Home owners and horticulture professionals spend a lot of time and money using weed barriers in ornamental beds only to have weeds take over months or a few years later. One common method is to apply landscape fabric or black plastic around plants and place a layer of mulch on top to dress it up. The barrier on top of the soil is supposed to prevent weeds from emerging by means of blockings sunlight from reaching them. Available weed barriers are expensive and they are labeled as porous to allow air and water to move through them and reach ornamental plant roots.
What Makes Weed Barriers Ineffective ?
In theory, the use of these barriers sounds like a good concept that may work for a while. Over time however, soil and mulch particles fill up the porous spaces in the material and prevent air and water from reaching plant roots. As the fabric becomes clogged, adequate amounts of water and air are unable to reach the plant roots, leading to the plant’s decline.
Black plastic is impermeable therefore no oxygen exchange can occur to the soil. Lack of oxygen to the roots and soil microbes significantly reduces plant growth. Black plastic also prevents water penetration. When plant roots do not receive the needed water and air for healthy growth, they may respond by trying to send roots through fabric seams which breaks down the intended weed barrier. Other plants slowly decline due to water stress or lack of sufficient air movement into the soil.
Woven weed barrier fabrics initially allow some minor oxygen and water exchange to the soil, but eventually become clogged and create the same issues as plastic. Weeds easily germinate on top of the fabric and root into or through it. Both plastic and woven plastic fabrics disrupt the life cycles of many pollinators and other soil invertebrates.
Weed seeds also find their way into the mulch that is on top of the fabric from nearby landscapes which may lead to entire weed crops growing in the mulch on top of landscape fabric.
Aesthetically speaking, when the weed fabric is exposed, it looks just awful. Simply put, weed barriers are for those who hate earth worms, don’t plant flower bulbs and who don’t divide geraniums and irises. The best place to consider fabric in the landscape is under mulched paths or other areas without ornamental plantings. In order to have a healthy root environment for ornamental bed plants, it is best to keep weed barriers out of these areas.
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