Using newspapers for mulch/weed control ?

I've seen references to spreading a couple pages of old newspaper out as ground cover for weed control. I have my doubts about how rain water seeps thru the paper. Is it fast enough ?

If I punched holes with a pitchfork it seems to me that the paper would shred and blow away.

Any experience ?

Thanks

Reply to
Al Dykes
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g'day al,

i use newspaper on the ground when i make a new raised bed but i use more than a couple of pages as i want to ensure that the grass underneath dies out, i use between 20 and 40 pages thick at least, i also wet it down as i lay it this is to hold it in the wind and to give it a kick start with moisture saturation. where i live it all rots away fairly quickly and the worms will eat through it any way, they seem show a particular preference for anything with colour in it.

len

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Reply to
len gardener

I've read that colored inks can have trace amounts of heavy metals in them and should not be used in compost....

I'm just being a parrot here, I have no confirmation if the above is true...

Reply to
Scott Taylor

You should only use the newsprint part of the paper anyway, not anything printed in color like advertisements, flyers, etc.

Reply to
McQualude

g'day scott,

i contacted an ink manufacturer over here and they told me that any inks made here use vegetable colours as they can get as bright a red or yellow etc.,. that they want that way. also i was told that even if you had a full page of solid colour the weight of the ink is less than

2% the total weight of the paper and ink combined. anyway as i observed the worms seem to go for the coloured stuff before the other.

len

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Reply to
len gardener

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