Hi Salty Thumb,

I start learnning agriculture by year 2001, that is after I went back
to my hometown and deal with my land.

In my learnning progress, I do read a lot. Most of the articles I read
are contrary with other articles. And it's hard to test it up who are
correct.

I do read before from some articles that talk about the views bring up
by you. But for going to sustainable and without bring in external
input(landscape fabric), I tend to remember those comment that say bad
words to landscape fabric. g

I'm not reach the level to able to tell which one are correct by now,
but will grad to find it out if it does not cost too much of effort.
Since I will not going to use landscape fabric, if you can share your
personal experience with me(not those you read from), I'm grateful to
this. :-)

I'm going off to my land now, will reply you when I'm back.

Cheers,
Wong

--
Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m


"Salty Thumb" wrote in message
...
"nswong" wrote in
:

Newspapers will decompose and become soil amendment.
Landscape fabric will not.

Newspapers are primarly carbon. According to one source[1] 'paper'
(not
necessarily newspaper) contains 150-200:1 C/N, compared to sawdust
at
100-500:1. Adding carbon will quite possibly detract from the
amount of
N available to a plant. Adding N to compensate will degrade the
weed
blocking utility of the newspaper as decomposition accelerates.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume carbon is of limited
value
as a nutrient amendment, as plants (primarily?) obtain carbon from
atmospheric carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. At any rate,
plants
do *excrete* carbon from their roots after periods of elevated
carbon
dioxide[2].

However, I'll concede that the newspaper and newspaper debris may
have
indirect and significant benefits (functioning similarly to
deciduous
leaf litter) in providing habitat and food for beneficial insects
and
microbes and enhancing soil structure.

While not directly contributing materiel, it is possible that
landscape
fabric made of polyester (and perhaps also polypropylene) can fixate
minor amounts of atmospheric nitrogen via wind action and
electrostatic
effect[3].

Yes, newspapers need to be replaced often compared to landscape
fabric.
To me, this is not an advantage in permanent or semi-permanent
installations.

[1] http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/horticulture/g810.htm "Table I.
Carbon/Nitrogen Ratios of Some Common Organic Materials"
[2] http://www.co2science.org/subject/r/summaries/roots.htm
[3] http://www.ce-mag.com/archive/02/Spring/chubb.html "Findings"

Newspapers will not block nightcrawler(earthworm) from pulling
plant
debris to their tunnel as their food.
Landscape fabric will, I don't think you will find much earthworm
under the landscape fabric.

Unless nightcrawlers will chew a hole through newspaper to open
their
covered burrow (quite possibly true), unbroken newspaper is as much
a
barrier as landscape fabric. But assuming a population rate of 1-7
worms
per square meter[4] there should be sufficient openings in a typical
fabric installation such that the population is not impacted
significantly (assuming there is no reason why they would not choose
to
use an available opening). Shallow burrowing earthworms do not
share
nightcrawler feeding habit, but may exit their wandering burrows
during
extensive rain[5].

[4] http://www.swcs.org/t_pubs_journal_2...acts_water.htm
[5] http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/AY/AY-279.html

Newspapers will not block air and water to the soil, since they
decompose quickly.
Landscape fabric may, after sometime the holes may blocked by
roots.

Newspapers will block water to the soil or at the minimum cause
pooling
until drainage hole(s) are formed, which will not necessarily be
uniformly distributed. Landscape fabric is semi-porous or porous to
both air and water, as are roots. The mulch is more likely to block
water than the fabric.

Newspapers: For adding soil amendment(carbon/organic matter), just
spread it on top of organic mulch(newspaper/manure/leaf...),
eventurely it will find it way to soil by critters.
Landscape fabric: Had to put it under the landscape fabric, or
else
only nutrient will pass through the landscape fabric in liquid
form,
but not much of organic matter.

Correct, although the fabric will not necessarily pass the suspended
nutrients, depending on the size of the pores in the fabric.

Newspapers: When weeds find the way through the old
newspaper/mulch,
just put new newspaper/mulch on top of weeds. Done!
Landscape fabric: Do you ever think of putting new landscape
fabric on
top of old landscape fabric? ;-)

Weeds other than certain monocotyledons will not find their way
through
landscape fabric from below. If a plants attempts to colonize the
top
of the fabric, it is easily picked off. Done! No need to dig or
look
for a newspaper stand.

Landscape fabric is not overlayed because it is not necessary.
However,
if you have made a hole in the fabric that you do not want, it can
be
repaired by simply putting a new piece on top (or tucked below the
existing fabric).

Newspapers: Never need to replace, just adding new one.
Landscape fabric: It's a nightmare to replace a landscape fabric
that
have plant root grow into it.

Landscape fabric: Never need to replace. Period. Okay, not in
5-15
years at least. Landscape fabric can become embeded with roots
attempting to penetrate from below, but the removal of such fabric
is of
minor difficulty. Removing stripable wallpaper takes more effort.

Will I be able to cover a large area (such as 10-ft x 6-ft)

Using a sickle to cut what(weeds) above the mulch, leave it there,
add
some new mulch. I can cover 50-ft x 5-ft within one hour, and it
can
last for two months. Don't afraid of walking on the mulch, this
will
not really compact the soil, walk on bare soil are another story.

Landscape fabric is a long term installation and will take more time
for
planning and preparation. The actual installation is simple.