds. Our yard was covered with stone slabs and in between those slabs weeds would grow. To get rid of them we pulled out the ones that we could then placed salt over the surface we just cleaned. Doing this kept our yard weed free for a longer period of time. Lostvalleyguy is right, if you don't pull the roots out, weeds will grow right back after the first rain.
When you use hot water, you also kill the beneficial bacteria needed to keep soil healthy. You can very easily upset the soil structure in the area. You will also kill the beneficial bugs you need to prey on pests. The eggs and larvae may also be killed off.
My friend had tried the method in the past in order to get rid of the weed around his flowers but a few days later everything died and so we learnt that hot water worked "for everything". It's better to just pull them out if you have a free times to do so.
