Lumite, friend an foe

[trampledbyturtles]

Have used alot of weed barrier fabric over the years.

Kind of a love hate relationship.

Like it cause it reduced the amount of chem we had to use as well as mechanical cultivation. Thus allowing us to plant large numbers of trees whie living an hour away without having to constantly monitor.

But at the same time, have found the fabric creates a mice haven, an will girdle trees of all ages if not cut back from the trees, which is a large under taking in itself when talking about thousands of trees.

In the process of removing fabric from tree plantings over 20 years ago an the stuff looks about the same as the day it went in the ground. Talk about a pain in the arse.
(If anyone has come up with a good way to remove I'm open to suggestions, currently using an atv, 2 people an a sharp knife)

But I digress,

The real question I have is about its supposed water permeability. I have the stuff over 90% of my plantings. Most of the rain showers we have gotten this spring have been in the .1 to .5 range. I can go back 4 hours after it rains an the water is still in puddles on top of the fabric. Thus questioning how permeable it is.

Just curious if the fabric mats may be shedding moisture off away from our young plantings. I have tried to the make the center the low point with a ground staple, but this is not always feasible.

Love it's ease of use an it's ability to keep weeds at bay, but an questioning its impact on semi arid years.

Hoping someone will chime in with additional info.

Maybe I'm just overthinking this.
Tend to do that from time to time.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I used it in a few of my first trees, then I got lazy with all the rest. Three of the 4 I planted, and used it on are dead. Whether there is any connection, I dont know. The 4th tree isnt nearly as big as the ones I planted 2 years later, and it still hasnt produced any apples. It may be location, or just the tree itself, but all of my other trees are doing great, and most of them have produced already after 2-3 years.

My plan has always been to put pea rock down around all the trees with no fabric, but the lazy thing comes back into play. So I just lift the cages and weed whip a couple times a year. I use to spray, but after almost killing a few trees, I no longer spray.

 

[Gator]

I've never used lumite, instead I lay down newspaper and then cover with pea gravel. Never had any of the issues you mention.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

Take alot of newspaper to run a three row windbreak for a quarter mile.

But I see your point for individual Apple trees. How many years are you fellas keeping the weeds in check around your trees in your orchards. I was planning on 10 years before removing the fabric.

 

[Nova]

I tried Lumite on my apples for one year, 15 trees. The mouse/vole infestation the first winter made me tear it out and never look back. I also had second thoughts about the water permeation. lots of puddles when I watered them and it took for ever to soak thru.

 

[Gator]

Take alot of newspaper to run a three row windbreak for a quarter mile.

But I see your point for individual Apple trees. How many years are you fellas keeping the weeds in check around your trees in your orchards. I was planning on 10 years before removing the fabric.

haha, yeah I guess so..

 

[JFK52]

I planted 14K trees on my land over the years in three separate plantings. 11 K red pines and 3K white pines. Some of the red pines were used as a snow/wind break along a 1/4 mile long driveway. All were 4 year old trees at planting. They were two year seedlings and two year transplants (2S+2T was the nursery designation of the trees). I never used lumite. I did keep the spacing wide enough between the rows of pine trees so that I could mow with my 60 inch brush hog behind a Kubota L345 DT 4x4 with turf tires. I was able to mow for about three to four years and I did this at least twice or more each growing season. By knocking back the weeds several times a year, I was able to give the red and white pine trees a head start. Eventually, they grew tall and wide enough so that I could not fit the tractor between the rows. By that time, they had well outgrown the weeds. I had a 95%+ survival of my pines.
It sounds like it was a lot less work than the lumite method you used.