Does weedmatting work?

Question

I am about to lay down pebbles in my front yard, but have had conflicting advice about the use of weedmatting. What was there previously, under the scoria, proved to be useless.

Answer 1

Yes it does work.
There are two kinds of weed matting.
The first kind is a polypropolene fabric that is used where ground cover plants are to be planted. This matting suppresses the weeds until the plants have covered the desired area and they will then choke out any weed trying to grow. The matting starts to rot after about 3 years.
The second kind is an open weave nylon fabric which allows moisture through but restricts any weeds growing up through it ( rokolene, mypex, terram). This matting can last indefinately but it's the way it's laid is what makes it successful.
The first job should be to remove any vegitation growing there. Lay down your matting and tuck in the edges by any path or border, this prevents weeds from popping up at the edges. Place your pebbles on top. Now this is where people go wrong. Only put enough pebbles down to hide the matting. If the pebbles are too thick then weeds grow in the pebbles. This will also save you money.
Remember that if you intend to plant through it or if there are already plants in the area choose your stone wisely.
If you have acid loving plants then don't use any limestone use granite, slate or flint. 75 Kg of chippings covers approx 2 sq metres. Hope this helps you and good luck.

Answer 2

Hiya. My back yard is entirely laid to gravel over a weed suppressing membrane. Initially I feared that it had failed because there was some weed growth after a few months. After consultation with the manufacturers and closer inspection it turned out that the weeds were growing ON TOP of the membrane were bird mess or such like had provided a medium for weeds to grow in, these were however easily lifted and required no garden tools at all for removal, I simply pulled them gently and put them in the trash. After discovering that some shallow rooting weeds are capable of growing on top of the membrain but realising they are very simple to deal with I have been excepionally pleased with the result of the matting. An ocasional pull up of any rogue weeds is all the maintenance it requires. I would whole heartedly recommend it! I hope this of some help.

Answer 3

Yes, it DOES work. You should weed thoroughly first, flatten & compact the whole area, then lay down the membrane followed by the gravel or pebbles.

It's important to note that you will get a flush of weeds because there are always seeds in the soil. But you will find the weeds have very shallow roots and can be pulled up easily.

I've had the membrane under my gravel path for 5 years, and it's brilliant.

Answer 4

I used something I bought at Walmart about 4 years ago, it's working just fine. I wish I still had some so I could tell you what brand it is. It was about 3 feet wide and had perforations in it to let the water through so it wouldn't pool up on top of the mat. Be sure and use mat pins to hold it down too. You can use pieces of old wire coat hangers instead. I turned all the dirt over first and raked it flat before I put down the weed mat, and overlapped it about 3 inches before pinning it down.

Answer 5

I use Mypex weedmatting and find that is excellent under pebbles. Some has been down for 12 years.

Answer 6

I think it is a waist of time and money. I've used weed barrier and it may help some in the prevention of weeds, but it does nothing for the prevention of grass. This is especially true for Bermuda grass. However, I've found that regular plastic tarp as a barrier works quite well. I built a play yard for my children and when the weed barrier failed, I layed down plastic tarp, punctured holes in it for drainage, and covered it with mulch. No weeds, No grass whatsoever.

Good Luck

Answer 7

before using the matting you have to removed all of the sod in the area .then put down the matting then put your pebbles down(3 to 4 inches deep).the matting works well to prevent weeds and to keep the pebbles from sinking into the ground

Answer 8

I think it will help short term but not in the long term.

as the person above me says the weeds will grow due to poop and all sorts but it wont be so deep rooted

Answer 9

I've used it a couple times and it never seems to do any good.

Answer 10

its very effective at stopping weeds from growing through..but weeds can and do grow on top of it