Hi Moray – I’d wager that if people tried a cardboard bed versus a mulched bed they’d see that the cardboard isn’t the miracle they are perceiving. don’t let’s get too precious about science or drive wedges between anecdotal evidence and scientific evidence. Use a root barrier to do this. Then I tilled in a yard of compost and now it’s a thriving garden. The price clearly goes up with such controls. I intend to sow seeds of genetically native plants custom blended for my site’s conditions (from a local restoration nursery) in place of my lawn. Having never used any of these materials myself it’s good to have warning from those that have. newly relocated, housebound & isolated at the moment due to vehicle problems, I’m always seeking ways to save money, and, at same time am oh so desperately wanting to simply plant a vegie garden. In either case, if I lay 4″ of mulch over the whole parkway to suppress the goutweed, will it harm the trees? I’m probably sitting at 6” right now. Maybe I leave a mulch-free ring around the base, but if I do that, does it negate the smothering of the goutweed (it’s a rhizome) elsewhere? It is ridiculously difficult to dig up and incredibly invasive. Thank you for letting us know. Voles are voracious pests that eat bulbs, tubers, tree roots, seedlings, and the stems of mature plants. I’m sorry but I have seen soil and growing systems greatly improve following sheet mulching. Deep mulching with coarse organic materials, however, is similar to what one finds in forests and its utility has been borne out in published research. Any scientific paper stating that diffusion rate limits soil health should share some insight into what diffusion rate is necessary. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335224039_Carbon_dioxide_and_oxygen_exchange_at_the_soil-atmosphere_boundary_as_affected_by_various_mulch_materials. We’re past the era of incantations, blood letting and humors. The most popular color? Make a spiral tree wrap from cardboard by cutting it in long lengths, 4 inches wide. The plant's binomial name comes from the Latin zamia, for "pine nut", and furfuracea, meaning "mealy" or "scurfy". Just lay it on top and let it incorporate like nature does. If it makes you nervous to have chips next to the trunk, you can taper it so it looks like a donut. I think most people use the cardboard to try to stop pervasive weeds like quack grass and creeping bellflower. The plants was pale green & just didn’t look healthy. Cardboard Plants. Cardboard Palm (also known as Cardboard Plant and Zamia furfuracea) actually is a cycad instead of a palm, but its fronds resemble palms. So, a few questions on my mind. Responsible educators don’t make recommendations based on anecdotal observations. Water breaks down these components to paper quickly. After seeing your article, I just now attempted to remove it and nothing was there except a few edges of the cardboard. He has a great deal of experience commercially and recreationally. Soil looks great, smells good, etc., which should mean no anaerobic conditions. Keep smiling. Build the garden, and the worms will come! First, cardboard is a generic term that can refer to many types of manufactured paper. From succulents, snake plants and air plants to aloe vera plants, fiddle leaf figs, ZZ plants and monstera plants, we have many house plants, flower plants and indoor plants … The barrier to natural gas exchange and moisture penetration created by layers of cardboard affects not only the troublesome roots of perennial grasses and wildflowers, or the visible soil life, earthworms, insects, arthropods and other soil invertebrates. It also kills plant roots, earthworms, and so on. You are never doing only one thing in gardening (or any act for that matter), so it is very important to think about the short, medium and long term effects of sheet mulching; which by and large have many more advantages than perceived problems. I digress (often) but tonight being a blustery, wild & wet winter’s night (perfect conditions in coming days to lay the board down), typical here on the coast. You can find the article here but it is behind a paywall. https://pubs.extension.wsu.edu/using-arborist-wood-chips-as-a-landscape-mulch-home-garden-series. Testing in the field has limitations (ie. your own Pins on Pinterest The oxygen demand in a natural system is quite high underground – from roots, microbes, and lots of other soil organisms. It is a beautiful sight as the wildflowers surrounding them explode with health and vigor. So once you’ve picked a spot, it’s best to keep it in the same place until harvest time. Cut holes or notches in the cardboard so there is an opening around plant stalks and trunks. Sheet mulched garden beds are ready for planting straight away. You can do this just for the night or for the few days when frost is an issue. None. Thank you Linda for taking the time to explain things, adding extra information and providing great links! Cardboard boxes aren’t a long-term solution for protecting plants from frost, but sure do come in handy in a pinch. In particular, these areas are in the vicinity of your plantings, having your gas interchange exactly where you want it. After plants are dormant (meaning herbaceous plants have died back and woody deciduous plants have dropped their leaves), water them one last time and place the pots in an insulated garage or cool basement. As someone who also struggles with noxious weeds like morning glory and witch grass I would gladly exchange smothered soil for eradicated weeds. Oxygen is THE limting factor as you travel downwards in soil, so anything that slows gas exchange will limit oxygen availability. Here is a graphic comparing diffusion rates of various mulches. i have started a hugel bed it is not ready.so i planted them in cardboard boxes on top of hugel bed. What if you are starting with a weed-infested area? This is anecdotal evidence (as I’m sure you know) and doesn’t compare the method to others that don’t interfere with water and gas movement. Plastic is never organic nor is cardboard board. Between tools, fertilizers, support structures, soil amendments, and pest control, gardening can quickly become a pricey hobby. Another idea for reusing cardboard for the garden is to place pieces of it around plants in areas that are prone to weeds. If you’re short on toilet paper tubes or paper towel rolls, really any cardboard material can be used as a seed starting container. Plus, microbes can go dormant when there’s not enough oxygen. However, the facts remain that cardboard is made to reduce both moisture and gas exchange, and that earthworms (as well as other soil organisms) need oxygen in the root zone. All of these things, by their physical design, will restrict water and air movement. The leaves are long and tend to remain horizontal (especially if grown in shade) with rounded leaflets which are particularly stiff and thick with a furry texture. Home Systems are a hot holiday gift list item. The decomposers hard at work to break down the compost are fueled by carbon for energy and nitrogen for protein. Wood chips will not interfere with drainage. In good lasagna garden designs cardboard should be relatively close to the bottom, which, as I said above will ensure that it breaks down and seeds the layers above and below it with nutrients. You’re wrong. Yes, we have comments turned on for all our posts – but they have to be approved. Amending the soil is never a good idea, as it creates discontinuities, meaning that water, air, and roots won’t move through those textural differences you’ve created. I think your thesis is that using cardboard is detrimental or less preferable than wood chip mulch. I place 2″ of woodchips down, then the cardboard, then a 2″ layer of woodchips so I can’t see the cardboard. All sorts of materials can be repurposed into a potato growing container – including cardboard boxes. You get NO weeds with wood chips if you use a deep enough layer, and they don’t interfere with water and gas movement like sheet mulches do. As you say, it’s behind a paywall but the abstract states, ‘Despite the different diffusion coefficients of the different mulches, CO2 and O2 concentrations in the soil under the various mulches were not significantly different as compared to the control’. Linda, how do you recommend planting plants when planting in deep chips? House plants, trees, flower plants, garden flowers and indoor plants are great for upgrading or accentuating your decor. Cardboard palms are cone-producing bushes with extremely stiff, flat foliage that grows to about 3 feet tall at their highest. I’m hoping you offer some suggestions for how to establish a small prairie yard for our western Washington location. As you hill more soil and mulch around the plants throughout the growing season, you can slip another box over the original to create a growing tower. Assorted vegetable and flower plants in compostable cardboard containers for minimal waste. As there is zero research showing the effect of cardboard as a mulch, and lots of research showing the effectiveness of deep coarse mulches, that’s the only reliable, science-based recommendation that can be made. Sometimes gardeners have to get creative when caught off guard and unprepared for a sudden frost. In areas where it was 1 plant per sq foot I mulched heavily w straw and had minimal weeds. Why would you consider plant and soil sciences less worthy of being guided by good information? The only things using oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide are microbes. Linda, you keep saying that you have a proven scientific study showing the reduction in gas transfer. However, Butt emphasizes that further research is needed before trials and projects can be performed – a greater understanding of the various worm species needs to be pursued first. Just place pieces of cardboard around the plants you want to protect. Anecdotal information is not equivalent to scientifically derived data. So my anecdotal observations are supported through related research, even though the plant material is different. Wood chips are all you need, and their permeability is vastly superior to any sheet mulch. This has worked well when I’ve used it. Cardboard is meant to last – otherwise Amazon would have a tough time shipping things in inclement weather. The soil is clay, only clay, lacking nutrients in it. You don’t want intact branch pieces, which could root. I still appreciated your article. This will allow oxygen and water to reach the plants’ roots. Another method: use cardboard for pathways and layers of newspaper for the garden. But it is just a single layer of cardboard. I’m not the original poster, but I believe the confusion is about the sentence, “Wood chips do not do this.” What is it that they don’t do? Clay is the only component of soil that binds nutrients. From succulents, snake plants and air plants to aloe vera plants, fiddle leaf figs, ZZ plants and monstera plants, we have many house plants, flower plants and indoor plants to make your spaces sing. Leave the remaining grass and weeds in the ground and give the plot a thorough watering. These are anecdotal observations. David’s example of restoration work is a good illustration of the influence of field conditions that are difficult to replicate in a lab. That is probably the issue. I have found this post and thread to be fascinating and informative. Cardboard toilet paper tubes are the perfect size and shape for making little seed starter pots. For instance: Tamás and Bubán found that black polyprop maintained soil moisture the most successfully (this could obviously be a mixed blessing with regard to the gas and moisture movement you are rightly concerned about); Litzow & Pellett found that plastic was among three of the mulches that resulted in the largest percentages of tree growth; and in Siipilehto’s article sheet mulching (not sure what “plane waste” is but the others were plastic fibre and newspaper which may or may not resemble cardboard) was superior for weed suppression and sheet mulched aspen trees were significantly larger than the controls and those given the other treatments. In terms of permeability: To be used effectively, cardboard should be placed over existent plants, like grass or other ‘weeds’ (usually useful wildflowers themselves). She is a firm believer in working with the forces of nature, and not against them, by creating healthy ecosystems within the garden patch. i have been using mostly grass clippings and pine needles and little leaves and wood chips. It is far easier to ask an arborist to drop a mixed load than to gather cardboard, remove staples and tape, and try to layer and overlap it enough to hope against the weeds rat-mazing their way through it. I guess if you really can’t get mulch you might resort to it. (gulp) AND THEN TONIGHT, AN UNUSUAL VISITOR, a single solitary (mole) CRICKET. I don’t have much experience with the cardboard causing problems…. Wood chips do not wash away like bark does. Coparm is leader in to the planning, production and assembly of sorting systems and components for the waste disposal and recycling industry world-wide. That clarified a lot for me. Earthworms are often found under objects that help them stay moist and cool while they find things to pull down into their burrows. Hope it’s not too late for this to help! I do think it is crucial not to overload the area with organic materials, but all I know is that there is a crap ton of worms when I dig around. “Initial barrier – eventually dissolving” You are only measuring the “initial barrier” period of the cardboard sheet, and completely ignoring the exact intrinsic characteristics that make cardboard superior to other methods. The nematodes, protozoa, bacteria and fungi that form the soild food web are even more vulnerable to changes in oxygen and moisture levels than the plants and critters you *can* see. I echo So Cold Design and Photography’s contention regarding your contradictions. 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