Permeable Weed Suppressing Membrane - Yay or Nay and how you use it

[Jay-ell]

I’ve been using organic materials as a mulch but this year during the hot dry spell l there were few grass cuttings to go around.


Keeping the moisturise in and the weeds down is a major work saver so I’m contemplating the use of the permeable weed membrane to cover some of the beds. Not the stuff from the pound shops which isn’t worth the money but the heavier woven stuff.


Do you or have you used it? Could you please share your experiences with it and where about do you use it.


Are there specific crops that you have to use it with?
Are there crops you’d never use it with?
Do you cover it with anything else?
Do you prefer to cut the holes with scissors/knife or do you go for the blowtorch/flamethrower route?
How do you secure the membrane – dig in, rocks, pegs or something else?
Do you have specific hole sizes for crops and move the sheets each year or have generic spacing on each

How often you you lift the membranes?
Do you have reservations or reasons against using it?

Look forward re reading the responses.

[Small pumpkin]

I use it for covering beds in winter (or when the beds are not being used). Pinned down with rocks, lots of rocks.
It's also on the floor of all the polytunnles. This is down permanently so is buried on the outside of the tunnel along with the cover.

[Chestnut]

I have used it a bit, over cardboard, to suppress weed growth in areas which hadn’t been cultivated for some time. Weighted down with old bricks I found around the plot.

Weeds grow on or through it within a year (not a problem if only short term use).

However, its not a miracle cure. Some stuff survives and grows through even a double layer with cardboard underneath. The ends fray and you find lots of ‘cassette tape like thread’. And, if you (or your successor) inherit a plot where it’s been left a few years, it’s as hard to dig out as carpet!

If I were starting again, I probably wouldn’t bother.

That said, my plot neighbour, on soil that was well tended for 30+ years, now swears by it!

Like many things, you will find as many views as people ;-)

[veggiechicken]

Used it in my old house under shingle on paths. Weeds grew around the edges and seeded in the shingle, which couldn't be raked/hoed over easily.
I put cardboard down as a temporary measure or old compost bags. Cheap and cheerful - that's me.

[Cadalot]

You need to allow more than one selection as I use it as planting membrane during the growing season with specific holes and patterns and I use blank sheets over winter

[Thelma Sanders]

You can only tick one option?
I use it for crops under netting, because it's a chore to keep unhooking netting to weed underneath it. So that's brassicas, including swede and kohl Rabbi, plus onions leeks.
Also grow squash/pumpkins through it, because it's awkward to weed around those. Under the fruit growing on wires, it is laid permanently - anything that makes life easier nowadays!

Also have sheets with no holes in for all empty beds overwinter, once they've been cleared and forked over.

If you make holes and cut edges, with a flame gun or use a soldering iron (like Cadalot recommends ) the edges don't fray, cos the heat seals them. I use the U shaped wire pins to keep it tight against the soil, if I run out of those then it's bricks or rocks which are always laying about on site

[roitelet]

I only use it on paths under gravel or with some sort of matting to minimize wear. Pinned down with thick wire staples or dig in round the edges.

[SelkirkAlex]

use it on all the raised beds and plant through it, think it is great

[mothhawk]

My garden's too small for me to need weed membrane, but even if I had an acre of garden I wouldn't use it, because it's plastic, and I try to use as little plastic as possible everywhere. If I needed weed suppressant I would use cardboard covered with a mulch.

...Keeping the moisture in and the weeds down is a major work saver...

A light surface hoe once a week will both keep down weeds and keep moisture in. Soil loses water by capillary action, and keeping the soil surface crumbly breaks the capillary action and prevents further water loss. The top inch or so will be dry, but deep down there will be moisture.

[Thelma Sanders]

A light surface hoe once a week will both keep down weeds and keep moisture in. Soil loses water by capillary action, and keeping the soil surface crumbly breaks the capillary action and prevents further water loss. The top inch or so will be dry, but deep down there will be moisture.

Because I have some beds covered and some not, but hoed, I can compare the 2 methods directly. I found the beds covered with fabric retained more moisture than those that weren't. I suppose the fabric maybe more effective when it is as hot as it was this summer.

[SelkirkAlex]

I have been playing with the rolls of treated cardboard that serve the same purpose but are "greener", seems to work well but is pricey and has to be replaced every year as it composts itself a little too well

[Jay-ell]

I have been playing with the rolls of treated cardboard that serve the same purpose but are "greener", seems to work well but is pricey and has to be replaced every year as it composts itself a little too well

Well that is what they were designed to do Growers are supposed to be able to just rotavate the soil at the end of the year without having to pull up the mulch. There's another biodegradable type that looks like thin polythene sheeting but I've not used either.


As a long lasting but compostable green sheet mulch you can't beat The Metro - I grab a number on the bus to work in the morning and save them for use on the paths and some of the beds. The thicker the layer the longer it lasts.

[Bluenowhere]

Use it on paths, to cover areas I’d not yet got round to dealing with (new allotment), over winter where can’t mulch with manure (root beds), and as ground cover between strawberries etc. The heavy duty stuff holds back horsetail/marestail, couch grass etc, yes the roots still grow and sprouts appear at the side but easy to deal with as roots are on surface so can pull them out.

Next year I’m going to try onions through matting as I struggle to hoe round them (perfectly happy to accept that’s poor technique but after two years practice I’m not getting better at it) so have to hand weed which takes ages - we love onions so grow several beds worth.

We use a heat gun (the other half uses it to heat shrink wrap for cables) to cut and seal ends and planting holes in it. We use on the edges that are factory sealed to prevent the stranding described.

[bario1]

I used it under my soft fruit bushes and trees and it works a treat. I used a creme-brûlée torch to cut the holes for the bushes, and covered the fabric with woodchip for aesthetic reasons.
Now what used to be a depressing jungle by July stays neat and manageable all year round. One of the best things I’ve done on the plot.

[Babru]

A light surface hoe once a week will both keep down weeds and keep moisture in. Soil loses water by capillary action, and keeping the soil surface crumbly breaks the capillary action and prevents further water loss. The top inch or so will be dry, but deep down there will be moisture.[/QUOTE]

Hoeing is great if you can get sufficient dry spells. It rains a heck of a lot up here, especially in winter, hoed-off weeds often regrow, so I think weed suppressant could be a great help for over-wintering beds.

I'm not so sure I would use it in long-term situations (apart from paths and similar). We inherited over 40 foot of bamboo when we moved house, which was was planted through thick membrane about 14 hears ago. OH has spent the summer digging it out (not an easy job), and the thick root mats were hopelessly entangled in the membrane. We took load after load of roots to the tip, and it all had to go to landfill. Couldn't go to garden waste because of the plastic. Such a pity.

So, it has its uses, but think before you use.