On 18 Sep 2005 08:32:04 -0700, sarab wrote:
The berm is totally covered in a very common weed here in NC - looks
like bamboo/grass, easy to pull, grows 2ft tall or so. Just mowed it
down, but was wondering if I could kill the weed seeds by covering it
now w/ black plastic until next May.

Quite doubtful. If you're willing to forego a year's pumpkin growing, you
can solarize with clear plastic, but unless you think you can get the
soil temp up to about 140oF this winter, you're not going to do yourself
much good. (BTW, don't cultivate the soil after solarization, you'll bring
up viable weed seeds from 6" or so down.)

FWIW, clear plastic works much better for heating the soil; black plastic
really just keeps light out, and it's expensive and messy compared to a lot
of other mulches.

Is the weed you're trying to control annual or perennial? If it's an
annual, I'd just dig the bed over now and in the spring, then use a light-
occlusive mulch when you plant your pumpkin seeds. Cardboard is great
for this; it's a nice clean mulch, so helps control some soil borne diseases,
helps keep the soil moisture even, and you can dig it in next fall with
no muss, fuss or bother. g

If it's a perennial you're trying to control, it's best to identify the
problem. Sometimes breaking up a perennial weed with cultivation is the
wrong thing to do... things that have "runners" like quackgrass or nutsedge
just start new plants from broken bits left behind in the soil. Or they'll
"hide" under your mulch and send out new plants just beyond the mulch. Other
perennials are relatively easy to control with a good digging-over of a plot.

Kay