What is a Weed Barrier?

Weed is an opportunistic plant that will compete with your marijuana plants when it comes to nutrients in the soil. When weed strikes and you are not ready, your plants will have very little chance to survive. Even if you use the best weed seeds for sale, you will still have to deal with weed.

One of the ways to deal with weed is to use a weed barrier. A weed barrier is a physical shield which is used to keep weed out of plants. Many growers and breeders use a weed barrier to deal with weed with varying results. Let’s find out if using a weed barrier is still a good way to prevent weeds in your marijuana garden.

What does weed barrier do anyway?

A weed barrier is a type of thin fabric that is placed over the ground. Mulch is placed over this fabric and this practice is said to be effective in removing or preventing weed plants from growing on the ground.

The problem with weed barriers and fabrics

There is a problem with weed barriers though. It rarely works and can even be a bad idea for your plants. When you install weed barrier and put mulch over the fabric, weed can still grow on the dust or bark that you placed on top. These persistent plants can also grow in spaces where two fabrics join together. Weed can grow anywhere and therefore this barrier is just another problem you have to deal with.

And these days, weed is now harder to remove. When you remove weed that is rooted below your weed barrier you need to put up the fabric. Weed seeds can enter inside the barrier as you do so.

Weed also propagates this way when you use a hoe or a rake to smack down weed. As you do so, the seeds can travel to the air and land anywhere and thus weed will still survive anywhere.

How to properly use weed fabric

Weed fabric is classified as under landscape. It is not effective under dust, soil, mulch, and compost but it is good under landscape under granite, gravel, river rock and flagstone. Professional landscape companies use weed fabric under these types of material because they can keep mud and small pieces of stones or aggregates separated during the wet winter season.

Installing weed barriers or fabrics under gravel or stone

When you install weed fabric under a stone, take note of the following: you must remove at least 3 to 4 inches of soil before installing the fabric. After everything is installed, place your stones. When the weed barrier is installed very near the surface, you might see this as your design has settled.

As much as possible, use only high-quality material as your weed barrier. Make sure that you anchor the sides of the barrier very well using landscape staples.

If you still want to use weed barriers, fabrics and clothes to prevent weed from growing in your yard, make sure that you install this very well over your yard. Use heavy items like rocks, pots, and planters to hold the fabric down.

Aside from using weed barriers as the only way to remove weed, you must also use effective weed control measures like the following:

How to naturally remove weed

Use effective plant ground cover

Grow plant cover. These plants will mature and will provide effective cover for weeds. Plant cover will consume more water and nutrients and will grab more sun and leave very little for weeds. The result: weed will eventually lose their chance of growing until there are almost no weed plants around to compete with your marijuana plants.

Pull weed regularly

You must pull weed at least once every two weeks from March to December. This is the most common time when weed plants are just too stubborn. But on a typical time of the year, pull weed plants once every three weeks. If you think that this is just too much work you may ask someone to do this for you.

Have someone do this for you

There are professional lawn specialists which can help you end your weed problem for good. If weed is very persistent in your lawn or garden or you just don’t have time, you can hire a specialist. This may cost more than your average lawn maintenance work but in the end, it’s going to be worth it.

Never let weeds seed

Take note that there are weed varieties which can produce thousands of seeds from one plant. A single plant can ruin your growing area for many, many years to come. Therefore, you need to remove weed before these will start to flower and make seeds. Just some examples of weed that are light with seeds that may be blown by wind are Shepherd’s purse, lambsquarters, and pigweed.

Apply mulch

If you want to take care of weed during its growing season, use two to three inches of material for mulching. or you may use layers of weed plastic or fabric. Mulching will block sunlight, therefore, the seeds will not germinate. If you mow your lawn regularly, use a shredder to turn your grass into mulch. You don’t need to buy mulch anymore.

Use bark dust

Bark dust is a material that weeds hate.  This is because of the pH of bark dust that seems to repel weed. Use bark dust for at least 3 to 6 months. Place this over the ground, use it as mulch. Pull existing weed as you apply bark dust and pretty soon, you’ll find that there is no more weed growing on your yard.

Make landscape to hardscape

To reduce areas where weeds grow, transform these into hardscape like pathways, gazebos, sand gardens or other gathering spaces.

There are no shortcuts to weed removal. If you are having problems with weed in your marijuana outdoor growing area,

Some common weed plants that you will find in your garden:

Bindweed or field bindweed

This is a very persistent perennial vine which is not similar to the ornamental flower. It has larger and lovelier flowers which can turn purple or blue. This has a thicker stem, with hairy flowers with the shape of a heart.

Bindweed is from Eurasia; it is the most persistent weed on earth. It can spread from rootstock and also from seed. The roots of bindweed can burrow to depths of 14 feet with the lateral root turning into a vertical root. This can spread more than 10 feet in just one season. It can create an underground channel that allows overwintering with no foliage. The seeds and root stick can even persist in the soil.

Tilling and soil cultivation can make bindweed spread worse. The best way to control this weed is early intervention although successful control is very difficult.

Lambsquarters

This is the most common weed in gardens. Common types of this plant are widely available across the northern US and southern Canada. It is fast-growing, with seeds that are tiny and light to be blown over long distances. Seeds can even survive for decades in soil.

To manage lambsquarters, use a sharp hoe. Gardeners say that this may be eaten and included in salads.

Pigweed

Another name for pigweed is amaranth and is known as the most problematic type of weed. Pigweed is an annual weed which reproduces by means of seeds. It has a fleshy red-colored taproot and may grow in gardens during late spring or early summers.

Pigweed loves warm weather and at the first sign of this weed, pull it before it starts to flower. To avoid pigweed in the future,  use winter mulch all over the garden. Use up to five layers or more of wet newspaper and up to 6 inches of mulch on top.

Just like lambsquarters, pigweed is also edible. It has high nutritional content and this may be cooked just like spinach. It was also used by Native Americans in making a ground meal to be used for baking bread.

Buckhorn plantain

Plantain is a hardy plant that multiplies using seed. It has narrow leaves and can quickly grow in meadows, lawns, and pastures. This type of weed can appear all year round. This is very hard to destroy and remove from any garden.

And just like pigweed and lambsquarters, plantain is edible especially when the leaves are young. You can eat it raw or you can boil or saute in different dishes.

Crabgrass

Crabgrass is a summer annual weed that multiplies by seeds as well as rootings of nodes which burrow in the soil. If you don’t remove crabgrass, this can grow up to 2 feet in height. Crabgrass dies every end of a growing season and it must create new seeds each year.

Mow regularly to remove crabgrass. This prevents flowering and from the grass to produce seeds. Aerate your soil to prevent crabgrass growth. You may also control crabgrass by using a hoe, pulling the weed and also by mulching. Use organic mulches and organic herbicides.