Easy Way to Kill Grass and Weeds With Tarp or Weed Blocker
Quick facts
- Solarization is the process of placing a articulate plastic tarp over an surface area to heat up the soil underneath.
- Occultation uses opaque coverings instead of clear. Occultation takes longer.
- The plastic traps heat and moisture, which encourages seed germination and plant growth.
- By blocking access to h2o and heating up the soil, the process eventually kills the vegetation underneath.
Tardily summer is a cracking time to prepare garden space to get-go a new garden or bee lawn. Solarization and occultation are uncomplicated methods to remove existing vegetation and get ahead of weeds.
What is solarization?
Solarization is the process of placing a articulate plastic tarp over a field, garden bed or backyard to heat up the soil underneath. The intention of solarization is to kill weeds or grass, though information technology tin can have added benefits of reducing pathogen populations in the soil.
The plastic covering produces a greenhouse effect:
- The plastic traps heat and moisture, which encourages seed germination and plant growth.
- By blocking access to water and heating up the soil, the solarization process eventually kills the vegetation underneath.
Articulate plastic tarps from your local hardware shop (2-6 mil) are sufficient for polarization. The procedure typically takes effectually 2 to three weeks during hot summer months. The process is complete when the vegetation underneath the tarp is dead.
What is occultation?
Occultation is like to solarization, but opaque coverings are used instead of clear. While information technology may sound counterintuitive, fields covered in articulate plastic become hotter than fields covered in black plastic.
Black plastic actually absorbs low-cal, whereas articulate plastic allows lite and oestrus to laissez passer through. And so occultation takes longer.
Occultation typically requires at least four weeks to be effective. The longer you keep the covering in place, the more effective it will be, up to about vi weeks, at which bespeak efficacy begins to level off.
Common materials for occultation on a small scale include mutual tarps and cardboard. On a larger scale, you can utilise silage tarps and old billboards. Since these materials tend to exist relatively heavy, you can apply sandbags, bricks or other heavy objects to counterbalance downwardly the edges.
Why choose occultation over solarization?
While occultation takes longer, at that place are a few benefits.
- The types of tarps used in occultation tend to be re-usable.
- Solarization tarps are sparse and more prone to tears.
- Because opaque tarps are multi-functional, you may already have some at home.
New fields and lawns
If you're using solarization and occultation to start a new garden in a space with grass or other vegetation, there are two approaches.
- The kickoff is to till the soil first, and then add the tarp to suppress weed seeds brought to the surface through tillage besides as remaining grass.
- The second is to use the tarp to kill the grass. Mow the grass every bit short as possible before adding your tarp.
Tilling prior to solarizing or using occultation volition speed up the process and can have the added do good of aerating soil that has been compacted.
Existing beds: set up the seedbed
Solarization and occultation can be used for weed management at any point in the flavour (most often in the spring) in existing garden beds and fields. These strategies allow you to eliminate the offset flush of weed seeds earlier planting vegetables and flowers.
In order for weed weeds to germinate, they need warmth, good seed to soil contact, moisture and, in some cases, light. By preparing a seedbed prior to solarizing or using occultation, you increment the likelihood that weed seeds will germinate nether your tarps compared to a field that has non been prepared.
To prepare the seedbed:
- Aerate compact soil with a tool such as a broadfork or a pitchfork.
- Work in compost, manure or other fertilizers.
- Smoothen the soil surface with a tilther or a rake.
- Water the soil before covering with the tarp.
Water
Moisture is a central ingredient for weed seed germination, so watering earlier installing your tarps will amend functioning. Water until the soil is moist downwardly to about 12 inches before adding tarps.
One central principle of solarization and occultation is preventing water from reaching the soil afterward the initial irrigation. And so these methods volition be less effective in depression spots that receive pregnant drainage, and where water can enter underneath the tarp from the edges.
Staking tarps
Tarps accident abroad easily and need to be held downwardly.
- For solarization, it'south best to bury the edges to form a tight seal.
- If this is not possible, you tin utilise landscape staples to hold the edges down, only have care to avoid vehement the plastic.
- Yous tin can weigh down the tarp with bricks or sandbags on the corners for extra back up, especially in very windy areas.
- For heavier tarps, placing heavy objects around the edges and across the top should be sufficient.
Soil health impacts
Heating the soil tin can have pregnant impacts on soil biology, only these changes are not necessarily negative. In that location are few studies about the long-term impacts of soil solarization on microbial communities, only information technology is an emerging area of research.
I contempo study of solarization and its impacts on microbial communities reported a decrease in overall species richness and abundance (Kanaan et al., 2018), and some other reported a decrease in soil microbial activity after solarization (Smith et al., 2017). Nonetheless, the Kanaan report showed increased yields in both wheat and eggplant following soil solarization.
Equally this topic becomes more than commonly studied, we will learn more about the longer-term impacts of these practices.
Housam Kanaan, H., Southward. Frenk, Thou. Raviv, Southward. Medina, D. Minz. Long and brusk term effects of solarization on soil microbiome and agricultural production. 2018. Applied Soil Ecology, 124: 54-61.
Smith, Grace, Sonja Birthisel, Eric R. Gallandt. Comparison Solarization & Occultation. 2017. University of Maine.
Reviewed in 2021
Source: https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/solarization-occultation