Best way to KILL Grass and Weeds 

In the video there were banana trees that were having a hard time because of the weeds. With the knowledge you have now after all these years, what would you have done to save the banana trees without using the blanket?

Jose thanks for your great question. I think we can make our approach to weed management more straightforward by distinguishing between annual pioneering weeds and plants that we call weeds because they are not native. Many pioneering weeds aren't native, but they are useful in helping us repair degraded soil. Watch here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VXmPRX-mRvE.html Other introduced species, like the grasses shown in the video, can have a detrimental effect by holding back the establishment and growth of the plants we want to grow. BUT I don't think we should always make this assumption. I decided to remove the African grasses in my orchard and bananas because I saw that in the areas I had experimentally removed them, the growth of my bananas, etc., was improved. Another issue we have is the south-easterly winds in our dry season. See how we are reducing the impact - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ngYv9YpySt0.html

@@LearningfromNature Thank you for the answer. So if in the future you have issues with grasses again and you detect that removing them improves the growth of your bananas, how will you get rid of the grasses? As far as I understand, you will avoid using the blanket and instead you will try to introducing native seeds that might help to replace the grasses little by little and improve your soil? I am wondering if the native weeds might have problems to growth with the grasses as well.

Chuck sounds like a great project! You may find our resources on growing from your strengths valuable - see www.learningfromnature.com.au/choose-plants/

Thanks! 👍

Punanand, I am not sure what you mean. Replacing the mulch with living mulch is much better in the long term because with living mulch our soil organisms get fed organic matter and root exudates

Joan - thanks for sharing your story. We have a sedge here in northern Australia that is a challenge as well. I am assuming you put mulch of some sort on top of the weed mat...

yes I did put wood chips on top.

Joan Smith We have such high wind in North Texas. How did you keep everything from flying away?

Thanks Enoch. The time you need to leave the weed mat down depends on your climate ie plant growth rates and the plants you have covered. Leave for a month or so and then lift up a section and have a look. I am in the final stages of writing a guide to growing living mulch. If you would like to know when it's released and would like to subscribe for our FREE resources - www.learningfromnature.com.au/op/index.php/subscribe-yt/ ·

Yes newspaper and cardboard work well when you don't have huge areas to cover!

See here - www.learningfromnature.com.au/living-mulch-benefits/

Depends on your climate. 4-6 weeks - take a look underneath.

Hi Esther . Yes nut grass is a challenge. Weed mat or newspaper/cardboard with lots of thick mulch on top, and then be very thorough will removing any suckers that come up. Otherwise, if you are not growing veggies, it might be interesting to explore using the nut grass as living mulch and inter planting with ecological support plants (www.learningfromnature.com.au/grow-more/). Plus using shade to reduce the cover. Let me know how you go! Wendy

The cardboard you can leave - the soil organisms eventually eat it! But I would remove the weed mat - then you can reuse it and the plastic won't contaminate your soil.

Hi Sally - weed mat or cardboard/newspapers. Weed mat it easier for larger areas. I have created two alleys in my paddocks 150 x 10 with weed mat to great rid of the competitive African grasses that are great for cattle, but not trees. Then cover with mulch, or hay or whatever you have to hand. The cover has two purposes. Firstly, to make sure no light gets through the weed mat - it's the lack of light that kills your weeds and grass. Secondly, you are putting out more organic matter that will then feed your soil organisms when you pull out the weed mat 4-6 weeks later (however long it takes to kill the vegetation underneath). Hopefully, that answers your questions! But Sally you may be interested to know that the most effective way to reduce weeds for the long term is by improving the health of our soil. According to Dr Elaine Ingham (watch her video in the Learning from Nature - Making our Soils Healthy playlist (ru-vid.com/group/PLhxgy6oQa8vMIh8ZW5j9j_6XSo0ctiE2X) - weeds are an indicator of compacted soil with low oxygen levels. Adding the mulch will help because soil organisms are the experts at creating good soil structure - they just need a decent diet to be able to do the job! See the other ecological ways to improve your soil here (www.learningfromnature.com.au/op/index.php/soilchecklist-yt/) By getting this resource Sally you'll also get other other resources we produce for gardeners and farmers that aren't on RU-vid! Happy planting and let me know how you go!

Thank you for all that information. Don't have a large area but can see that weedmat would be easier to manage in that case.

Hi M Gm. It's not a good idea to use plastic sheeting because your soil organisms don't get enough air. which means they can't do their job of nutrient recycling and building great soil structure. Subscribe to our Learning from Nature emails if you want an easier and cheaper way to grow food, by bringing free ecological services nature can provide back into your garden or farm (www.learningfromnature.com.au/op/index.php/subscribe-yt/)

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks Roland. There are more useful resources on our website - learningfromnature.com.au

Thanks Dario. The Ecological Farming Handbook is coming out in Feb 2019. If you would like to be notified when our videos and articles are released - click here to subscribe (www.learningfromnature.com.au/op/index.php/subscribe-yt/) And as one of our email subscribers, you'll get a voucher giving you 20% off the cost of the Handbook!

Hi Svetla, Thanks for your comment. I put the straw on top for two reasons. Firstly to stop the plastic weed mat blowing away and secondly, to further reduce light penetration. You are quite right - straw underneath will decompose better. So if you have sufficient mulch - use both!

@@LearningfromNature thank you. another thing america to mind.ypu can put straw on top and bottom of the plastic? just a tought. or i can also use stones or gravel on top of the plastic?

Hi Sue - Yes, using plastics is not ideal! If you can avoid using it by spreading a thick cover of mulch to knock out the sunlight to the soil underneath - do that. But if you need to use weed mat, don't leave it down. Once it has done its job we roll it up, spread out the mulch again; then use the weed mat for another area. We have particular challenges with v competitive introduced African grasses. They are excellent for cattle but not for growing our other plants. Sue, you may find our other resources helpful (www.learningfromnature.com.au/publications/) Best wishes Wendy

Hi, Jemmy. It does depend on your climate and what's growing underneath. I always leave the weed mat down for 6 weeks, but I would recommend uncovering a small section to have a look. Can I remind you to make sure you put mulch on top of the weed mat. That way you know you are cutting out all the light. If you would like more of our FREE resources - www.learningfromnature.com.au/op/index.php/subscribe-yt/

I have just removed an area of filled seedling trays that have been sitting in crates on top of black polythene film for the past 3 years, excluding all light, and underneath the plastic, is a magnificent deep layer of thick twitch grass roots which are growing vigorously in the pitch black dark. I must have a particularly virulent form of weeds here, because a 6 week layer of weedmat with mulch would do nothing to curb their enthusiasm!

Hi Ruby There are always exceptions! We then have to look more closely at how the plant grows, and it's role our ecosystem. Is it a non-invasive weed that we can actually use to improve our soils? We look into a lot of these issues on our website and you can subscribe at - www.learningfromnature.com.au/op/index.php/subscribe-yt/ Here we have a Sedge that's difficult to get rid of with weed mat. Like for many plants you need to ensure you exclude all light by covering the weed mat with thick mulch. The Sedge has tubers and uses the stored energy to keep growing through weed mat and mulch. We get rid of it with perseverance! Pulling out any stems that do come up until they are too exhausted to come up anymore! Wendy

Thanks Heather

Hi Wolf - you are right weed mat doesn't kill seeds. That's why we replace the mulch over the soil when we remove the weed mat. Most weed seeds are small and therefore need bare soil and sunlight to germinate. Mulch makes it difficult for them to meet these needs! See here for 'How to get rid of Weeds - A Remarkably Radical but Practical Solution' - www.learningfromnature.com.au/weeds/