mipex

[ACE]

I've just got back from having a good digging morning at the lottie. My neighbour was planting onions and garlic. He has a few mobility problems so he uses raised beds covered with mipex weed suppressing fabric so he can keep his plot easy to tend. He had a tin can with a handle on it that looked like a bell. He heated the can with his little gas burner and cut neat holes in the fabric which also sealed the edges of the fabric stopping them fraying. I've been all these years of cutting a cross with a Stanley knife  and folding the edges back, I hate to think of all the time wasted. If anybody here needs holes in their fabric use the tin can method it looks so easy.

[ACE]

[hippydave]

Thats a bloody good idea, I use it alot on make overs and have always made a cross but the strands always start to come apart so i will give this method a go.

[Plot 18]

I use a soldering iron, cheap on ebay, to make the holes in mine.

Of course I have to make the holes in the garden, obviously no electric on the plot ;)

[InfraDig]

I have just been doing this for my strawberry plants. I did have a bit of problem with getting the tin hot enough at first, no handle!! I eventually found that a nice sharp edge on the tin combined with heat worked a treat. I did run the blowtorch round the edge of the hole afterwards to stop fraying.
I like the soldering iron idea!

[Digeroo]

This sounds good planted out some strawberries without black plastic and now they are having to cope with the weeds.  Presume I could use a small bonfire to do the heating.

[DrJohnH]

I came across this article a while back which offers an ingenious solution to burning a lot of holes:

https://organicgrowersschool.org/461/ask-tom-burning-landscape-fabric/

The use of the vice (mole) grips gizmo and a few rings in the fire so there's always hot ones seemed like a good idea.  I suppose you could also use something flat (like an old kitchen knife or several to always have a hot one) in order to cut up sections of fabric, though they might be harder to pick up while hot than the rings of pipe.

Also, try not to breathe the fumes, but that would be easier if the rebar "handle" was long enough.

[InfraDig]

A good link! Thanks. I have also been looking at The Urban Farmer Curtis Stone. They just use a flat wooden former and just burn through the holes. I guess it means the fabric has to be flat, but it looks as if it works.

[johhnyco15]

you can buy gas powered soldering irons they do the job very well

[DrJohnH]

A good link! Thanks. I have also been looking at The Urban Farmer Curtis Stone. They just use a flat wooden former and just burn through the holes. I guess it means the fabric has to be flat, but it looks as if it works.

Interesting... http://theurbanfarmer.co/weed-free-beds-using-landscape-fabric/

[InfraDig]

I am now searching for the clip where they use a multihole wooden former!! It's there somewhere!

[InfraDig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFytZs38BqM