Pros and Cons of using Landscape Fabric?

[buckeyefarmer]

Old landscape fabric was good, new stuff is terrible. You can see thru it. Weeds under mine in the garden have pushed it up a ft. The old fabric didnt do this.

 

[bcp]

Concrete cloth:

Another:

Concrete Canvas Ditch Lining - YouTube

Many more on Youtube.

Bruce

 

[GLyford]

Switchgrass and sourgrass are our two most common weeds, followed by crabgrass (and that's only because crabgrass is dormant all spring).

All three have no problems growing through and around landscape fabric.

 

[fishheadbob]

I hope it continues to work for you, Fishhead. Sounds like you don't mind maintaining it. I still believe it's not the best solution if you want *low maintenance*.

Agree. If you know of something better I'm all for it. Fabric and mulch has to be maintained but anything short of concrete needs maintenance. I had my annual 3 yards of mulch delivered yesterday so I am not looking forward to a lot of pulling and shoveling in the next few days. I try to buy the highest grade of fabric thinking it lasts a little longer. I don't think there are as many weeds, and I don't think they get as good a hold with the mulch and occasional pulling.

 

[plowhog]

Sounds like two different approaches. Some, maybe most people put the fabric down, then cut holes in it so shrubs or bushes have a place to grow. But that's not me. I want to put a 3-5 foot strip down along a ditch, then cover it with rock and hope to never see any growth through it.

 

[GLyford]

Oddly enough, the "cover it with rock" can be the problematic part, it creates traps for pockets of water and dirt. The fabric also helps trap washed dirt, sand, and bits of leaves. Next thing you know you still have weeds (or even trees and brush). And if you used coarse rip-rap, now you can't mow it either. I have seen a lot of trees and brush growing in rip-rap lined ditches here, though it does at least seem to help keeping the grass down.

I don't think your weeds will be coming from the bottom up. I think they will be coming top down, on the air or water, and get deposited on top of your fabric and grow just fine. Being in a drainage channel, they will be well watered.

I don't think even slabs or pavers would help you, other than limit growth to the seams. I suspect regardless of what you will use you will still end up either mowing or hand cutting brush. If you spray stumps afterwards, you could at least keep it from regenerating as fast...?

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Agree. If you know of something better I'm all for it. Fabric and mulch has to be maintained but anything short of concrete needs maintenance. I had my annual 3 yards of mulch delivered yesterday so I am not looking forward to a lot of pulling and shoveling in the next few days. I try to buy the highest grade of fabric thinking it lasts a little longer. I don't think there are as many weeds, and I don't think they get as good a hold with the mulch and occasional pulling.

If the weeds were real bad to start with, perhaps the fabric is helping you get control again. I can see that. Maybe once you have it under control, you can remove the fabric and mulch will do the job.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Oddly enough, the "cover it with rock" can be the problematic part, it creates traps for pockets of water and dirt. The fabric also helps trap washed dirt, sand, and bits of leaves. Next thing you know you still have weeds (or even trees and brush). And if you used coarse rip-rap, now you can't mow it either. I have seen a lot of trees and brush growing in rip-rap lined ditches here, though it does at least seem to help keeping the grass down.

I don't think your weeds will be coming from the bottom up. I think they will be coming top down, on the air or water, and get deposited on top of your fabric and grow just fine. Being in a drainage channel, they will be well watered.

I don't think even slabs or pavers would help you, other than limit growth to the seams. I suspect regardless of what you will use you will still end up either mowing or hand cutting brush. If you spray stumps afterwards, you could at least keep it from regenerating as fast...?

All true.

 

[rbtjr]

I have used landscape cloth to a limited extent and with little success. I have used Geotech fabric a lot with lots of success. I have used Geotech under walkways, around posts I didn't want to use a string trimmer on, at the bottom of steps that terminate on the ground, on banks to both stabilize them and prevent weed growth, etc. For example, we have a bridge in a creek in which we laid two 20' 36" pipe side by side and covered them with about 2' of fill dirt. The banks on the upstream and downsteam sides are obviously sloped. We covered the banks with Geotech and rip rap on top of the Geotech. This prevents both weed growth and erosion. All of our installations with Geotech have worked well. In the typical landscaping application (such as a walkway, at the bottom of steps, etc.) we use sod staples to hold the Geotech in place and then cover the Geotech with landscaping rock (usually in the 1/2" to 1" diameter range). The only times we get weeks are a/ the weeds sometimes grow up through the small openings made by the sod staples and b/ when silt, etc., gets washed onto the top of the installation. I learned about the Geotech fabric over twenty years ago by calling our local Department of Transportation rep and asking him how the DOT stabilized road-side banks they weren't growing something on. I got the specs of the Geotech fabric the DOT used then (our DOT has changed to a different type or brand of Geotech now). To put this in perspective, I have used most of two rolls of Geotech 12' X 325' or so on various projects. My last installation was on the side walls of a catch basin ancillary to an office building we own. In that installation we covered the banks (which were sloped about 45 degrees) with the Geotech, held it in place with sod staples, and covered it with rip rap. That took most of a third roll of Geotech. One note to remember is to make sure that the Geotech you use lets water seep through. Otherwise you might get unintended pooling of water. The Geotech we use lets water seep through slowly but the Geotech is still thick enough to block the sunlight.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Sounds like two different approaches. Some, maybe most people put the fabric down, then cut holes in it so shrubs or bushes have a place to grow. But that's not me. I want to put a 3-5 foot strip down along a ditch, then cover it with rock and hope to never see any growth through it.

The only permanent solutions would be planting something else there to shade out the grass/weeds. Berry bushes, but that will limit access to the fence. A row of trees, though that takes a while to grow in. A tallish groundcover could work, like hostas if it's part shade.

A row of ornamental grasses is I believe the best solution. Once that grows in, they flop over creating deepest shade and nothing can grow under them. 'Nother nice thing is if you ever need to do serious work on the fence you can cut it all the way back in late fall and it will regrow in the spring. Also looks classy and gorgeous.

Here's a pic of a fence that will never need weeding or edging:



13 Best Ornamental Grasses