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Preferred or alternative weed mat type for caged and/or tubed trees

Hoytvectrix

Hoytvectrix

5 year old buck +
I saw from a similar thread some comments on preferred weed mat source. I know I have also read some comments periodically on using repurposed materials for weed mats. I believe one suggestion was for cardboard. I am wondering about the viability of cardboard or maybe even brown paper bags. I will be planting a few hundred trees in tubes in the next couple of years and wanted to see if anyone has had any success using something that isn't going to run $1.50-$4.50 per tree, like the pre-cut Dewitt products. Are the non-woven materials not worth the time?
 
You can buy the black house wrap but water doesn't go through it.If you have voles and mice around your trees I would use gravel.I didn't do anything except use tubes on my oaks,caged my fruit trees
 
I use cardboard. I have basically an endless supply of free cardboard. I also use wood chips on the cardboard because I get that for free too. I got a huge pile of sand for free, so I use that on the cardboard now too.
 
Telemark said:
I use cardboard. I have basically an endless supply of free cardboard. I also use wood chips on the cardboard because I get that for free too. I got a huge pile of sand for free, so I use that on the cardboard now too.
Click to expand...
How does water move through the cardboard? Are the trees planted on a slope?
 
I had more problems with ants and voles with the cardboard. A bit late in the year, but maybe not, I'd just buy landscape fabric on fall clearance. I also seen crows pick up the corners of the cardboard to get at bugs. smart critters.

Had good success using hay around poplar trees. Father in laws last goat died, so I put it around the poplars during ths summers bad dry spell.
 
I often wondered about using paper seed bags. Bought 80 bags seed this fall that came in multi-layered paper bags
 
bigboreblr said:
I had more problems with ants and voles with the cardboard. A bit late in the year, but maybe not, I'd just buy landscape fabric on fall clearance. I also seen crows pick up the corners of the cardboard to get at bugs. smart critters.

Had good success using hay around poplar trees. Father in laws last goat died, so I put it around the poplars during ths summers bad dry spell.
Click to expand...
And the dead goat kept the mice and voles and weeds away … 🤭
 
I used cardboard as well running the “X” long , wide and ragged. Yes some grass comes through but it’s cheap, easy and recycling
 
Mutual WF200 Polyethylene Woven Geotextile Fabric, 300' Length x 6' Width https://a.co/d/6KKdlFH

This is what I’ve been using. 200 3x3 weed/moisture retention mats for $140. Just have to cut them which isn’t bad with a cutting wheel.
 
Hoytvectrix said:
How does water move through the cardboard? Are the trees planted on a slope?
Click to expand...

Water moves through it, under it, around it. Some are planted on slopes. The ground is plenty moist underneath. It really seems to help keep moisture in the ground around the trees. It prevents evaporation and competing grasses/weeds. No problems with bugs, birds, or rodents so far.
 
I use weed mats on trees planted at my property an hour away. I used card board in my back yard and put a cheap weed mat on top. The cardboard held up well to weeds in year one. Doubtful it lasts more than one year. I watched turkeys scratch the hell out of the weed mat though. Ideally, you would put the weedmat below cardboard or mulch. I was in a rush though.
 
I have tried all different kinds of weed mats (cardboard, seed corn bags, synthetic roofing felt, silo staves, calenders, etc). THEY ALL SUCK. Cardboard last 1 year and your back messing with it again. Seed corn bags maybe last 18 months, synthetic roofing felt is ok but I wont use it again. My time is way more important then doing the same job multiple times cause I wanted to step over dollars to pick up dimes.


If you're gonna do a weed mat just STOP f******g around and put down a real weed mat. I get 4 foot x 300 foot rolls of dewitt landscape fabric and spend 10 mins with a utility knife cutting the roll into 4x4 mats. They used to be under $0.75 per mat, but are probably right around $1 now that we are in the Biden times.



Landscape fabric and then cover it with rock, gravel, mulch, etc and then your done for many years.
 
Here are some photos of my failures. The calendars barely made it a year and the weeds were poking through. The seed bags don't make it much more then a year. Cheapo landscape fabric roll off amazon SUCKED. Those mats all need to be redone. Synthetic felt is OK, but is basically the same price as the Dewitt Roll and not near as good. Silo Staves work decent, but are impractical if you value your testicles.


None of these are/were permanent and now I've had to go back and waste valuable time to redo them. Time is a very precious commodity when you live 214 miles from your land. Some of these "free" weed mats ended up costing plenty after all.


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It definitely is more work to use cardboard and wood chips. Part of the reason for this is I am intentionally mulching my trees with slow release compost by doing this. I will also ise sand and biochar on all the trees so that it all gets incorporated into the soil and benefits the trees over their lifetime. If I lived far away from these trees, I would probably consider other methods, but it's not a problem for me to put down something around them every 2 years or so.
 
Travel the city streets on garbage pickup day. Grab any carpet rolls you see. Work great, easy to use, heavy enough to not have to put anything on , lets water through ,lasts forever and best of all, free. Been doing thos for years , works great.
Downside is every now and then finding things rolled up in the carpet. Lol
 
I use black tree fabric, buy a 4x 250 ft roll and cut individual tree mats and melt the edges with a heat gun.

After 5 years take off and lay down red clover seed and wood chips.

At this point I just rotate them to new plantings. A little up front investment for years of use.

Have found in my environment, if using cardboard you also have to cover with wood chip. Otherwise it dries out. And it has a hard time rehydrateding and breaking down. Almost becomes hydrophobic.

And sometimes wonder what chemicals and plastics were used in some of that old carpet.
 
Not much different than the chemicals in your fabric, or the carbboard or any number of things people use.
 
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