|
Post by daylilydude on May 3, 2015 6:41:51 GMT -5
I was thinking about this product and wondered if news paper could be used instead, or is there something that makes planters paper special besides it coming in rolls, your thoughts?
|
|
|
Post by Laura_in_FL on May 3, 2015 12:42:19 GMT -5
I've never used planter's paper. So I don't know whether it is special in some way. I have heard from another Gulf Coast Gardener that it breaks down in 2-3 months in our climate if it is not covered.
Newspaper works fine; it's just less convenient to use because it comes in sheets rather than rolls. A layer several sheets thick gives good weed blocking for all but the toughest weeds.
The main problem is keeping it from blowing around. You can wet it when you lay it down, but as soon as it dries the wind will blow it again. Because it is in small sheets, you'd go broke if you tried to use staples to hold it down. The easiest way is to cover the newspaper in some other mulch so the wind doesn't reach it. You can use any of the usual mulch items - leaves, grass clippings, straw, pine straw - whatever is handy.
You can even shred more newspaper or other paper and use it as a cover, as long as it's cut in long string type shreds. (Don't use the little crosscut bits - they'll go everywhere.) Tangle the shreds up a bit and wet them down good. They will stick together and not blow around short of a hurricane. But they will still let most of the rain through.
Placing newspaper under mulch will give you superior weed suppression compared to mulch alone, especially for root-spreading weeds such as grasses. Where I live, there are grassy weeds that will come right up through several inches of mulch if I don't have cardboard or a thick layers of paper under it. (My weeds also push through landscape fabric, ugh!)
|
|