swmasson
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Cherry Laurel after big freeze (and weeds) help…

Hi everyone,
I’m in Houston, TX, our privacy hedge was 15’ tall before the big freeze we had back in February, it’s starting to grow back and think we’ve determined it was a cherry laurel hedge consisting of 20. We had to cut it all down to the base and it started to grow again… I currently have weed blocker and mulch that’s been there for over a year, the weed blocker is obviously not working…

I’m planning on removing most of the weeds, spraying weed killer and laying new blocker…

So many different types of weeds and plants have come out of nowhere, including tomato plants…

Does anyone have any advice on what the best approach would be?

Thanks
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Location: Amherst, MA USDA Zone 5a

There are two ways to go about it. The first way uses a clear plastic tarp and takes about two weeks. The second one uses a not-clear tarp and takes about four weeks.

The idea is that you want to create an artificial greenhouse that, with that causes the pre-existing weed seeds to sprout. The tarp blocks water from getting to the sprouts and the combination of the sun, heat and lack of water kills everything under the tarp.


1. Pull out as much of the plants you want to get rid of or mow it all down.

2. Then till the soil to aerate it.

3. Water the soil a lot. This is to help all the weed seeds to sprout so that you can kill them. You want that water to get down deep, so give it a good hard watering so that the soil is moist about a foot or so deep.

4.a Lay a clear plastic tarp over it and leave it like that for about two to three weeks if you do this in the summer under a lot of sun. The sun is very important.

4.b Lay a regular tarp over the area and leave it for four weeks or longer, depending on how much heat you're getting.

A key to this working is to not let any water get to it. You can use bricks or stones to keep the tarp down.

I used this method successfully for a raised bed that was full of weeds when I moved into my current house. Cardboard works, too.

odSteve
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Joined: Mon May 31, 2021 12:35 am

An old post, but thought I'd throw in my .02 - what I've done in similar situations was to first mow it down, then put a layer of wet newspapers down to smother the grass and anything under it. Then a thin layer of wood bark chips from the local nursery to hold the newspaper in place. By the time the newspaper decomposes any grass or weed seeds under it will be smothered and long dead from lack of sunlight, but the newspaper will still allow the soil to breathe so it won't kill the bushes. And the wood bark will make it look great. I think the newspaper will be easier to work with, and it can be put on dry then wet it with a watering hose before spreading the wood bark chips on top.
For me the layer of newspaper usually lasts about two years. The only time I've used a plastic tarp is when I had a big tree stump in my backyard. Seemed like there was nothing I could do to kill it. The stump kept sending up new growth all around its base faster than I could make time to keep hacking it down. I finally just covered it with a black tarp. It took the entire summer and part of the following year before the stump was completely dead.



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