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#1
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weird plastic sheeting
Hi,
a friend of mine moved into a new house and we went to check out his garden. We found that large sections of his garden beds had sheetings of black plastic covered by a layer of mulch. Growing in that were some not so healthy looking camelias. I thought that was a really weird thing to do. The soil underneath the plastic looked like dead dust with no evidence of any bug life. Why do people use those? It seems that the plastic kills the soil off and it would also keep the water away from the roots. what's the purpose of them, just to keep weeds away? barb. |
#2
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weird plastic sheeting
"freebird" wrote in message ... Hi, a friend of mine moved into a new house and we went to check out his garden. We found that large sections of his garden beds had sheetings of black plastic covered by a layer of mulch. Growing in that were some not so healthy looking camelias. I thought that was a really weird thing to do. The soil underneath the plastic looked like dead dust with no evidence of any bug life. Why do people use those? It seems that the plastic kills the soil off and it would also keep the water away from the roots. what's the purpose of them, just to keep weeds away? barb. It's really only there to keep weeds down. As well as that it stops water getting to the roots, gets so hot in summer that it can burn roots and totally destroy and good organisms in the soil The only use it can have is on driveways that have gravel as the surface, and the plastic provides a weed supresser and sub drainage as the water goes down, hits the plastic then runs away if on a slope. Even then the weight of the car and sharpness of gravel can puncture the plastic, allowing water in and undermining the driveway in severe cases. Also weeds will still come up in organic matter that builds up in the gravel. Actually, the best use on the garden would be if you had a very weedy garden bed with no plants that you wanted to plant out and kill the weeds and seeds organically. Just put the plastic over the surface on a hot day, leave for a week and it should kill the whole area. Still, it doesn't really help the organisms in the topsoil. Rip the plastic up in your friends garden, add some good organic matter or topsoil, and mulch it and the plants may take off. You may also find you need a wetting agent (wetta soil or similar) to get the old soil to hold moisture, added to the good deep waterings. Good luck |
#3
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weird plastic sheeting
"freebird" wrote in message ... Hi, a friend of mine moved into a new house and we went to check out his garden. We found that large sections of his garden beds had sheetings of black plastic covered by a layer of mulch. Growing in that were some not so healthy looking camelias. I thought that was a really weird thing to do. The soil underneath the plastic looked like dead dust with no evidence of any bug life. Why do people use those? It seems that the plastic kills the soil off and it would also keep the water away from the roots. what's the purpose of them, just to keep weeds away? barb. It's really only there to keep weeds down. As well as that it stops water getting to the roots, gets so hot in summer that it can burn roots and totally destroy and good organisms in the soil The only use it can have is on driveways that have gravel as the surface, and the plastic provides a weed supresser and sub drainage as the water goes down, hits the plastic then runs away if on a slope. Even then the weight of the car and sharpness of gravel can puncture the plastic, allowing water in and undermining the driveway in severe cases. Also weeds will still come up in organic matter that builds up in the gravel. Actually, the best use on the garden would be if you had a very weedy garden bed with no plants that you wanted to plant out and kill the weeds and seeds organically. Just put the plastic over the surface on a hot day, leave for a week and it should kill the whole area. Still, it doesn't really help the organisms in the topsoil. Rip the plastic up in your friends garden, add some good organic matter or topsoil, and mulch it and the plants may take off. You may also find you need a wetting agent (wetta soil or similar) to get the old soil to hold moisture, added to the good deep waterings. Good luck |
#4
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weird plastic sheeting
G'day freebird, Black plastic was all the rage back in the 60's and 70's as a weed treatment in the days before glyphosate. It was a bit of a landscaping fad like cocos palms. As you noticed, it destroys soil ecology and should be lifted. However don't be surprised to find the garden has large infestations of oxalis or onion weed that will keep you busy for a while. Allow some time for problem weeds to show themselves before new planting's, and this will also allow the soil to become reactivated into a healthy growing medium. Also be a bit careful when lifting the plastic, as on the several times I have performed this service, I often found colonies of funnel webs underneath. China Wingham NSW |
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