Are Non‑woven Plant Covers a Good Solution for Dealing with Weeds?

Many amateur gardeners use non-woven crop covers to deal with weeds. Is it actually a good solution? Are non-woven crop covers completely safe for all plants?

Marta Potoczek runs a YouTube channel dedicated to gardening and cooking (Lazy Sunday). Some time ago she shared with her viewers her frank opinion on non-woven crop covers.

When establishing her garden, a woman decided that she would use crop covers. It seemed to her that this was the best way to prevent weeds from growing in the beds. After a few years, she noticed that the weeds did not disappear and kept growing all the time. The nonwoven fabric was no obstacle for them. In addition, the plants began to get fungal diseases.

At some point Marta Potoczek decided to remodel her garden. She wanted to plant a lot of roses, as well as bulbous plants. This was a breakthrough moment. During the arrangement works, she finally looked under the agro-fiber. What she found there left her speechless. It turned out that the roots of the plants did not grow deep into the ground, but lay on the soil, as they grew into the nonwoven fabric and spread horizontally. This is absolutely not a natural phenomenon. Plants should have their root system deep in the ground. This allows them to take up nutrients, even when the topsoil is dry. On the other hand, the fabric confused the plants, which thought that the moisture was right underneath it.

In the end, Marta decided to remove all the nonwoven fabric from her garden. She tore off 5,400 square feet of it. And it was a very good move. Almost 5 years have passed since then and all the plants have revived. They began to grow very quickly and are definitely less prone to fungal diseases.

Many gardening fans confirm that crop covers will not eliminate the need to weed the beds. Weed seeds are everywhere. They swirl in the air and eventually end up on the nonwoven fabric. There they begin to germinate. They are also helped by the layer of sand that accumulates on the nonwoven fabric over the years.