protection again weedeaters

[miamicuse]

I have a landscaper that comes by once a month to do some general stuff, mow the lawn outside by the right of way, blow debris (seed pods and leaves) off my roof and rake them up etc...and he used a weedeater to remove weeds...which results in many shrubs and other plants to be cut repeatedly a few inches above ground.  My crotons. gardenia, some of the small palms etc all suffered.  Initially I used 3/4" iron pipes cut into 12" segments and pounded them into the ground in front of the plants to deflect the weedeater, but that didn't work it only caused him to put the weedeater onto the back side of the plants and now the cuts are on the other side.

I saw some videos where some folks are using thin plastic pipes, cut into short (like 6 to 8 inches) lengths, then cut with scissors along the length of it, then fit it over the bottom of the plant where it meets ground to protect the plant.  Some of them use a 4" diameter corrugated drain pipe to protect a 1" diameter trunk.  Looks kind of ugly.  Is that the only way?  If I use a sleeve just barely larger than the trunk, like using a 1" sleeve over a 3/4" trunk will that be too constricting and may cause the covered area to rot?  The other way is to ask him to stop doing it but then the weeding would have to be done by me by hand LOL.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 minute ago, miamicuse said:

I have a landscaper that comes by once a month to do some general stuff, mow the lawn outside by the right of way, blow debris (seed pods and leaves) off my roof and rake them up etc...and he used a weedeater to remove weeds...which results in many shrubs and other plants to be cut repeatedly a few inches above ground.  My crotons. gardenia, some of the small palms etc all suffered.  Initially I used 3/4" iron pipes cut into 12" segments and pounded them into the ground in front of the plants to deflect the weedeater, but that didn't work it only caused him to put the weedeater onto the back side of the plants and now the cuts are on the other side.

I saw some videos where some folks are using thin plastic pipes, cut into short (like 6 to 8 inches) lengths, then cut with scissors along the length of it, then fit it over the bottom of the plant where it meets ground to protect the plant.  Some of them use a 4" diameter corrugated drain pipe to protect a 1" diameter trunk.  Looks kind of ugly.  Is that the only way?  If I use a sleeve just barely larger than the trunk, like using a 1" sleeve over a 3/4" trunk will that be too constricting and may cause the covered area to rot?  The other way is to ask him to stop doing it but then the weeding would have to be done by me by hand LOL.

Hard, heavy duty plastic, like what a sturdy 15gal pot is made of ..or PVC  would be the only ..fairly easy to install.. barrier that would stop a weed eater.. that corrugated drain pipe can work too, if durable enough..  

And yes, i myself would suggest leaving an approx a 3" gap between the trunks of things and the barrier itself so the base of the trunk(s) can breathe / any insects that might cause damage to the trunk or crowns of the plants don't have an ideal place to call home.

You could also cut the pipe ..or whatever to fit around the iron or steel spikes, drill a few holes in the pipe, and attach the barrier to the spikes / stakes ..whatever you'd call it.. so that the plastic barrier doesn't get knocked away by the weed eater, or something else later..

Could also place rocks or those cheap cement curved borders that are ..say 6-8" tall  around the bases of the plants.. That definitely will stop weed eaters, lol.

I myself weed where i can't safely reach with the eater.. Just another part of maintaining a landscape..

 

[Merlyn]

I chose to clearly define the bed areas to avoid that kind of problem.  That would be my recommendation.  Around here people do two things:

• Heavy mulch would help knock back the weed growth and also clearly define the area of bed vs grass.  A real 2-3" of dense mulch does help a lot with weed growth.  I tried being cheap with a thin layer and it didn't really slow down the weeds.  You'd have to get him to not weedwhack in the mulched areas, and hand weed it yourself.  That's what my next door neighbors do.  They also have a TruGreen lawn service come through and fertilize/weedkill the grass areas, so that helps keep the weed growth down.
• Concrete edgers work too, like the "Rumblestone Trap" or even smaller brick-sized edgers or something like the scalloped concrete edgers would define the bed and slow down weeds growing into the bed.  This is what I did around my yard.  I used the Rumblestone Trap for some areas, but it's pretty expensive.  So for the rest of the yard I used a flat-front trapezoidal block.  The ones with the chopped front corners are a serious pain to weedwhack around them.  You have to try and get into the little triangular gap between each block, which really eats up the cord and takes a LOT of time.