Weeds In Mulch Around Fruit Trees?

[SwampCat]

I have been using a weed barrier with wood chips for mulch on top. Weeds are growing in the mulch like it was put there for them. You can see disturbed areas in the mulch where I pulled the weeds - mostly grass like growing around the perimeter of the 3’x3’ mulch area. They are growing down from the mulch - not up through the weed barrier. Do I need to put a herbicide barrier around the tree and just keep sprayed with gly?

 

[KY wild]

That looks like crabgrass and it spreads like crazy, dropping seeds in the mulch. I think if you sprayed gly an extra foot around the mulch it would help a little but not totally. Crabgrass loves hot weather so this time of year you will probably have to fight it mechanically and with herbicide.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

That looks like crabgrass and it spreads like crazy, dropping seeds in the mulch. I think if you sprayed gly an extra foot around the mulch it would help a little but not totally. Crabgrass loves hot weather so this time of year you will probably have to fight it mechanically and with herbicide.

Even with a herbicide, when crabgrass gets above the four or five tiller stage it basically becomes impossible to control with a selective herbicide.

I think just using a non-selective herbicide on a non windy day is the way to go. Next year I would time it a little sooner and the plants will be easier to control.

Pre-emergent herbicides can work but there are a couple that can stunt ornamental plants like fruit trees. It takes more time, but I actually prefer to use a non-selective herbicide like glyphosate because it forces me to get around and check trees in tubes and cages.

 

[KY wild]

I wonder of preen would work next year?

 

[SwampCat]

I wonder of preen would work next year?

I have had zero success with Preen in a garden. I still have a pretty good quantity - good place to use it up

 

[cavey]

I never am able to keep up with my weeds, always end up on my knees pulling some -

but and I have done the wood chips - which Im lucky enough to be able to get as much as I want from the city dump for free, the trick is to pile it on thick usually 4 inches or better .... I try and not to have it up tight to the tree trunk and would recommend adding window screen. IMO I dont think you have enough (thick/deep) around the tree to prevent weeds from germinating and pushing up through crab grass seems to be able to punch through the barrier if it gets any light but weeds always seem to show up eventually even in the thickest mulch; that being said what you do have there is enough area you really just need to keep the critters away from the trunk an open area that mice dont feel safe being out in the open. A tree that big in dia if established has a big enough root system that as long as its getting enough rain the weeds will not out compete the tree. Its just an added benefit to help retain moisture by not having any other plants sucking the nearby moisture out of the soil... and this is just my opinion.

Chemical weed control in a three foot circle around the tree to the bare dirt has always been the best and simplest way to having a tree make it for me; time constraints always seem to prevent me from achieving that and I have used wood chips which thinking that would be better or easier, again dont get me wrong chips do help with moisture retention but its is added work compared to just blasting the weeds with gly. periodically if you can.

With mulch I always worry about whats going on under those wood chips that I cant see - mice voles and insects -- bare dirt for the first decade of life is the bomb

 

[SwampCat]

I never am able to keep up with my weeds, always end up on my knees pulling some -

but and I have done the wood chips - which Im lucky enough to be able to get as much as I want from the city dump for free, the trick is to pile it on thick usually 4 inches or better .... I try and not to have it up tight to the tree trunk and would recommend adding window screen. IMO I dont think you have enough (thick/deep) around the tree to prevent weeds from germinating and pushing up through crab grass seems to be able to punch through the barrier if it gets any light but weeds always seem to show up eventually even in the thickest mulch; that being said what you do have there is enough area you really just need to keep the critters away from the trunk an open area that mice dont feel safe being out in the open. A tree that big in dia if established has a big enough root system that as long as its getting enough rain the weeds will not out compete the tree. Its just an added benefit to help retain moisture by not having any other plants sucking the nearby moisture out of the soil... and this is just my opinion.

Chemical weed control in a three foot circle around the tree to the bare dirt has always been the best and simplest way to having a tree make it for me; time constraints always seem to prevent me from achieving that and I have used wood chips which thinking that would be better or easier, again dont get me wrong chips do help with moisture retention but its is added work compared to just blasting the weeds with gly. periodically if you can.

With mulch I always worry about whats going on under those wood chips that I cant see - mice voles and insects -- bare dirt for the first decade of life is the bomb

I have a few trees with no mulch and it does seem easier. Our long, hot summers with little or no rain is what brought me to using the mulch. I water incessantly in hopes of reducing tree mortality. Our trees dont die in the winter - they die in the summer. Dont ever have any mouse, vole or rabbit damage here - hot, dry weather is our enemy in the south. And the coons that strip every piece of fruit, months before they are ripe.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Most of my trees are around 10 years old, except the ones that are replacement t trees because of bear. I use to spray, weed, had weed barriers around them, etc, now, it is just too much work. I have about 30 trees out in a deer plot, no water nearby, and is out of site.

I fight bear off, coon and squirrels will strip a tree in a day or two, late frosts have killed blossoms, and it always seems to be a struggle, but I don’t spend much time worrying about grass around.

 

[SwampCat]

Most of my trees are around 10 years old, except the ones that are replacement t trees because of bear. I use to spray, weed, had weed barriers around them, etc, now, it is just too much work. I have about 30 trees out in a deer plot, no water nearby, and is out of site.

I fight bear off, coon and squirrels will strip a tree in a day or two, late frosts have killed blossoms, and it always seems to be a struggle, but I don’t spend much time worrying about grass around.

I was hoping the mulch would cut down on my watering. So far, this year is different with 9.5” rain in the last two weeks - but normally by Aug first I am watering weekly and it takes several hours each week to water - just so the coons have something to eat. Maybe I just keep the mulch and let the grass come in and not worry about it too much. I feel like the weed mat is totally useless

Does anyone put some kind or protective guard around the trunk to keep herbicide off the trunk as you can see some leaves on the trunk that I would hate to spray. I hate for a tree to die from hot, dry weather but would hate it worse if I was the one to kill it by spraying.

I am considering trying some kind of electrical barrier around the trunk anyway, and not sure a varmit would make ground connection with weed mat in place

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I was hoping the mulch would cut down on my watering. So far, this year is different with 9.5” rain in the last two weeks - but normally by Aug first I am watering weekly and it takes several hours each week to water - just so the coons have something to eat. Maybe I just keep the mulch and let the grass come in and not worry about it too much. I feel like the weed mat is totally useless

Does anyone put some kind or protective guard around the trunk to keep herbicide off the trunk as you can see some leaves on the trunk that I would hate to spray. I hate for a tree to die from hot, dry weather but would hate it worse if I was the one to kill it by spraying.

I am considering trying some kind of electrical barrier around the trunk anyway, and not sure a varmit would make ground connection with weed mat in place

I have not tried using a protective barrier for the purposes of spraying. I think that might be +1 in the column for tree tubes (with or without cages). If you do have shoots or suckers coming up from the base, I would be very careful with spraying. I think I have killed a few young apple trees because I didn't that they had some suckers.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

Does anyone put some kind or protective guard around the trunk to keep herbicide off the trunk as you can see some leaves on the trunk that I would hate to spray. I hate for a tree to die from hot, dry weather but would hate it worse if I was the one to kill it by spraying.

Could you put a cone shaped guard on your sprayer wand to help stop the herbicide from flying around where you don't want it?

 

[SwampCat]

Could you put a cone shaped guard on your sprayer wand to help stop the herbicide from flying around where you don't want it?

It would sure help

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I think older bark wouldnt effect the tree at all, frsh growth, and leaves would be a different story.

 

[KY wild]

I put tubes around mine mostly for this reason. I can spray Gly from a 4 wheeler. Google.......... Tree Pro

 

[omicron1792]

@SwampCat not sure weeds in mulch on top of a weed barrier would have any negative effect on the trees. I would spray around trees once a year with gly, and not worry about it otherwise

 

[SD51555]

How many trees you talking? I've got about 60 on my yard that I have to deal with encroachment as well. I take the weed electric whacker around the edge of the mat every other weekend and pull the ones in close a couple times a year. That may seem like a ton of work, but understand I've got a Makita weed whacker and that is the toughest sum bich'n weed whacker on the market.

 

[Native Hunter]

I let weeds grow up around my fruit trees at the farm on purpose. They provide protection against sunscald.

The only time eliminating weeds around fruit trees is beneficial is during the first few years after planting. After the tree has been there 3 or 4 years, weed competition isn’t much of a factor. Typical weed mats will last about that long before they rot away, and that’s fine with me.

 

[SwampCat]

How many trees you talking? I've got about 60 on my yard that I have to deal with encroachment as well. I take the weed electric whacker around the edge of the mat every other weekend and pull the ones in close a couple times a year. That may seem like a ton of work, but understand I've got a Makita weed whacker and that is the toughest sum bich'n weed whacker on the market.

I have about 45 trees and I am trying to figure out how to spend less time with them, not more - especially for the little value they offer - compared to all the time spent with weed control, mowing, watering, spraying many times, fertilizing - and then losing almost every fruit to coons or squirrels. The fruit would be for me and my family with maybe any left over going to the deer.

To be honest, even if the trees provided a bumper crop, I dont believe they would really be much value to my deer hunting. I have a high density of deer now with a fairly high number of mature bucks - almost all of which have never tasted an apple.

 

[SD51555]

I have about 45 trees and I am trying to figure out how to spend less time with them, not more - especially for the little value they offer - compared to all the time spent with weed control, mowing, watering, spraying many times, fertilizing - and then losing almost every fruit to coons or squirrels. The fruit would be for me and my family with maybe any left over going to the deer.

To be honest, even if the trees provided a bumper crop, I dont believe they would really be much value to my deer hunting. I have a high density of deer now with a fairly high number of mature bucks - almost all of which have never tasted an apple.

I get it man. This is the same reason I don't buy much for trees anymore. I take care of the landscape trees on the yard, and that's about it. If i'm gonna do work on trees beyond that, I'd prefer they be naturals that just need a little shade removal every few years.

 

[cavey]

I have a few trees with no mulch and it does seem easier. Our long, hot summers with little or no rain is what brought me to using the mulch. I water incessantly in hopes of reducing tree mortality. Our trees dont die in the winter - they die in the summer. Dont ever have any mouse, vole or rabbit damage here - hot, dry weather is our enemy in the south. And the coons that strip every piece of fruit, months before they are ripe.

Good point I was thinking in terms of Wisconsin weather - hitting the area with chemical out a few more feet out from the mulch once the weeds are up would help too - its amazing how much more moisture is in the soil if the plants are dead but there is a bit of cover to keep the soil from baking in the sun