sheet / lasagna mulching

[Stevetoad]

hey guys, this weds im going to put down a bunch of mulch (big thanks to MattyB for helping me out). ive heard and read about sheet mulching. thats where you lay down cardboard first them mulch on top of it. my front yard has a huge problem with dwaft bermuda grass getting into my planting beds. from what i read it seems like this will solve the problem. my question is has anyone on here done this before? does it work? is there any reason why i should not do this? any info would be great.

[John Case]

It will work but takes a few months. In the meantime, the bermuda that is not covered will continue to root and grow rhizomes under the mulch. Once the mulching is done, the bermuda will again start creeping in the area. This is why God invented Roundup......

[Stevetoad]

  On 9/17/2012 at 4:17 PM, bepah said:

It will work but takes a few months. In the meantime, the bermuda that is not covered will continue to root and grow rhizomes under the mulch. Once the mulching is done, the bermuda will again start creeping in the area. This is why God invented Roundup......

i use round up like crazy. the grass looks dead after a few days. i then pull it out. a week later it looks like i did nothing. very frustrating.

[Matt in SD]

Don't pull it out after a few days after applying roundup! It has to work it's way down into the roots and can take a while to kill the whole plant. You can also try double strength (~5 oz/gallon). That will kill just about anything (iceplant, date palm seedlings etc...).

Matt

[MattyB]

I've done this at my old house and it worked great to get rid of the bermuda grass in my planters adjacent to the lawn. I still had to round-up the creepers on the border every once in a while, but it eliminated the bulk of it that was growing in the planters, and it eliminated my weeding duties in that area (I hate weeding). I used newspapers, many layers, so that it was very thick, otherwise the grass will just puncture through. This is perfect to use with drip irrigation because your emitters will be under all of it. If you're spraying irrigation you have to make sure and leave a large hole around the plants so that your water will get through.

[Darold Petty]

Cardboard sheet mulching is the prefered method at our Lakeside Palmetum within the Oakland city park system. The use of weed fabric is discouraged by the city because the polyester fabric prevents the movement of earthworms from surface to below. We use rolls of cardboard about six feet wide. These are specific for this purpose, and can be purchased at landscape supply stores.

Bermuda grass is tenacious, perhaps a heavy dose of glyphosate followed by the cardboard mulch would be effective. Hand weeding after the mulch will still be required. We are prohibited by the City of Oakland from using herbicide. Good luck !

[Stevetoad]

thanks for the info guys. Matt everything is set up on drip now. and at my work i get tons of boxes and large sheets of cardboard. sounds like it can help so im going to try it. how long does it take for the cardboard to rot out? we get so little rain that id think it would last a long time.

[MattyB]

With your drip irrigation, it'll probably last until the end of winter. But in my experience, it's just a one time thing to get that planter cleared out of weeds. After that, mulching is all that is required.

[Darold Petty]

Here is some additional information,

http://gardensatlake...mulching-magic/

[richnorm]

Soaking the paper/cardboard first makes the job easier as it won't blow around and moulds to the ground nicely. I also use wool carpet and even old clothes if they are natural fibres.

[DoomsDave]

Persistence is key with creeping grasses. They never sleep.

Fabric and cardboard work well, but, issues can arise. The most common problem, after a while (a few months) is that the mulch on top of the fabric begins to break down, which provides a nice place for grass to root again. It's usually easy to pull, since it can't root into the soil.

Until the fabric or the cardboard deteriorate, which can be a while, or not.

Keep your eyes peeled.

And, keep the Roundup or generic (glyphosate) handy . . . .

[dalmatiansoap]

Any more info about sheet mulching?

[Jastin]

Make sure to soak the cardboard after you put it down so it will get rid of those air pockets and mold to the terrain. Then mulch it and water it some more. You could even spray round up before you put the cardboard down to get a better grasp on the weeds. If you have enough mulch do about 6" because by the end of the winter it will have srunk at least 2".

[Stevetoad]

I laid the cardboard down yesterday evening. Soaked it in my sons little play pool then sprayed it again once I laid it down. I learned a very important thing about cardboard. When it's soak it delaminates and gets very slick. I was talking to my neighbor about what I was doing slipped on my butt and slid down my little hill. If it wasn't so embarrassing I'd do it again. Kinda fun. Today the mulch goes down.

[Justin]

I think I used newspaper instead of cardboard. It worked quite well. Since we get so little rain, it worked out alright.

[foxtail]

Bump, updates?

[_Keith]

Works partially here in the deep south. Rain and heat break it down too fast many times, and then you just have healthier Bermuda grass.

[foxtail]

  On 3/25/2015 at 2:19 AM, _Keith said:

Works partially here in the deep south. Rain and heat break it down too fast many times, and then you just have healthier Bermuda grass.

No way, I'll keep doing it by hand. Thanks _Keith.