fiber vs Newspaper

[Romy Beeck]

Why should newspaper be better than fiber under mulch. Another thing is newspaper better with stone on it too?

[Phisherman]

After a few years the plastic fiber stuff breaks into pieces that become a scattered mess. Newspaper breaks down much better. From a recycle standpoint, newspaper is the select choice. No matter what you use, seeds will eventually germinate.

[Warren]

Try this. Hold a piece of typical landscaping fabric up to the sun, and look at it. You can see some light coming through. Not a lot, but you know the sun is up there. Now hold 8 layers of newspaper up. You can't see any light coming through.

Water will take a little longer to penetrate the newspaper than the fabric, but while it's penetrating, it's soaking through, so you can place either over the root zone of trees or shrubs.

But it's that lack of light that will keep most seeds from germinating.

Also, if the layers of mulch on top of the sheets is thin, thin black landscape fabric will contribute to a warming of the soil. 8-layers of mostly white newspaper (a typical page has much less than 20% coverage with ink) will provide more thermal insulation as well, which reduces the number of seeds that would germinate even if there was light, while the landscape fabric will warm the soil sooner in the spring, and keep it warmer into the fall. (Of course if you put enough mulch on top, this difference is less pronounced.

While there can be *some* germination under 8-layers of newspaper, there will be *less* germination than under typical landscape fabric when used under the same conditions.

[Steve]

Hello,

You had some interesting points but I wonder about one of them.

I start my garden seeds in a plastic box, with a lid, on the top of my fridge in the kitchen. They all start growing just fine. Actually a little faster than I'd like.

Sprouts are grown out of the sun. They are placed in the sun before eaten to let the plant product chlorophyll and give them some color.

I was under the impression seeds didn't need sunlight to germate.

Steve My real email address is dealsgalore[A-T]earthlink.net

[MLEBLANCA]

Some seeds do need light* to germinate: begonia, columbine,snapdragon, petunia, impatiens, sweet alyssum are some of them

• (not necessarily direct SUN light)

Emilie NorCal

[Steve]

Thank you very much.

Now if any of my seeds don't germinate, I'll know why. ;-)

Steve My real email address is dealsgalore[A-T]earthlink.net

[Romy Beeck]

No one has still told me about using stone instead of paper. Will the newspaper work under stone as good as newspaper. I don't like mulch as much as stone becouse you have to had more mulch every year. thank you

[Romy Beeck]

good as mulch?

[Pam - gardengal]

Will stones hold the paper down? - yes. Is it as good as mulch? - no. Either way, the paper will tend to supress the development of weeds until it finally breaks down. But newspaper covered with a layer of organic mulch is an excellent way to clear an area of weeds for later planting - you simply just till it all under. Can't do that with stones and when the newspaper does finally break down after a few months, the weeds will be back and they will be harder to remove from the stones than they would from a loose layer of mulch. Adding mulch each season or annually is a GOOD thing, specially if you use a compost - replenishes and continually adds to the organic matter in the soil, helps to conserve soil moisture in summer (something stone does very inefficiently) and is more effective at supressing weeds. Plus, it just looks better, specially when the choice is something like those red lava rocks.

pam - gardengal

[Sunflower]

than mulch. If you persist in adding it to your garden beds, it will migrate outside them into the lawn to dull your lawnmower blade and be slung out the chute to break windows and injure people. It will migrate down into the garden bed soil, even with "plastic" under it, which rips and shreds and makes the soil anerobic and undesirable for plants. It will hinder routine maintanence such as raking out leaves and debris, which will always leave a small amount of organic matter behind that you can't get out and which will eventually provide plenty of sustenance for weeds of all kinds to sprout and thrive in it. Weeds will sprout and grow in just plain gravel, especially if it's not well compacted, like a driveway would be. And, anyone whose ever had a gravel driveway knows that weeds will sprout in well, and the drive will need regrading and new gravel as maintainence. ROCK IS NOT LOW MAINTAINENCE!

Mulch needs to be replenshed annually, but that's a GOOD thing. It breaks down into nutrients which your plants can use to feed from, and it improves the texture of the soil. Application of even a thick initial layer of mulch followed by a topping of preemergent herbicide in early spring will keep the beds mostly weed free all season. And, if you need to fertilize, it's easy to scratch it in under the plants and not worry about disturbing rocks.

If you are one of these people that insists on learning through their own mistakes, then go ahead. You'll be one of the people in the future that is griping about how they can't dig down anywhere in their beds without hitting rocks and asking how to get rid of them. But, smarter people will learn from the mistakes of others and not repeat them for themself.