AnonnyMoose wrote:
I've just noticed my neighbor laying black plastic on the ground under
an
old cherry tree and I was just wondering if this is going to interfere
with
the tree's water uptake. The plastic circles the tree in about a 7
foot
radius, as well as 15 feet out another 2/3 of the way around it, under
the
drip zone. It's a lot of black plastic, and now it looks like bark
mulch
going on top. Will water get through to the roots? Is she
inadvertantly
killing the tree in order to keep weeds out of what appears to be a
new
flower bed going in? Will there be masses of slugs reproducing under
it?
Yikes!

If it's really plastic, that could be a problem. But I suspect that what
you're looking at is landscape fabric. Landscape fabric is porous, and
will allow water to pass. If it were plain old plastic, like the stuff
garbage bags and window covering is made from, not only won't the water
penetrate, the bark mulch would wash off, and dirty puddles would form
in the low spots and folds.

I've had limited success with landscape fabric, and some
disappointments. Weeds will occasionally penetrate it growing in the
mulch with roots that go down through the fabric. Once that happens, the
weeds are harder to pull. Also, if you ever plan to plant something in
those places, you have to cut or remove the fabric, and you'll probably
find the soil under it is not in very good shape. And don't even think
of getting a rototiller anywhere near it! The only place I still have
any is under a pathway that's never going to be planted. (I've been
using multiple layers of newspaper covered with thick mulch in areas
that I'm converting from either weeds or grass to become eventual beds,
and just thick mulch in beds that don't have a weed or grass problem.)

--
Warren H.

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