Fabric Barrier and chemicals
 

T wrote:

Hi All,

I have to get rid of my lawn (water meters). I was going to
put down a 20 year fabric barrier and then rocks on top.

I grow food in two organic plots next to my lawn. Will
there be a chemical problem from the new fabric leaching
over into the food plots. (For health reasons of a family
member, the food I grow must be chemical free [organic]).

what is the landscape fabric made of?

if you suspect it won't be chemical free enough
you can use alternative fabrics (like perhaps
chemical resistant glass fiber fabric used in
making fiberglass)?

if it is too expensive to do the whole area then
perhaps you can put the more inert and expensive
fabric near the gardens and then use the more generic
fabric further out.

in sandy soil and an arid climate i think most
leaching is going to go downwards and not sideways.

overall, i think the exposures to chemicals are
much higher from indoor air, drinking water and
various other things used about the house than what
you might get from a garden veggie. rinse the dust
and bird poo off the veggies and you're fine.


songbird

Fabric Barrier and chemicals
 

On 04/01/2015 07:49 AM, songbird wrote:
what is the landscape fabric made of?

Hi Songbird,

Don't know yet. Still talking to the contractor.

The concern was the chemicals to use on the fabric
in manufacturing. "Apparently", some take about a
month to break down before the fabric becomes
permeable.

Would you tear up the grass or just put the fabric on
top of it?

-T

Fabric Barrier and chemicals
 

On 4/1/2015 1:52 PM, T wrote:
On 04/01/2015 07:49 AM, songbird wrote:
what is the landscape fabric made of?

Hi Songbird,

Don't know yet. Still talking to the contractor.

The concern was the chemicals to use on the fabric
in manufacturing. "Apparently", some take about a
month to break down before the fabric becomes
permeable.

Would you tear up the grass or just put the fabric on
top of it?

-T

When we built our raised bed gardens we put the fabric on top of the
grass. Fabric killed the grass but the nut grass grew right up through
it. We're still digging and pulling nut grass out of the beds but we
seem to be winning the race. YMMV

Fabric Barrier and chemicals
 

T wrote:
songbird wrote:

what is the landscape fabric made of?

Don't know yet. Still talking to the contractor.

The concern was the chemicals to use on the fabric
in manufacturing. "Apparently", some take about a
month to break down before the fabric becomes
permeable.

Would you tear up the grass or just put the fabric on
top of it?

depends upon what kind of grass you are covering.
we've used the standard rolls of the stuff and don't
have any trouble with grass coming through it, because
we overlap the edges some, roll them together, pin
them down and then cover with a fairly thick layer of
mulch or rinsed crushed limestone.

if you suspect you have very difficult grasses that
can push up through your fabric then dig it up and
remove as much of the grass and roots as possible
before covering. at least then you are removing some
of the energy store available to the plant.

most failures i've seen in mulching and ground
fabric is when people skimp on the mulch or they
don't do the edges right so things come in from
the sides or seams. if the fabric is exposed to
the sun it will eventually degrade.

in your specific case, i'm curious about how much
sand you have blowing around there? because if you
do have enough sand being moved on the winds putting
down weed barrier and then a gravel mulch on top of
it won't work for long, if it gets buried by sand...


songbird

Fabric Barrier and chemicals
 

On 04/01/2015 03:04 PM, songbird wrote:
in your specific case, i'm curious about how much
sand you have blowing around there?

About once ever two weeks we have about a 35 MPH wind
full of sand. No where is immune to weed seeds. But,
then again, our average rainfall per year (not month)
is only 7 inches, so the weeds have very short lives.
Well, except for tumble weeds.