weed Mats for conifer trees?

[Tangler]

I planted 100 white spruce and 100 canaan fir a few weeks ago. I finally got around to placing small weed mats around about 80% of them.

 

[Tangler]

Nobody? thoughts please. Your opinion is valuable.

 

[Perdix]

I don't have a long enough time horizon to say good or bad yet for my area. Last year I planted 130 Rocky Mountain Juniper in western ND. 30ish of those got cages and weed mats. The remainder were just planted run and gun. When I checked on them in April, the ones with weed mats did appear taller than the ones fending for themselves. Rain is always sparse in my part of the country, so holding back weeds that compete for moisture logically would seem to help. Having said that, I was still curious to see the difference as a test. This year I put in 25 American Plums and then in another spot, put in 5 Juneberries. Those aren't nearly as hardy, so they all have cages and weed mats. Long winded way to reply that I don't know yet.

 

[SD51555]

I’d get some mulch on those mats. That black can throw a lot of heat and burn your trees.


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[SD51555]

I started using paper grocery bags for weed mats this year. I don’t know how that’s gonna go yet, but I’m growing tired of weed fabric. It seems to last about 2-3 years and then it just becomes a disposal problem.

I’m hoping for 1-2 years from the paper bags, and I’m willing to do it a second time, and after that I should be far enough along to let nature have it from there. I add mulch every other year anyway. It takes about 45 seconds to replace them and at about 50 cents per tree, and then no garbage to deal with in the end.


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