Source for 20% Vinegar in Northeast

I'm new to gardening but know that I want go as organic as possible. According to the general consensus 20% vinegar is effective at killing a large number of weeds. I'm located in Rockland County NY. I've called every garden/nursery center within a 12 mile radius on the west side of the Hudson River. One place carried it but is out of stock until next spring. I found places in Texas and Ohio that carry it but was hoping to find someplace closer. Any suggestion for sources would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Neal

Please be careful when you use such a high concentration. First, if you use it on your soil you won't be able to grow ANYTHING there until you do some major amendments to it. Vinegar will make the ph of your soil 0. Secondly, any concentration of vinegar over 11% can cause skin burns on contact. Make sure to wear eye protection as well as this can also cause permanent corneal damage if you should get it in your eyes.

Here's a link
http://www.hort.wisc.edu/mastergardener/Features/weeds/vinegar/vinegar.htm

Thank you Mobi. If I could buy 10% I would. All I can find is 5% or 20%. I plan to dilute the 20% down to 10% before I use it and then just spray it on the foliage not soak the roots.

I have found it works better when you spray the weeds during the day, with the hot sun directly above. I use regular house hold vinegar but I just do the weeds in the paths and those that come up through the bricks etc.

I use pickling vinegar from the supermarket. It is 9% acidity. My main foes to use it on are Johnson grass and bermuda in unwelcome spots such as under the edges of the building's foundations and in crevices of walkways. Using it on the foliage exposes too much vinegar to the soil and is not as effective as going for only the roots. I cut back the leaves and stems (composting is okay as long as no roots are included) and thus I can use it very sparingly. Both these grasses spread by stolons; Johnson grass is especially stubborn as the roots are very large and go very deep as well as wide. I pull out as much as I can, but it is hard to spot all the individual joints, any of which can and will begin a new colony. It works as well as anything I have tried, and there appears to be little or no long-term damage to this slightly alkaline soil.

Hmmm ... I purchased 20% vinegar through mail order because I could not find a local source. After some trial and error, I found that even when carefully spraying (in a typical spray bottle) the full strength vin. straight onto the weeds, I had only partial success. White clover, in particular, often survives. I agree that spraying it on a sunny day is helpful. I have not found there to be problems with the soil afterwards, but perhaps if I poured the vinegar over the plants I would have different results there(?).

I think if you're careful and just spraying it on the leaves, not enough is going to get into the soil to do any harm. Even if some goes on the soil, it'll get washed out when it rains or when you water, so I think you'd have to pour a good amount directly on the soil to create a huge change in the soil pH. Vinegar is not a really strong acid, and soil pH tends to resist change to some degree, so there's no way you could make your soil pH go down to zero. I don't even think the 20% vinegar solution all on its own would have a pH that low, I would guess it would be about 3.

I think that high % vinegar can be bought at photo supply shops.