# Forum Home Renovation Landscaping, Gardening & Outdoors  Weed mat. Worth having or a waste of time?

## woodbe

We've got an area of the garden we want to plant out with small shrubs and groundcovers, and one of the suggestions is to weedmat it with some woven material something like shadecloth but purpose built for weed control. 
Last time we did anything like this it was with newspaper, and it worked mostly, but then the stuff we planted took over, I think it was worse than the weeds and probably just choked them out... 
We also want to put down a decent layer of mulch. Say 10cm at least. Should we go with bark/wood chips, mushroom compost or what? 
woodbe.

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## jow104

They work for us in the UK. 
There are quality differences tho.

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## Sturdee

I don't think weed mats are worth the expense as they don't work very well. The newspapers are better as they will kill of the weeds before they decompose and rot away. 
What I did was first kill of the weeds with weedkiller (glysophate from Bunnings, but not the equivalent expensive Roundup) and then cover with a good layer, say 100mm, of woodmulch.  
Bark or woodchips are fine but mushroom composts will decompose too quickly. By all means use that as a soil conditioner under the woodchips but not in place of.   
Peter.

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## jow104

I havent done any weeding in 20 years on my patch :Biggrin:  (mat plus gravel)

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## Andy Mac

I tried some a while back, and thought it was next to useless. Topped it with a layer of pebbles and nutgrass just found its way straight through the mesh! :Eek:  I won't be wasting my money again. I think Roundup, then lots of cardboard or newspaper topped with 100mm of barkchips is the answer. 
Cheers,

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## jow104

I recall I put an old carpet (nylon variety) on a flower bed once that lasted around 4 years, covered in chips. 
I think latterly the plastics people might have put a plastic mat on the market that is degradeable, whereas 20 years ago it wasnt the vogue.

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## woodbe

Thanks for the replies,  
Woody, you must have well behaved weeds in Devon or maybe it's the permafrost  :Smilie:  
Most people here and on google seem to be saying that a decent layer (10cm+) of bark chips is the go. 
woodbe.

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## jow104

> Thanks for the replies,  
> Woody, you must have well behaved weeds in Devon or maybe it's the permafrost  
> Most people here and on google seem to be saying that a decent layer (10cm+) of bark chips is the go. 
> woodbe.

  If you live on one of those Adelaide hills, it will wash down.

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## woodbe

> If you live on one of those Adelaide hills, it will wash down.

  That would be true if it ever rained.  :2thumbsup:  
woodbe.

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## Arry

> That would be true if it ever rained.  
> woodbe.

  I put down a weed mat 12 months ago and then covered it with pebbles.. 
Not one weed has come through as yet.......did the job for me

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## dazzler

It may also depend on what type of weeds will come through. 
Up here some areas have nut grass that will even go through above ground swimming pool liners so weed mat also does nothing. 
What kind of weeds do you have....

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## manoftalent

news paper and dont be mean with it ......at least 12 pages thick and dont leave any bare spots ...weeds will find them ....overlap the paper really well until you have built up a decent thickness ....use a good quality screened soil ......screen your own if you like ......lay that down , then add a thick layer ..at least 4 inches (100mm) of either redgum chips or ucalyptus mulch ....both work well ....if planting vegies ...plant some crysanthimums and daisies as well , these help control garden pests like leaf moths , aphids etc ... :2thumbsup:

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## Bleedin Thumb

The problem with the stuff isn't so much weeds coming through it. It is that weeds will eventually germinate on top of it. 
Ok you have covered it with gravel but soil will eventually get in there. Once the weeds germinate the roots will chase water IE down through the mat then they are very hard to pull out. 
So you have actually created a lot of work in the long term.

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## aussieorchid

I have to agree with Bleedin thumbs but if you do use gravel and no weed matting the gravel will eventually mix with the soil and sink into it. If you plan to use mulch I would not use it as the idea of the mulch is over time it breaks down and then you mix it with the soil and top up with fresh mulch. Not easy to do with weed mat. 
Have not seen a better alternative for gravel or pebble mulch yet.

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## Bleedin Thumb

> Have not seen a better alternative for gravel or pebble mulch yet.

  Thats probably a good indication that gravel doesn't make a good garden mulch. :Rolleyes:

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## JDub

I use a 10cm layer of mulch (bark) on all my gardens(no weedmat), you do get the very occassional weed coming through but thats not a big deal. You do need to top up the mulch every couple of seasons as it will rot down..... but this is a GOOD thing, great for your plants! :2thumbsup:

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## aussieorchid

> Thats probably a good indication that gravel doesn't make a good garden mulch.

  
I think you might be right there but when you live in termite infested queensland I do not want to give them one more reason to visit my house by spreading wood chips around the place fro them to snack on.

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## Bleedin Thumb

JDub are you aware that when bark breaks down(especially pine) it robs nitrogen out of the soil? 
You have to compensate by using a nitro fertilizer which also makes the bark breakdown a bit faster.

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## woodbe

BT. So is that "as good as it gets"? Is woodchip and/or bark the best mulch in a weedmat free garden? 
woodbe.

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## Bleedin Thumb

Commercially I specify well composted forest fines. Trees that have gone through a tub grinder and then composted down. Its very dark, humousy stuff that acts as a soil conditioner as well as a weed suppressant.   
At home...................I have a good crop of weeds. :Redface:  :Redface:  :Biggrin:   
Well not too bad, I just let every thing go rampant - lots of different ground covers, there isn't much space/light for weeds to grow.

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## JDub

> JDub are you aware that when bark breaks down(especially pine) it robs nitrogen out of the soil? 
> You have to compensate by using a nitro fertilizer which also makes the bark breakdown a bit faster.

  
I normally use Tanbark type mulch and regulary fertilise (twice a year at least) with products such as dynamic lifter or osmocote (seasol on occasion).... 
I assume that is putting back the nitrogen that the decomposing organic material is taking out?

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## Bleedin Thumb

Yep a bit of chook poo or seaweed extract will do....also gets rid of pesky neighbours if applied on a hot day :Eek:

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## Planned LScape

I dont use weed mat very often, only on areas with a river rock or gravel cover and no plants. 
For reasons listed above also...in my opinion weed mat over time is a pain for maintenance. The shiny sort of weedmat isnt very porous, on a slope the mulch cover slides off, and water beads down like it's been waxed. The better stuff is the softer mat, but as Bleeding Thumb pointed out, it's not whats underneath that's the problem, it's above the weedmat. 
There are a lot of varieties of weeds that can grow in 1 square inch of soil (Remembering my tafe info now!) and over time dust and dirt that accumulates into the mulch or on the weedmate, will hold weeds. Even fine mulch can provide a growing medium for it. 
In short, I reckon a waste of time. Give a 75cm or 3" layer of mulch, and plenty of nutrients and the plants will do better

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## WoodJunky

we have weed control mat on our front garden and it does a good job but you still get a few weeds growing in the mulch as the seeds blow in from other areas. They are real easy to pull out as the roots do not penetrate the matting. We also used newspaper and that worked also but found but one problem we had was when the cats dug their holes to do their business they tend to rip the paper

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## Terrian

personally I use the cheaper weedmat (like a very very fine cotton), allows water to still get to the soil below, the more expensive plastic woven stuff stops pretty much everything getting to the soil below and basically kills the soil. 3" - 4" of mulch over the weedmat, the only weeds we see are what grow in the mulch, pull 'em out while they are small and all is fine. Just my own preference though.

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## Jacksin

Weed matting (black shiny stuff) was used extensively by the previous owner of my home over 9 years ago and bit by bit I am pulling it out. Even though the layer of woodchip mulch is very thin and breaking down on top its difficult to get the water through the matting as the holes are clogged.

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## Toyboy

Weedmatting? What the hell is wrong with Roundup?
There's not much will grow with my method of weed control.
If I could, I would have a permanent Roundup drip system in place, so forget weedmat and either poison everything or cover it in concrete.  :Rolleyes: 
As a great Greek bloke once said, "I came, I saw, I concreted." :Doh: 
Works for me!

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## Terrian

> Weedmatting?  
> As a great Greek bloke once said, "I came, I saw, I concreted."
> Works for me!

  Smart man, 4" of concrete painted whatever colour you want, artificial tree, all good, just think of the time savings  :Redface:  (have just replace a sleeper retaining wall with a concrete retaining wall - that was fun!)

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## Jasey

One thing I have discovered is that if you want a garden you are setting yourself up for work and compromises.  There is no perfect way to do something.  I have found that if you are after a decorative garden with a few shrubs/plants then weedmat with gravel is excellent, it requires the least weed maintenance.  If you are after a more heavily planted bed and want to be fertilising, adding soil, planting and digging regularly then weedmat is a pain.  Then again most mulches ar apain if you want to be active in the garden.  I found that anything to light like sugar cane gets scratched up by the cats.

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## Caloute

I use black plastic roll from Bunnings, spread it on your soil pin it with 100mm nails every meters or so, so wind does not pick it up it the main time, then water it and pin a few hole around plants and where water does not evacuate, then 
If you need to plant, just use knife to cut hole in and plant again pin few hole around plants. Mulch on top, when plants are in. If plants are already there just measure and cut with scissors channels and holes. 
Weed matt as explained by the old guy that does my lawn, is a problem because eventually whatever weed grows on top of your matt, will find a way in thru the matt below it, then when you pull it out (The weed), you actually pull the matt as well. Plus always fiber that stick out when you cut drives me nuts. 
Plastic sheets work well for me and you can get rolls for $15, that will cover quite a lot.

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## woodbe

Thanks for all the responses! 
The area we are working on already has some plants and fixtures in it. The more we thought about it, the more reasons we came up with for not using weedmat. It seems it might work well for a new garden with gravel 'mulch', but the long term for an organically mulched area is that it will either be high maintenance or just not work as it should because there will be nutrients above the weedmat to foster weed growth. 
So, we've ditched the idea of weedmat, and sent the landscaper off to look for better mulch.  
woodbe.

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