Prior to installation of a weed barrier it makes sense to either mechanically remove or chemically exterminate the existing weeds. Most of the time the fabric does make it easier to pull these weeds since it prevents the roots from taking hold in the ground. Inevitably some of those weed seeds may find their way into areas where there is a medium for growing. Depending upon the species, weed seeds are also spread by various means in the landscape such as by lawnmowers, wind, birds, and walking through the planting bed. Through various environmental means, including the breakdown of mulch into finer organic material, dirt can appear on the surface of the fabric. The weeds actually grew through the fabric within six months! That is how aggressive these types of weeds are. After Roundup was sprayed twice to achieve a good kill, we doubled up on the heavy-duty ground cover fabric. I once conducted an experiment on a couple of beds infested with Bermuda and Torpedograss. Nutsedge, Torpedograss, and Bermudagrass are especially noxious. In my experience certain weeds common to the Florida Suncoast have the ability to grow through even the best of the weed barrier fabrics and installation jobs. Noxious, aggressive weeds still penetrate fabric.Some fabrics are only suited for mulch and if used with heavy or abrasive materials, will tear the fabric over time. Some stone products are either heavy per unit, such as a 3 ½ ” decorative river rock, or somewhat sharp, such as 3/4” marble chips. Obviously if the fabric is compromised by a chunk of mulch getting plunged through by walk on it, working in the area on your knees, or a tool pierces though, you have an entry point for weeds. protection built in there will still be some degradation over time from U.V. rays are know to be very efficient and can still cause slow degradation of the material over time which makes it more susceptible to tearing. While it’s true, most of the time the fabric will be covered with mulch, rock, or shaded by plants, U.V. While weed barrier fabrics are a great tool to have in the arsenal they aren’t the “be-all, end-all” solution to weed prevention because they face many challenges in the harsh outdoor landscape environment. Many times during the process of a landscape renovation job I get to uncover the previous attempts of weed block installation, from commercially available weed barrier cloth to garbage bags to visqueen, at all different levels of skill of installation. There are many brands on the market, all claiming to save time and labor, as well as eliminate or reduce spraying of herbicides to banish weeds. One weapon in the “War on Weeds” available to us today is something typically referred to as weed barrier fabric or weed block. So here we are centuries later, still fighting a battle with weeds. When they beat down the native grasses with their livestock trails, what came up in its place? Why weeds, of course. I recently watched a TV show on the National Geographic network that talked about when the Europeans first set foot on this continent, they brought their cattle and horses with them and drove them westward across North America.
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