Barl mulch without membrane.

Anyone have opinions on using bark mulch without putting weed suppressing membrane underneath?

Successful? Waste of time? Anything else?

Did a search but couldn't find this particular question.

 

Re bark chip

Hi, I have used barkchip without teram/membrane and it does work tho not as effective. What I have done before which worked pretty well for at least a couple of years was to put down say 4 sheet thick newspaper (not the shiney type) and lay the barkschip ontop. This definately worked better than nothing but not so long lasting as membrane. However it does allow for you to make holes and plant through easily. DO NOT attempt the newspaper idea on a windy day or you will turn purple with rage or in my case much swearing was heard!

 

I'm not a great fan of membrane in beds, unless you have a thug of a weed you want to eradicate. As long as the mulch is really deep, 10cm at least, it will do the job well. I find that the worst that happens is that windowblown weeds self seed in the mulch and as long as you deal with them before they take root, you can keep the bark clean.

The drawback to using a membrane is that plants you would like to spread, are unabel to do so. Also, every time you want to put in something new, you have to rake the bark back far enough so you can cut a hole in the fabric and it's a messy job.

However, I'd be interested to hear what others have to say.

Chris

 

I have put down 3-4" mulch of bark chip in the past without a membrane; around shrubs and trees and found that most weeds that do come through are much weaker (including dandelions and dock) and easy to pull up if you get to them before they re-establish...

 

Hi Silu

Now this is a very useful post :thumb::thumb::thumb:
I use to collect grass clippings and put them down first

But not good today its blowing a storm here

Spruce

 

One drawback to using newspapers was this.

I have ½ an acre of garden. No grass. So I put down vanloads of newspapers with 20 year old horse manure on top as a mulch to keep weeds at bay in the two or three years it would take me to plant the whole garden. It was extremely successful at first. NO weeds at all.

Then we had the big freeze in December last year and for the first time ever, a plague of rats came in from the surrounding fields in January, dug up the newspapers and feasted on all the worms that congregate under the paper. It took me 3 months to completely eradicate all the rats. Thank goodness they didn't appear to come near the house as bait that was around the house was untouched.

The whole garden was then a mess of shredded newspapers and I'm only now slowly getting on top of the situation. Never will I put down newspapers as a weed suppressant again. Mind you, it was the first time ever we had seen rats in the garden and it was all because of the Big Freeze that must have destroyed their own food in the fields.

Encourage wild life in your garden. No way!

 

re bark chip

Flaming Nora, I live in Scotland and so went completely baltic last 2 winters -17 and 3ft of snow. I live in the countyside and very occasionally see the odd rat about as we too use huge quantities of horse manure as we have 2 of the most expensive manure making machines!
I have NEVER had a problem with rats eating the newspaper...flaming deer eating my beautiful Hollies/ Camellias and even a Yellow Yew (meant to be poisionous...hmmm) when the weather was so bad YES but never the newspaper, oh well that's my bright suggestion down the drain, rat infested or otherwise LOL .

 

I use newspaper under straw for mulching between veg and under rotten horse poo for mulching around fruit canes, and despite being next to open fields I've never have a rat problem with it, but recently jackdaws have been stealing pieces of what was put down last year for nesting material.

Giving it a thorough soak in a tub of water before laying the thickness of a whole paper opened out makes it stick to the ground/together and far more durable.

 

The rats didn't eat the newspaper.

They just shredded it, looking for all the worms, which congregated underneath.

 

twice i've forked out on weed supressant membrane ,the most recent was around my pond where there is a gravel path....yes it does keep the weeds at bay for a short while but the membrane keeps showing through and looks awful...it was well pinned down with a good layer of gravel.I won't be using it again...even though weeding can be monotanus,if you crack on before they really take root they come up easy...