Weed barrier

[coachgrd]

I have 5 young pine trees in the front of my property spaced evenly in a bed about 100' long. The bed is top soil covered with bark mulch. My wife and I REALLY get tired of weeding this bed all summer. I had given some thought to laying down some weed barrier fabric down but a guy at the garden center told me that I could do what I want but he did it and regretted ever having done it...apparently weeds will grow up from the bark mulch and then I'll be right back where I started. He said pulling up the fabric is the worst job in the world. He suggested laying down a thin barrier of newspapers and putting the bark over it. Do any of you do this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance...
coach

 

[thcri]

Yes your work will be in vain because the weeds will grow in the bark. I use a product called Prehn. (i think that is what it is called) There is two kinds. One for around bushes and trees and one for not around bushes and trees. I use it twice a year and works great. You will still get a few weeds but not much. Makes it easy to keep up with the weeds.

It is in pellet form and you just sprinkle it around. And you have to get it down before the weeds start. Once the weeds have started it is too late. It will get future ones


murph

 

[notamustang]

Pre emergant works well, and for the weeds started an herbicide like round up or remuda (spl). Once those tress start growing you will have fewer problems with the weeds. Never done the newspaper thing. I would not want to put them tight agianst the trunk. Seems like a good idea I guess /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif. Newspaper with bark might be a pretty good plan.

 

[goodoleboy]

I have used newpaper and they work much better than the low to mid priced weed barriers.I talked to the master gardener at work and he told me that the weed barriers dont work as well they claim and told me to use newspaper.
Its much cheaper since you can use one daily paper to do 5-6 trees depending on size.
It seems like my trees thrive better with the newpaper covered in mulch.

I have used round up in around the trees that are fenced to protect from the dogs with good luck and i have not lost any trees after planting about 50 of them the last 3 years.

 

[Poppa]

Do you have to replace the newspaper each year?

Also, I wonder if anyone has used it under a more permanent ground cover. I have a few areas that I am going to attend to this year. Some will be covered in rock. Some will be covered in mulch. And some are going to be high traffic areas covered in mulch. In all places I had planned on using the cloth weed barrier, at least until I read this thread. I am all for using Newspaper as it is already paid for and delivered to my door. But I am wondering if I will have to deal with this on a yearly basis or if I can just keep up with it with my handy dandy sprayer foull of Round-Up.


Thanks, Mike

 

[coachgrd]

Do you have to replace the newspaper each year?

The way it was described to me was that the paper is strong enough to keep the weeds back for the summer and decomposes during the fall/winter. Next year it needs to be put down again.

 

[Dachshund]

I've used the roll-out weed barrier under mulch (redwood) for years - never had a weed one come up through it! Not even the Wandering Jew we had at our previous house got through it. ?????? I might try the newspaper just to see (it IS cheaper!)

 

[herbenus]

There's different grades of weed cloth. I use the heaviest. I test it in the store. If I can poke my finger through it, then weeds will come through too. I've used the newspaper and it works, but will also have to be replaced. I stopped using it because it attracts termites, a big problem around here. I also don't buy pine bark mulch. Weeds love it. Instead, I buy pine bark nuggets. They cost more but last longer. I've actually gone to gravel as a mulch over the weed cloth.

Of course a lot of this depends on where you live. If you don't have termites, then the newspapers are a good option. I used them under the weed cloth.

Good luck

 

[SLOBuds]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Do you have to replace the newspaper each year?

The way it was described to me was that the paper is strong enough to keep the weeds back for the summer and decomposes during the fall/winter. Next year it needs to be put down again. )</font>

What keeps all of the paper down when the wind picks up?