Keeping the weeds down around new plantings of bamboo

[tkenneyjr]

Hello,

I've just put a moso and a green vivax into the ground, both with some room to spread. I was wondering what type of material I could lay down under mulch that would still allow rhizomes to poke through, but not weeds. I've got some cardboard and some heavy woven (plastic) ground cloth handy but don't know if either of these would work for me.

Thanks!
Tom Kenney

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Tom,
My favorite method is using newspaper, applied in whole sections (multiple pages) overlapping each other, and then applying 3-4+ inches of mulch on top of this.
I've always had a ready source of shredded wood bark mulch for this purpose.
It's best to lay out the paper progressively in a large enough area to drop some mulch on it without getting it underneath the layers of paper.
There's an 'art' to doing this well ... harder to do on a windy day.
After doing it I like to wet down the applied mulch with a hose which helps it "stick" to the paper and not slip around.

I've also used cardboard but it takes longer to break down.
I would only use it in areas with no anticipated plant growth for a couple years.

I would avoid using synthetic weed barriers except in areas of the garden where it could be lifted up and removed after a season of weed suppression.
Bamboo rhizomes will intertwine right through this stuff and it will be very difficult to remove later on.

Mark

[tkenneyjr]

Hello Mark,

Thanks so much for the advice. I might have gone ahead and used the ground cloth, which sounds like it could be quite a pain down the road. I'll use newspaper like you suggested.

Cheers,
Tom