The habits of home gardeners develop mostly by trial and error influenced by old wives’ tales. Too often, there isn’t any science available to confirm or deny the value of a gardening practice, since most scientific studies are focused on commercial agricultural practices that don’t necessarily scale to the home gardener.
Solarization Works
Now there is new science that validates one old-fashioned, chemical-free weed suppression method. Soil solarization is not a new weed control practice for organic gardeners, who have practiced “tarping” for years, especially in hot climates. But Dr. Sonja Birthisel studied it as part of her postdoctoral research in 2018, confirming that mulching prepared beds with plastic for several weeks prior to planting can decrease weed pressure in the subsequent crop — even in cooler climates like the American Northeast.
What Is Solarization?
For scientific purposes, solarization refers to covering the soil with clear plastic. Tarping refers to the use of black plastic, which, perhaps counterintuitively, is less effective in suppressing weeds. Both practices can raise soil temperatures enough to kill dormant weed seeds. Even at lower temperatures, research found a weed-suppressing effect. It’s possible that the warmer temperatures encourage “suicidal germination” whereby seeds germinate but fail to grow under the plastic.
How to Solarize Your Soil
Solarization is most effective on moist soil, which conducts heat better. Moist seeds are also more susceptible to heat. You can increase effectiveness by using two layers of clear plastic or a layer of clear plastic over black. The optimal combination of plastic sheets and length of time under plastic may depend on your local climate. But the plastic should be applied after the bed is prepared for planting and should be left on for several weeks. This means it should be done after the soils first thaw, but before the average last frost date. Alternatively, you could prepare the bed in the fall and solarize through the entire winter.
But Plastic Is Bad
This news raises a quandary for those who are trying to reduce their use of plastic. Gardeners with the time and ability may choose more labor-intensive natural ways to kill weeds rather than purchase sheets of polyethylene that will probably not be recyclable when they are no longer usable. But for those facing persistent perennial weeds or transforming a neglected lawn into a new garden bed, the alternative to soil solarization may be chemical solutions. For them, there are ways to minimize the impact of solarization plastic.
It may be possible to obtain used greenhouse plastic. If that is not an option, purchase thick plastic sheeting instead of films. Gardeners can remove thicker plastics before planting and reuse them for many years. If you can recycle plastic in your community, do so. Otherwise, dispose of plastic sheeting properly once it becomes brittle and pieces start to break off. It may be galling to send big pieces of plastic to the landfill, but it’s better than leaving degrading plastic outside to shed microplastics into waterways.
This article was originally published on March 12, 2019.