North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Thomas Olenio" <tolenio@sentex.net>]

Hi,

This being spring, and spring clean-ups happenening everywhere...

Do not forget that used jute backed, carpet makes a great weed block.  You  
can collect acres of it curbside this time of year.

Cut the carpet in 3' round circles or squares, put a slice in it to the  
center point, and you have a mulch mat.

Put the jute side facing up and slide around tree.  Blocks weeds, rain  
goes through it, it holds moisture in the ground, and can be removed  
easily in the fall.  Best of all it is FREE.

I would not spend my money on expensive weed mats, when they are all  
around us for free.  Invest in fruit, not mulch mats.  Recycle, reduce,  
re-use.

Later,
Tom


On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 11:12:03 -0700, Stephen Sadler <Docshiva@Docshiva.org>  
wrote:

> There are some nice round ready-fit mats, and if you used one, the tree
> should be able to get the benefit of fertilizer spread around, not over,  
> the
> mat, provided the roots have any sort of spread.
>
> You could use any mulch you find attractive; my sister favors wood chips,
> which she gets for free from arborists.  I wouldn't use straw for the  
> reason
> you mentioned.  You could apply manure tea or organic liquid fertilizer
> which would travel through the mulch into the soil.  Even fertilizer that
> gets caught in the mulch will dissolve down as you water.
>
> I don't like just killing the weeds around trees, as it's less attractive
> than mulch, but there are organically approved weedkilling sprays, which  
> are
> at least as effective as Roundup - some test better.
>
> My choice of the moment is to use mats and apply fertilizers between the
> mats and foliar feed directly to the trees.
>
> Stephen Sadler, Ph.D.
> USDA 9, AHS heat zone 8,
> Sacramento CA - Mediterranean climate
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Del Stubbs
> Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 5:19 AM
> To: North American Fruit Explorers
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] mulch (was gypsum)
>
> Lucky, that is bizarre, they must have gotten gypsum mined  near a  
> uranium
> deposit. I am
> dropping the sheetrock idea because I dont need it fauling up  
> certification
> in the
> future. Thanks for all the useful commentary folks. However,  half the
> reason I
> considered it was as a sod smothering mulch. Since I won't use easy
> solutions like
> roundup to kill back grass around young trees, and I have too many to  
> weed
> whip up to the
> trunk every couple weeks, mulch has been a real study - that I am not
> satisfied with yet.
> If I use mats (ie, cardboard, carpet, perforated mats, etc. ) then rotted
> manure I apply
> is seperated from the root circle. If I use staw it soon builds up to a
> mound that will
> build  too deep around the trunk. What do other non-roundupers do?
> Thanks,  Del, n MN Z 2/3
>
> --- Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu> wrote:
>
>
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