Weed Control - Fabric or Plastic?

[vikkib]

I've been lucky enough to have a half plot for a few months now and managed to get the vast majority of it cleared, rotivated and started planting things out.

The soil is in beautiful condition but the rain and sun of the last few weeks has meant that the whole plot is now smothered in chickweed... it's everywhere!

I bought some cheap lightweight weed suppressant a while back but it's fairly useless without anything on top of it.

I'd like to get something to cover up the bits I'm clearing and not planting immediately that doesn't require a mulch to go over the top of it.

I was considering either a more heavy weight suppressant fabric like this:
10m x 4m Heavy Duty Woven Weed Control Fabric 108 GSM | eBay

Or some black plastic like this:
Black Polythene Plastic Sheeting 20m x 2m Roll, 125mu | eBay

Just wondering if the good Grapes could help me decide which would be best.

Are there pro's and con's to both? What do I need to consider or take into account?

[chris]

Fabric will let rain pass through, the plastic one won't.

Plastic (decent quality) will last longer than the fabric one.. I was thinking of going down the plastic route, but didn't want to be slipping all over the place / dealing with pools of water

[rustylady]

Pull the chickweed up and bung it in the compost. An alternative to weed control fabric and plastic is cardboard. You can usually beg large boxes from the local shops.

[Two_Sheds]

I've just today mulched my raspberry bed with newspapers (soaked, then weighed down with soil from the paths), to smother the chickweed and keep moisture in the soil.

Unlike synthetic materials, paper can be added to the compost heap at the end of its useful life

Here's a bit I cleared with cardboard (weighted down with sacks of leaves for the winter).

[vikkib]

Thanks for all the speedy responses everyone!

Fabric will let rain pass through, the plastic one won't.

Plastic (decent quality) will last longer than the fabric one.. I was thinking of going down the plastic route, but didn't want to be slipping all over the place / dealing with pools of water

I'm now thinking maybe getting a bit of both!

Some fabric for the areas I want to plant up so that I can plant through it and won't be slipping over every 5 minutes and some plastic for the areas I intend to leave for the medium term while I get sections under control and manageable.

What sort of thickness would you consider to be good quality Chris? I'd rather get some a little thicker in the hopes that it will last longer and do a better job but I've never used this stuff before.

[Suky]

Plastic is not a good idea, as said before it doesn't let moisture through and the water will pool on top or flood to where you don't want it. Cardboard, weighted with stones, bricks, sods lifted from where you are clearing will keep soil clean, soak up water and gradually rot down and be dug in or put on compost heap. You can also spread it where you have yet to clear and it will quickly smother weeds and make it much easier to deal with when you reach it.
I have weed supressant on my paths, topped with woodchip (No, not the wallpaper ) but even the thickest lets some light through and the weeds grow underneath so it needs to be covered.
This is all from personal experience as my plot had not been in cultivation for eight years before I took it on in February this year.

[Two_Sheds]

Plastic is not a good idea,... it doesn't let moisture through

It also kills useful soil organisms imo, while at the same time providing a perfect hotel for little slugs

[Glutton4...]

From personal experience, I wouldn't use either in a vegetable bed. I would go with cardboard or newspaper. The woven stuff doesn't allow enough water through, in my opinion. Been there, done that. Try any large retail park - go round and ask the staff if they have any cardboard boxes out the back. Then go and get a bigger motor or a trailer, to cart them all home!

[chris]

What sort of thickness would you consider to be good quality Chris? I'd rather get some a little thicker in the hopes that it will last longer and do a better job but I've never used this stuff before.

I've had cardboard down that's lasted a year - not sure what you class as medium term, but at the end of the year it was pretty much rotted through (I dug it in). I've not used the plastic as mentioned, but the thicker the better, it'll be less likely to tear. There's thick black plastic down at the bottom of my garden underneath the stones/gravel - water does pool there, but I'll be removing it and replacing it with thick fabric, then wood chip/bark on top, as it'll be for the little ones to play on/in.. that way water can drain away through it.

Now that TS mentions it, that part of my garden is slug heaven - they always start from the bottom and work up, it's probably because they can get underneath the plastic sheet - I guess it's perfect as it'll stay moist under there, and it'd be easy to slide in/over.

I bought some fabric stuff from B&Q - going for the more expensive version.. stabilising and weed suppression. I can't remember the thickness of it, but I've found thicker and cheaper on ebay. Being down a year already, there's weeds coming through it. If it's going down for a long time, then buy the best you can afford - as with everything really, you'll get what you pay for (in most cases!!).

That said, the two above membranes aren't "organic", if that is any concern of yours.

Cardboard really does work well mind, great for the soil structure too... I've found slugs under my cardboard mulch, if I don't snip them in half, I tend to lob them in my daleks... I don't mind them in there

[Bigmallly]

Having never used weed suppressants before, I have decided to order this to put on my paths under chippings. Don't know if it will work but I thought it was a decent price for 100 metres

.Weed Control Fabric - supress and control weeds - Growing Needs - Weed Control - Spunbound Fabrics - WEED CONTROL FABRIC - SPUNBOUND - 1M X 100M 50gsm - Scotplantsdirect.co.uk

[vikkib]

I really do like the idea of using cardboard but I don't have access to a large vehicle or trailer and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of chickweed that's springing up!

I guess I was hoping I could buy a roll of something and be able to get it down quickly to minimise the amount of the stuff that seems to spring eternal so it's not quite so disheartening when I go down there!

I suppose I could phone around some places and then take my little car with the seats down to try and get as much as possible at once.

[Two_Sheds]

I really do like the idea of using cardboard but I don't have access to a large vehicle or trailer

When I got mine, all I had was a bike

Don't try and do everything in a one-er, just do what you can when you can

[binley100]

I've been covering as much of my new plot as I can with cardboard, then cutting holes weeding the hole and planting squashes ....It's surprising how quickly it kills off the weeds .

[vikkib]

Don't try and do everything in a one-er, just do what you can when you can

I keep telling myself that but I'm surrounded on all sides by spotless plots and I hate mine being 'that' plot

I wish I had more time to be down there but my 5.30am starts mean I'm pretty drained by the time I get back from work so it's a couple of evenings a week and the best part of one day a weekend I manage to get down there.

I think that will be ok once it's at a manageable stage, just got to keep working to get it to that stage.

I was inspired by Supersprouts ideas with regards mulching with straw and plastic but saw the heavier duty fabric whilst searching around and wondered if that would be any use... hence the thread.

Ty everyone for the feedback, I shall sleep on it all and have another ponder tomorrow morning before making any decisions.

[endymion]

We've used cheap weed suppressant fabric this year (we dug up part of our lawn instead of growing just a few veg in amongst herbaceous perennials). We've tried three things.

No fabric - it's a battle to keep the weeds down, made harder because of close planting.

A single layer of the fabric lets water through, the slugs don't like it because it's rough enough to make them curl up and die. We can see weeds growing beneath it, but they aren't getting as big as those in the area that we left uncovered and we hope they aren't seeding. From a distance it looks okay.

In another place we put a double layer of fabric, and this seems the best. Water gets through to the plants, and we can't see any weeds growing.

We also started another area late, I covered the grass with cardboard, topped with mulch and compost and planted through it. No weeds yet, but there are loads of seeds in the air from untidy-next-door, so next year will probably be a different story. The rest of the family won't agree to having part of the garden covered with damp cardboard or newspaper, and I'm inclined to agree that it doesn't look pretty, and a layer of mulch on top is probable weed germination heaven

We're planning to buy thicker fabric for next season, but haven't worked out either the best to buy nor how best to lay and cut it, so I'm really interested in what you decide to do.