When I was growing up people who were planting flower beds always used landscape fabric as a weed barrier. As I got older and owned a few different homes, I would notice that previous owners had used landscape fabric but weeds just pushed up through. Obviously the fabric is for soil erosion control, not for weed control. Recently I had a landscaping contractor give me an estimate for a flower bed and he told me " other people use landscape fabric but that's no good, I use 6 mil plastic instead."
Is there a consenus? How do ya'll control weeds?

JMBrowning
Yikes! Plastic is worse than landscape fabric. Totally seals out air and water exchange and eventually degrades into little pieces. What are you planting? What sort of weed problem do you have? What kind of mulch is your landscaper planning to put down? If it's a definite choice between the two, go with a professional grade fabric, not that flimsy black stuff. If you don't have a major weed issue, just mulch and occasional maintenance.

In beds and at home a thick layer of mulch that keep seds from sprouting and grown ones easy to pull. At work we use several different pre-emergents in big areas.

If your main problem is Bermuda grass, it's going to be a problem no matter what route you take. I hardly ever use a herbicide, but in the case of Bermuda grass I'd use one specific for grass and then try and use a thick layer of paper - newspaper, cardboard, feedsacks etc - put that down after the Bermuda was looking pretty sad. Over the paper, I'd use a good layer of wood mulch of some kind - probably pine bark because it readily available and inexpensive. The paper will disintegrate fairly soon, but maybe last long enough to further cause the demise of the Bermuda. Bermuda is going to grow through any fabric weed barrier and just become worse to get out. It will also find the tiniest hole in the plastic come through and get worse over time. Cleaning up things that don't disintegrate later becomes really unpleasant and difficult. I used old carpet a couple of times and then mulched over it. It worked on a lot of things, but not Bermuda grass or wild onion. It doesn't disintegrate over time and was a horrible mess to remove later.

I share Donald's sentiments about bermudas grass! That was why I asked what type of weeds you want to suppress. If not something malevolent, just use mulch.

Our lawn is Bermuda grass. We have an area in front of the house with bushes and flowers as well as three trees surrounded by mulch. Every two weeks I go out there and hand weed the Bermuda shoots that are trying to grow into the area. It's best when the ground is moist and important to pull it out with as much of the root as possible. That's why I go out every two weeks as it's usually not as well rooted if I keep on top of it. It usually takes about an hour.

NMoasis said: JMBrowning
Yikes! Plastic is worse than landscape fabric. Totally seals out air and water exchange and eventually degrades into little pieces. What are you planting? What sort of weed problem do you have? What kind of mulch is your landscaper planning to put down? If it's a definite choice between the two, go with a professional grade fabric, not that flimsy black stuff. If you don't have a major weed issue, just mulch and occasional maintenance.

My preliminary plan includes daylillies, delphiniums, columbine, coreopsis, liriope and maybe sea thrift. It'll be in the front of the house and will be getting full to part sun. The biggest issue is bermuda grass creeping through the current bed edging. I also have random nutsedge sprigs popping up. Obviously after reading y'alls responses I won't be using said landscaper! I'll just do it myself, and I'll probably use recycled rubber mulch 'cause I like that it holds it's color.

Nutsedge has to be sprayed with a product specific for it. (Image I think?Roundup does nothing) I've found it to be impossible to pull by hand because any tiny root left behind grows more.
You don't get any benefit from recycled rubber mulch so as your plants grow the soil will become depleted. I know it's a pain to refresh mulch but your gardening efforts will be rewarded f you add something that will help the soil. Besides you will be digging in that area often to plant things and remove weeds/Bermuda so you just throw some fresh mulch around and everything looks nice again..try that for a year before the rubber mulch stuff.

Rubber mulch does retain color, but organic mulches hold moisture better. I think they are also cooler temperature-wise. It's definitely a nuisance when you have to dig in the bed for some reason. Too much like chunked up tires for me

Snicker, you want to control grass and weeds in zone 8??? You LIKE a rigidly controlled border???
That is so funny. Okay, weeds 'throw' their seeds away from the mother plant - so does what I assume is Coastal bermuda grass (developed for hay with long runners for livestock to consume) yard bermuda is a bit less wild, but tenacious. Nothing I know of works for more than a season anyway. Seeds grow up from on top of mulches, tree roots are drawn to the moisture provided by watering and protected by mulch, grasses can grow roots 3' deep (kinda like bamboos and Johnson grass,) Yes, to cardboard on top of soil (it IS made of wood after all) and will break down, and mulches can oftentimes be soaked in herbicides (pre emergents) that are not good for the health of your plants if you get the mulch too close to them, yes, do use the 'hydromulches' and barks on top of the cardboard. That is why they help your borders do well and why it breaks down and must be maintained thru the seasons. Good Luck and

Welcome JM. Whereabouts are you? Texas is kinda big.

I'm interrupting here to ask Kitt if a lot of cardboard is really soaked in pesticides. I've wished that when I started making my garden beds that I had been patient and used the cardboard and newspaper trip. And I do have a strong dislike for roaches. Although I hate to doubt you, is cardboard really soaked in pesticides?

Weak solutions, yes, but when I hauled fresh cardboard boxes from the plant, they were soaking wet, with something, I never asked, They dry enroute, but dust from cardboard raises fire hazards so I doubt the stuff is stored dry very long. It doesn't take long for cardboard on the ground to lose its shape and have crickets waiting for unwary meals on wheels. You need to understand, there are different grades of products offered to we consumers. Food grade products are specifically that - safe for people - so it can depend on what your cardboard was used for.

kittriana said: Weak solutions, yes, but when I hauled fresh cardboard boxes from the plant, they were soaking wet, with something, I never asked, They dry enroute, but dust from cardboard raises fire hazards so I doubt the stuff is stored dry very long. It doesn't take long for cardboard on the ground to lose its shape and have crickets waiting for unwary meals on wheels. You need to understand, there are different grades of products offered to we consumers. Food grade products are specifically that - safe for people - so it can depend on what your cardboard was used for.

Kat, due respect, "soaking wet, with something, I never asked" isn't convincing proof. Lotta stuff whirling around the internet about that has pretty well been debunked. I think you've got an urban myth there.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-ch...

https://www.reuters.com/articl...

https://www.usatoday.com/story...

I use a lot of cardboard covered with cedar mulch for the flower beds.
For stubborn grass along the fence line, I spray using 1 gallon of vinegar and 1 cup of table salt. I don't have any real "grass" - my green areas are mostly horse herb, but the fence line attracts birds who drop seeds from Johnson grass, etc.
I would never use Round Up!

Zoe, I hauled cardboard out of IP in Tn I believe. It IS soaking wet, it was created there, made into cardboard, and it is heavy to haul, could just be the solutions they use in its making. The humans that work there are safe as manufacturers can make them in their environment, so, prob not intentional poisons.

JM - back to your original question. Teacup754 and needrain (Donald) are absolutely right in saying not to use rubber mulch. A lot of people use it but it has no benefit for the soil. With natural/organic mulches you'll probably find that they'll eventually break down and need to be refreshed. Cost and effort totally worth it. (speaking from experience)

About a month or so ago I was at a favorite local garden center. While waiting to check out I saw a product claiming to eliminate nut sedge. I had to hold back the urge to giggle.

Coincidentally, lately I've been taking pictures of the many and varied weeds in my yard. So far I've definitely identified one with the common name "Madder". Easy to remember as I get madder when I see it.

As I think others have said, when pulling weeds, thankless task as it is, go deep. Try to get the whole root. I've read that with some weeds it can be easier to use the "off with their heads" method. It prevents them from getting sunlight, oxygen, etc. So far it seems to work for me.

And do listen to Gramma Char about NEVER using Roundup.

I have a few more suggestions but someone is knocking at my door. (why people ignore my doorbell I just don't know)

Why would you never use one of the safest, most effective herbicides available? Just don't get it on things you want to keep and everything's good. Oh, and don't drink or bathe in it.

Groundwater. People with wells are very cautious.
The city of Austin is now finding traces of Weed and Feed in their drinking water.
So, no, I don't use chemicals.
But I know that many folks rely on them - and that's okay. Just not for me.

kittriana said: Zoe, I hauled cardboard out of IP in Tn I believe. It IS soaking wet, it was created there, made into cardboard, and it is heavy to haul, could just be the solutions they use in its making. The humans that work there are safe as manufacturers can make them in their environment, so, prob not intentional poisons.

Maybe this:

The stone is sprayed with water to remove fibres from the pulp stone however results in little removal of lignin (a non-fibrous constituent of wood) that binds fibres together and reduces paper quality, however mechanical pulping is low cost and generates a higher throughput.

Chemical pulping involves 'cooking' wood chips to reduce the raw material in to individual cellulose fibres. There are two types of chemical cooking, sulphite and sulphate, and both results in better separation and reduction of lignin to produce better quality paper.

The more popular of the two processes is sulphate, which involves using alkaline solutions to digest wood and adding sodium sulphate to increase the strength of the pulp – this is the process where Kraft comes from as it is the Swedish word for 'strength.'

Out of both of these processes the Kraft is either used there and then and as mentioned before is dark brown in colour, or bleached during the pulping process to produce a white Kraft.

https://www.themanufacturer.co...

It stinks Rj. All the lumber mills do, tho, chuckl.