Weed Control and Mulch Mats within your CREP
Keeping your plantings, free of weeds is a battle, but if you approach it with a strategic plan, you will prevail. In order to develop a plan, you first must understand how weeds work, and what kind of weeds you are dealing with.
Basically weeds grow either from seed, or they reproduce from their roots. As the roots grow outward from the parent plant new plants sprout up from the lateral roots, creating more parent plants and the process continues and the weeds thrive. Weeds that tend to reproduce from the root are usually more difficult to control.
Weed control facts? Depending on the time of the year, there are a few billion weed seeds drifting through the air at any given time, so to think that you can eventually rid a garden of weed seed is false thinking, but at least this process is effective for the remaining roots, which are the most difficult to control.
Weed controls facts? Weeds are plants, and they function just like the desirable plants in your yard. They need water, sunlight, and nutrition to survive. Of these three key survival needs, the easiest one to eliminate is sunlight. Through proper mulching you can eliminate the sunlight.
Mulch mats have shown in some cases to improve soil structure, keep soil cooler during high summer temperatures, conserve water and even aid in the suppression of root rotting fungi. But perhaps the most apparent quality mulches have, are their effect on the suppression of weeds. Weed control using a sufficient depth of the applied mulch can provide control which is comparable to the application of herbicides. Mulches have a lesser effect against established perennial weeds which can emerge through deep layers of the applied mulch.
Again, keep in mind, weeding is a battle. But with a strategic plan, it can be won!
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