I am a big fan of this method as a one woman farm team, for ease. There is also another benefit, there is some research that says that solarizing your soil will kill harmful pathogens. It works like composting, it will not kill the good fungi and bacteria but does kill pathogens. A lot of people do not think about pathogen in their gardens but really should. Thanks for the great info!
I have a hard time believing that’s entirely true. I don’t know why bad microbes would be killed and good microbes left alone. I understand certainly things have different limits, and certainly some can tolerate it and others can’t but to think that anything can kill the bad and leave the good sounds too good to be true. Still a solid method, I use many things to clear soil, usually cardboard or old rugs (carpet is pretty gross but I have used it) and it works great! It’s so much easier to tarp the lawn to kill it then till it and plant. It’s great, I’m just a bit dubious about it killing the baddies and leaving the good stuff.
I think you are confusing solarization and occulation. Solarization you would lay down a clear plastic..occulation you want no light. Occulation defintely does not kill all bad bacteria..if anything it let's more bad bacteria thrive in a low oxygen level environment.
@@elrancherobarbon that is a fair comment thank you. The tests were likely done with clear plastic and thus with solarization. Doesn't change the outcomes of those studies but I was incorrectly stating black plastic.
Great idea, I have a long roofing sheet a friend had left over from his carport, I’m planning to remake garden beds that my late father reduced our garden beds many years ago.
Our weather reporter is a green guy so to say, he once said there are so much more uses for oil then to just burn it! This is one of those uses! Thanks for the breakdown, used them wrong since the first day
I've been using lumber wraps that a local building supply company was going to discard. They are about 10'x20' which is very manageable for one person. I overlap the ends a bit and make the beds as big or small as I need. It's working!
Josh love your content and your personality. So refreshing to have someone speak in a caring nature. This question is a little off topic. Do you have a video on what type of row cover to use? The material you plant in such as lettuce or tomatoes I'm struggling to find the right stuff. Some people call it landscape fabric. Thanks in advance!
Josh, you're an amazing educator. When I need any info to do with planting, you're the man. Thanks for giving us a clear pros and cons discussion instead of a sales job. Honesty is everything today in our crazy, unsettled world. Question: Have you gotten play time with your young-uns? and a date with your beloved? I know you'll answer honestly. ; )
Very good timing. I'm just about to start killing the weeds in my new growhouse. Thinking about using cardboard and then plastic on top for the initial phase.
That is exactly what I do. Cardboard first, then mulch if I have it (used goat barn bedding) then tarp. It really brings worms to the surface to turn the soil and incorporate the mulch/manure. I converted a well established lawn to an amazing garden bed this past winter. Mushrooms are popping up everywhere…the soil is that good. I try to tarp it all winter.
I’ll be interested to see how you cut your tarp in half. It seems like such a large thing to try to cut a straight line in. My OCD would go nuts trying to cut one in half and have it be crooked.
Does Farmer Jesse talk about different methods of getting rid of grass and prepping a bed in his book? This is always a subject that I would like to see options and research on. I just can't get myself to do plastic silage tarps with the microplastics and baking off the soil life.... but I can see why they would be great I've seen people use chickens and also doing charles dowding cardboard and mulch on top. I wonder how to effectively have animals get it nice and clear. Sometimes you need to clear a lot of land fast, sometimes slow, and sometimes you can do a little bit slowly and want the best quality. Good to have options
Josh, first off thanks so much for your videos, I really enjoy them. We use billboard tarps on a 1-acre garden, and could not handle the weeds without them. We use a ton of sandbags because it is very windy here, and we have learned the hard way the consequence of using too few. The sandbags we have been using (due to cost) are brown woven plastic mesh, and unfortunately seem to only last two years before they disintegrate and make a giant mess. Have you found an economical, more permanent/durable source?
Hi Josh, I was waiting the whole video for you to address the soil microbe community issue, black plastic on the ground for extended period of time killing it off. I see other viewers also have brought it up. Would love to hear you weigh in as well.
Me too! Have spent YEARS building soil life...the night crawlers & red wriggles are abundant, as well as all the little guys would need a microscope to see! But we get heavy weed seed drift...and cold snowy winters, so want the soil to warm more in the Spring
Thank you for another great video! I also use tarps to kill weeds in my garden and if I may contribute with another con: it does not kill all weeds regardless of how long you leave the tarp down. I'm in VA and broad leaf plantain, burdock and other thick root weeds are able to survive the tarp and need to get removed manually. Also, shortly after I broke bank buying a tarp, I came across a research (I'm trying to find it now) saying that clear plastic (aka, solarization) works better than tarp because it works like a greenhouse and it traps more heat in. If I recall the research findings well, it was around a 10F difference in trapped heat with the clear plastic vs tarp. Anyway, I'll try to find the research and add the link. Kind regards!
Or you could research uses for plantain and burdock…then you wouldn’t think of them as weeds anymore, and wouldn’t have to worry about getting rid of them.
@@BDogg2023 oh, I agree and I only called them weeds because, well, it's just one of many words to use. I do actually research what to do with plants before deciding whether or not to keep them and I have even taken herbalism classes to help with that. But, my gardening space is quite limited (maybe 40x70 sq ft) so I def do not need these plants to be competing for energy and nutrients with what I actually want to plant/harvest and consume, not to mention they spread easily. The "weeds" do have another 2 acres to do their thing, so I'm not completely eliminating them :)
I am envious of the size of your property! Not too big, not too small. Have you had any hurdles to converting your yard to a market garden? Neighbors or zoning to overcome?
Oh there have been plenty of hurdles putting a small market garden on a suburban lot like this. I have documented pretty much every part of the build on this channel. No zoning issues, but some of my neighbors did not like the sound of our ducks when we had them.
I try to use as much plastic as possible on my produce. It doesn't break down at all, and leave harmful toxins in your soil. When your done with it you just throw it away and its gone. Its actually good for the environment in my opinion. Tilling would be dumb.
One of the biggest pros is this is a way to kill weeds with out any use of herbicide. Yes, you have the plastic, but as he said there are various covers that are repurposed from other things.
Are the beneficial bacteria/fungus cooked/killed by the heat generated? I'd like to construct a no-till garden but I'm concerned that I'd kill all of the good stuff. Thank you Josh, great information!
With the black tarp you're fine. If you use a clear one (solarization) you'll cook way faster and kill everything. This method doesn't kill the good stuff (lower temperature)
@@ΑΛΕΞΗΣΠΕΝΑΣ no harm to the worms... biomass should be moist and the soil below cool, creating a perfect environment for worms to eat, reproduce and poop.
Please excuse the super amateur question, Im using billboard tarp. We bought land with super heavy duty thorny weeds. We cut them down as much as possible and covered them. Will this work?
I have a community garden plot (15' x 20' ft). Basically it's an old farm field that's parsed into small plots. Each year the area is staked slightly differently, and you may (or may not) get the same general area as the previous year. At the end of the season everything needs to be pulled out. They till it each year (horse and plow demo by our historical commission) but there are tons of weeds each year. For the last 2 years I've cleared it by hand, then put down wet newspaper and straw as a mulch barrier. It's a ton of work and all the rain/storms we had made it impossible to clear the area. I'm just over the MA border in CT and our season is short (5/1 - 9/30). Is this a good option for next year? I wasn't clear how long it takes to kill the weeds. Does it also kill bugs that overwinter in the soil)? Thanks - even for my tiny plot I've learned a ton from your videos.
It’s a great option for your situation. Once it is tilled in the fall make you beds, add amendments, mix, shape, add moisture if needed and cover. Pull it off in spring and you’ll be ready to go. You will still have some weeds next year and will want to mulch around certain long growing plants, but you will be amazed by how few weeds there are!
Tarping works really well to control weeds as long as you don't go back in there and till after the tarping. The tarp works much slower in the winter so the sooner you get it down the better.
So the issue is that I only have access to the site during the dates included in my post. I cannot prep for the following year because EVERYTHING must be cleared from the property as of 9/30. Plus, I may not get the same site in the spring.
Hi Josh...is there any clear info out there that Silage Tarps used over the winter for bed cover will not harm the soil life? Want the tarps to prevent weed seed drift, (we get a lot of that) and to help warm the soil in the Spring (we can get 20 below 0)...but very concerned about the worms & microbes.
If I want to prep an area for the first time do I need to fully clear and till the area? For example its plots I want to create in one of our pastures so at the moment its got grass, weeds etc.?
Josh, will aggressive growing weeds grow through the tarp? I’m thinking of something like a thistle plant or other fast grower. Are the tarps rigid enough to withstand that?
Plastic is the greatest invention of 20 Century! There s no "organic" farmming , specially small scale veggie farmming, without it: tarps, greenhouse, waterpipes, bags, pots, tools, etc. Not to mention plastic in...everything: cars, phones, houses, clothes...dont known one single person that dont use it daily, and intensly.
@@hoosierpioneer have no ideia what that means... But i just went to adjust my drip irrigation plastic pipe, on the veggie garden covered in plastic mulch (weedfabric), which is connected to a pipe that is plastic, and regulated by a plastic timer, while using my plastic boardshorts and shoes, and harvested a few kilos of veggies that were bagged in plastic in the plastic cooler...they were cleaned in a plastic table with the plastic water sprayer, and Will be later cut in plastic in the kitchen before cooking...this is just a very small part of my plastic life. Love it.
@@srantoniomatos Agree that plastic has become a innovative necessity and ubiquitous in our world, but the "mindfully" part I believe is the awareness that there is an enormous issue now with plastic pollution in the water and oceans including microplastics that are killing huge amounts of wildlife and probably affecting our long term health. Plastics need to be discarded with care for they can cause great harm for decades and even longer.
I have a view garden beds that aren't in use right now and won't be until next season, do I use silage tarp or some kind of plastic to cover them up or do I use something else?
3 weeks ago, I laid out 2 50x105 st ; yes the wind pu after I started, lol. Next week, I'll pull them back to till this new area and reapply after forming the beds and ditches. Keep sandbags near locations, to be placed. Hint, ff has sandbags/ rowbags. It took 10 yards of River Sand to fill 650 sb/ rb. (non organic fill) Easy way to quickly fill them... get 2 dollar tree plastic pales. Cut the bottom out of one insert into sand bag to keep open. The other pale fill via 1st pale, 1.33 pales of sand then tie off. Row bag use cardboard n fill. ~3 sb per minute... no shovel. Our farm stays breezy, need more sb to keep items down. For those who don't want silage tarps... Curtis Stone in his live today said that ground cover works well and let's the water drain below. If hot outside the water will evaporate quickly, 1-3days is what I've noticed. Can't wait to erect the tunnels. Have a great day at your farm!
Can you put out a silage tarp and leave it over winter with snow? I live in Northern Wisconsin and wondering if the snow will cause damage to the tarp.
Snow is unlikely to damage the tarp by itself, but the longer the plastic is exposed to the elements the more worn it will become. Wind, wildlife, and especially sun will all take their toll. Like any tool, it should be put away when its not being productively used.
does anyone know if it's possible to recycle silage tarps? I'm interested in getting some but I don't want to be stuck with hundreds of pounds of plastic waste in a few years
That would be a mosquito nightmare with any amount of rain in the south. A ton of tiny pockets of water in less than a week can generate an unbelievable amount of mosquitos.
I bought some sandbags off of Amazon years ago and they are terrible. I would definitely get the ones from Farmers Friend. I don't remember the weight, it's whatever you feel is right.
You can buy UV light resistant sandbags at Farmer's Friend and just about anywhere that silage tarps are sold. Make sure that you buy UV resistant bags. Otherwise the bags break down pretty quickly. Trust me, you do not want to put too much sand in those bags. They get very heavy, especially if the sand is wet. I have learned from my experience that it is best to use lighter sandbags, say 15 lbs. to 20 lbs each, and place plenty of them around the perimeter and a few spread out on the interior of the tarp. It is much easier to handle sandbags that are not extremely heavy. We only get significant winds in south Louisiana, where I live, during storms. The more wind that you get where you are located the more sandbags that you will need to use.
@@BDogg2023 it spreads by rhizomes underground, perennial, if you till it, it multiplies. If you rake them out and leave in a pile they multiply when gets wet. I've been raking and pulling then leaving in sun to dry, then burning. Time consuming and futile!
There will always be a trade off, any path we take to do anything. Plastic tarps are beneficial. But without it another method will be used but that will have some other unpalatable method🤷🏽♂️
How about microplastics as a result of degradation of the tarp plastic as it is continuosly exposed to heat over the time, temperature is directly propotional to degradation. Please stop using plastic outdoor.
