Anti-weed lining under gravel?

Frank99

When laying new gravel i have never bothered with these weed stopping membrane linings, are they any good because i have only got one or two weeds coming through my gravel without using and lining.

ohreally

The weeds will grow from airborn seeds landing rather from under soil up.

Davesnave

Depends on the detail I'd think. My BiL has had a caravan pad down for 4 years or more with 20mm gravel on top and 100-150mm of compacted Mot1 under it.


So far, pretty much weed-free in a rural weed paradise.

Frank99

ohreally wrote: »

The weeds will grow from airborn seeds landing rather from under soil up.

Aha never thought of it that way!

Frank99

Davesnave wrote: »

Depends on the detail I'd think. My BiL has had a caravan pad down for 4 years or more with 20mm gravel on top and 100-150mm of compacted Mot1 under it.


So far, pretty much weed-free in a rural weed paradise.

Interesting idea!

Aylesbury_Duck

Our predecessors laid matting underneath a large gravelled area and all that happens is that over a long time, the natural debris (leaves, etc) that falls on the gravel provides a nice base in which the weeds grow.

Beenie

what is compacted Mot1 please?

Davesnave

Beenie wrote: »

what is compacted Mot1 please?

https://www.mainlandaggregates.co.uk/mot-type-1-sub-base.html

Kiran

If you have a weed membrane down the weeds are easier to pull up as they shouldn't be deeply rooted

Davesnave

Kiran wrote: »

If you have a weed membrane down the weeds are easier to pull up as they shouldn't be deeply rooted

And, in theory at least, you can seperate the gravel from the sub-base to clean it after some years. You won't be able to do this with the cheap stuff sold in rolls 1- 2m wide in garden centres/shops though, you need proper Terram type geofabric, probably from a builders' merchant.

Rusty_Shackleton

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

Our predecessors laid matting underneath a large gravelled area and all that happens is that over a long time, the natural debris (leaves, etc) that falls on the gravel provides a nice base in which the weeds grow.

You'll never clear all of the debris, but having just covered an area in pebbles, I'm hoping a lot of the debris can be cleared when the leaf blower comes out in the autumn. Also areas of our garden that have fabric under slate chips have no sign of weeds growing above the fabric - we've been in our house just under 2 years, so it remains to be seen if this was due to some additional actions on the part of the previous owners!

Even with weeds growing in the debris that builds up over time from leaves etc. I would've thought it's still going to be a vast improvement over nothing at all.