![]() I use window bug screen fabric and put 2-3 layers around plants, flowers and shrubs. The landscape fabric should be removed after a couple of years once the tree is large enough and strong enough to compete with the weeds. The loss of water due to the weed barrier is offset by the fact that the weeds are no longer using the water. The tree roots have less competition for space and nutrients. If you are planting trees in uncultivated land that is very weedy, there is a benefit to using the weed barrier around the tree for a few years in order to keep the weeds down, and give the tree a chance to get established. Is There a Good Use for Landscaping Fabric? At some point in the future when it is replaced (needs to be replaced every 10 years or so), you will damage the roots. In permanent landscapes, plant roots will grow into and through the landscape fabric. ![]() When this happens, there is a reduction of nutrients for your plants, and soil structure starts to degrade. ![]() It does not take long and the dew worms, microbes and other soil life, which depends on air and food, either leave or die. Landscape fabric reduces the air reaching the soil, and prevents any new organic matter from getting to the surface of the soil. I’ve talked many times about the importance of life in the soil. Weed Barrier Sucks the Life out of Your Soil The reality is that some rain will go through the holes, but much of it flows over top of the cloth and away from your plants, which remain dry. Weed barrier cloth is porous (ie it has holes in it) and it is advertised as ‘letting the rain flow through’. Weed barrier cloth is no better for controlling weeds than a 4 inch layer of mulch. Believe me when I say that plant roots can grow through the holes in the landscape fabric. In no time at all you have the perfect seed mix sitting right above the weed barrier, and weeds start to grow. If you use more mulch to hide the weed barrier, wind and water deposits soil particles and plant remains onto the cloth. But in no time at all you will see the landscaping fabric stick up through the mulch and then it looks terrible in your garden. If you use a thin cover of mulch, weeds do not grow in the mulch because it is just too dry there. Many perennial weeds can grow quite a distance under ground and since landscape fabric comes in 3 and 4 foot wide roles they only need to grow a few feet to find an opening. However, strong perennial weeds will eventually grow through or around it. It is true that seeds sprouting under the cloth will not grow through it. Voila! No weeds.ĭon’t Buy Into the Landscape Fabric Myth. Weeds can’t grow on the cloth, so any sprouting seeds also die. Weeds already in your soil can’t grow through the cloth so they die. You place it on the ground and cover it with mulch. This is how landscape fabric is advertised to work. ![]()
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