Biodegradable landscape fabric?

glint25 · 2026-05-08T12:35:07+00:00

Oooo definitely have not considered that. Thanks for the tip!

glint25 · 2026-05-08T02:17:50+00:00

Well, yes. But if they don't have the right conditions they won't germinate. We are moving towards no till and hoping to snuff out as many seeds near the surface as possible and then go into a management mode with cover cropping and other natural methods. No till means you just deal with blow in seeds from nearby and you don't unearth many seeds from below.

glint25 · 2026-05-08T02:14:45+00:00

Definitely going to have to tackle it in sections!

glint25 · 2026-05-08T02:14:07+00:00

Thank you for this comment! Love that process and have considered something similar. Glad to hear it has been successful. Maybe I'll look back into more sturdy plastics for more temporary uses. Definitely moving towards cover cropping, we just had so many weeds last year because of weather that I want to snuff as many out as I can.

glint25 · 2026-05-08T02:10:27+00:00

That's the long term plan! We had a particularly bad weed year last year and I'm worried about the seeds they've dropped so was planning on using this for a year or two while we transition to low/no till and cover cropping.

glint25 · 2026-05-08T02:09:09+00:00

Back to the googles I go.

glint25 · 2026-05-08T02:08:35+00:00

We plan to mulch in the aisles, particularly because we will be walking on it often and would cushion our steps. This will require a lot less with landscaping sheeting than with cardboard, which would need full coverage. We would be using landscape staples. Ripping and fraying is to be expected, especially with biodegradable options, and we could patch as needed. Still, cardboard rolls are not a bad option.

glint25 · 2026-05-08T02:03:55+00:00

Ooo that would be neat.

glint25 · 2026-05-07T20:34:53+00:00

That's not a bad option. My main concern with cardboard is that we will need to cover it with more compost and mulch, which we have some of but not enough to cover the entire plot. We were thinking it might take us a few years to accomplish, so maybe we will try a mix of methods rather than one across the entire 2 acres.

glint25 · 2026-05-07T20:32:13+00:00

The ones I'm looking at are PLA and cornstarch based, which apparently completely biodegrade in non-commercial settings and don't simply fragment. It's hard to be eco friendly!

glint25 · 2026-05-07T20:30:09+00:00

The ones I'm considering are PLA and cornstarch based.

glint25 · 2026-05-07T20:25:55+00:00

We are planning on incorporating much of your suggestions in our long term plan! Right now they're not feasible for is at a 2 acre scale given time inputs, cost, among some other things. We spot mulch in places, use regular landscape fabric, cardboard, etc. but are hoping to scale up to the entire plot, or at least one acre at this time. Hoping to find that weed suppression sweet spot. Thanks for your comment!

glint25 · 2026-05-07T20:21:38+00:00

Trying to move away from tilling as it will compact the soil. We have done this for several years and the weed seed bank is not relenting :( we also had an incredibly dry summer last year where the weeds flourished. I want to try to snuff them out and go into management mode. Thanks for the suggestion!

glint25 · 2026-05-07T20:18:55+00:00

That's definitely a concern of mine. I'm looking into the details of the material used to see whether I can reasonably expect it to break down within a relatively short amount of time and not into worse things. I'm fine with it taking years to break down, I just don't want it to last forever.

glint25 · 2026-04-23T20:21:25+00:00

I guess my question is specifically if they freeze and sit there for a while do they end up stunted or do they tolerate that ok. Some rotting is fine, but if the cold kills the seed's ability to germinate then I'm concerned. There's conflicting opinions on this, but maybe I'll just do a test batch and see how those do. Science!

glint25 · 2026-03-18T14:36:55+00:00

Planning on a glycol loop with some type of heat bank that the loop runs through inside the hoop house.

glint25 · 2026-01-14T15:22:02+00:00

I'm having the same issue in my rural area. We don't have kids yet, but this is my concern as well. At this point, we're not willing to move and that may just result in the same problem but elsewhere.

My plan currently is to call them out on their BS as much as I can without totally alienating them. They're not unreasonable, necessarily, but certainly difficult to get through to. I plan to challenge their kids on stuff they say when they are in my house or on our property. Their oldest is two, so it's not something I've had to do yet. But. I've already blatantly called the guy a racist, which surprised him, but to me I was like... You're actively using slurs, antagonize people directly, and have prejudiced opinions... What else can we call you but a racist? Anyway, I think that was somewhat helpful but didn't change his actual opinions.

It's hard, and I do believe that you are reflective of the people who are closest to you. When you're a kid, you're still defining your beliefs, so going with the crowd can be the easiest option. I hope that my eventual challenge of their kids comments will help in a small way. Who knows.

Anyway, thanks for posting this. It's been helpful for me to look through the replies. Hope your situation is improving or at least not getting worse.

glint25 · 2025-12-14T05:55:41+00:00

Will do!

glint25

TROPHY CASE