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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Mulch/Landscapic fabric underneath fruit/nut trees and shrubs

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  • From: Monica Maggio <arboretum@homeorchardsociety.org>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Mulch/Landscapic fabric underneath fruit/nut trees and shrubs
  • Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:47:11 -0800

I have had great success here at the Home Orchard Society Arboretum laying
down several layers (we're talking 4-5 people, don't skimp) of stout
cardboard then covering it with 3-4" of chipped woody debris. We use pallet
liners which are 3.5x4.5' flat sheets of cardboard, no tape, no seams, no
staples...we can get for free from a local brewery
http://www.halbertmill.com/IndustrialPapers_PalletLiners3.jpg .

Pile the cardboard 4-5 sheets thick with at least a 6" overlap between
piles. Then throw that chipped debris on top, be generous with that too
(but do not bury the tree's crown)!

Did this in May along with fruit thinning on about a 1/2 acre of trees,
only needs minor maintenance to pull out grass around the tree's base and
where perhaps a seam didn't overlap well enough.

Highly recommend this thick sheet mulch approach. Strongly discourage the
use of anything plastic - it's expensive, possibly toxic, and at best only
partially effective.

Monica Maggio; manager
Home Orchard Society Arboretum
arboretum@homeorchardsociety.org
www.homeorchardsociety.org
503-338-8479




On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Dr. Lucky Pittman <
lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu> wrote:

> Steve,
> I think you'll rue the day you ever used a synthetic landscaping fabric,
> whether woven or not.
> Yes, they allow water to penetrate, but every time I've ever had occasion
> to
> deal with that stuff, it looks like a desert underneath them - they don't
> allow the soil microherd to do what it's supposed to do, with respect to
> deep-cycling nutrients from the decomposing woody mulch placed on top of
> the
> fabric.
> And, while it will 'block' germination of most weed seeds beneath the
> fabric, roots of weed seedlings that germinate in the mulch layer on top
> readily penetrate both woven/nonwoven fabrics, and become entangled in the
> material, making it difficult to pull them out.
>
> Just put down several layers of newsprint, or a single layer of corrugated
> cardboard, etc., than overlay that with your woody mulch material.
>
> Lucky
>
> Should I:
> B. Use non-woven landscaping fabric and just cover it with a thin layer of
> cedar wood chips (untreated), partially for aesthetic purposes.
> If I go with the non-woven landscaping fabric, would 2.8 oz be good-enough,
> or do I need 4 oz non-woven; or 3 oz./5 oz. woven?
>
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