Topic: Potatoes through weed membrane?

[princescruffster]

In a bid to combat weeds on my new allotment I have purchased 100 sq.m of weed suppressant.  Can I plant my pototes through this?  Any suggestions as to other crops I could plant through it would also be much appreciated.  I have hand dug the plot and removed as many weeds as possible.  Should I wait until the weeds come up before putting the membrane down?

Thanks
Nicola

[silverbirch]

I've never done it myself, but I've seen it.  You lay the membrane down, then cut an X.  Put the planting hole underneath it.

You don't need to plant as dep as usual, because there is no problem with having to earth up, or stop the spuds going green.

I suppose you could use the same system for other things: sweetcorn springs to mind.

Some seeds, especially the annuals, need light to germinate, so by leaving the membrane off for a while, they should start growing, then die off from lack of light.  If you put it down straight away, they will just lie dormant.

[cambourne7]

In a bid to combat weeds on my new allotment I have purchased 100 sq.m of weed suppressant.  Can I plant my pototes through this?  Any suggestions as to other crops I could plant through it would also be much appreciated.  I have hand dug the plot and removed as many weeds as possible.  Should I wait until the weeds come up before putting the membrane down?

Thanks
Nicola

Hi

Cover it asap!!

I also covered my plot but the membrane started to rot, which type of membrane do you have? The woven one or the non-woven? The woven one will fray so give yourself an extra couple of inches and fold it under. If your using the non-woven stuff then this will disintergrate over time.

You can grow potatoes though the membrane easly but what you need to do is pre-prepare the planting trenches (not high) so that you can cut the X plant the seed potato and then as it grows you can move some soil over it. I failed to do this the first time and when i went to plant the seed potatoes i had to move soil around but not enough so one or two of the spuds worked there way out of the X and go green.

If your going to cover the whole plot, i would strongly suggest that you get some cardboard from the supermarket. Use this double deep under the membrane which will help provide a solid surface and if you cant get your paths covered asap then this will buy you some time.

I built my raised beds over the membrane and then cut he membrane inside the raised bed leaving about 5 inches around the edge to discorage weeds growing under.

Cambourne7

[princescruffster]

I have the woven stuff, 100 grams.  Looks fairly robust.  I thought it was a great idea at the time, but not I'm not sure what to do with it.  Half of me doesn't want to cover my newly dug soil, but I know it will be weed infested come spring.  I have also had a load of manure delivered.  Can I just shovel this on, then cover it with the membrane?
Cambourne, do you put your cardboard directly under the membrane then plant through that as well?  What else do you grow through it?
Thanks
Nicola

[PAULW]

Nicola
You could use it under brassica's lay it down and cut a cross and plant the cabbages through it, I have started using straw as a weed supressant over my potato's this works well and you just dig it in at the end of the season.

[tim]

Maybe I'm stupid, but the weeds under Agralan's weed supressant grew higher than the Dwarf Beans they were protecting.

And surely, potatoes would go green, since the material is permeable??
But Potatoes under black plastic - yes!

[Si D]

The woven one will fray so give yourself an extra couple of inches and fold it under

I just taped up the cut edges with electrical insulating tape on mine - has been down several months and no fraying yet.

[bupster]

The stuff I used was permeable to water but not to light, but I'd still dig a decent hole for the spuds. Other things that do really well are tomatoes and courgettes - if you've already dug over the plot then you could try other veg, but tom and courgette plants are robust enough to be planted through membrane even if the ground is weedy. You will probably get a bit of bindweed but it will soon be overcome by the vigorous veg plants (it did for me at any rate). I held my membrane down (albeit in 8ft by 4ft sections) with staples bent out of sturdy gardening wire, and it was actually very difficult to take it up again!

[cambourne7]

Hi

I used cardboard under the membrane where ever possible as i found that this helped keep the weeds down more than week surpressant alone. I used raised beds to plant into and the membrane was just going to end up as path cover. I topped ( and am still ) with wood chips. Did not stop the weeds growing on the membrane. Where there was no cardboard the weeds grew though but i was using the cheaper non woven stuff.

I only ever grew the spuds though the membrane but you could cut a long stip and sow carrots, parsnips and most other things theoreticaly.

I would recomend the following 3 threads for further reading :)

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,25408.0.html
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,22395.0.html
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,25299.0.html

Cam

[jennym]

Although I'm in danger of being a bit of a wet blanket here, I've got to say what's in my head.
 To be honest I don't see the point of growing potatoes through weed membrane. They put on so much leafy growth, that this suppresses the weeds pretty much anyway. Other crops fine - brassicas, also if you are having a go at monster leeks, maybe strawberries, and definitely around fruit bushes.
But take it and hold it up to the light first - if you can see through it, the weeds will come. If that's the case, use it folded to make a double thickness, or you're wasting your time using it.
Good luck  :)

[real food]

I have been using this method for years with great success. It is very useful where the surrounding plots have weeds that ripen clouds of seeds which blow in the wind over my plot!!
You will find descriptions on how to grow potatoes and other vegetables through porous fabrics, if you go to my web site at http://www.growingyourown.info/page55.html

[Eristic]

Although I'm in danger of being a bit of a wet blanket here, I've got to say what's in my head.

Thank goodness someone has saved me from the task. I will say no more other than that in my belief the practice is expensive, futile, fools only the foolish, creates problems for later,  ...

[louise stella]

Spuds are naturally a good ground breaker and suppress weeds naturally anyway.  So why not save this for somewhere else?  I have some under my fruit bushes - the plan being that in a few years time i'll probably lift it anyway and just mulch heavily.  I cleared the ground really well first and then put it down - but as I knew it would be hard to dig under the bushes once established - I used it under them! |So far so good

But each to their own!

Louise