question about new trees

[Brett Hartwig]

so, I have 6 new 20ft trees in my yard. I put mulch all around them to retain the water, but now the weeds are really starting to come up through the mulch. If I spray roundup or some other weed killer all over the mulch, will that eventually seem down to the tree roots and hurt the trees?

 

[Richard L]

Yes, it will gradually seep down to the tree roots. How much harm it will do the trees is hard to say.



I use roundup to kill the weeks and grass growing around an 8-10 foot Youpon Holly (tree form) several times and it died after a few years...??



The recommendation I have is to remove the mulch, dig out all the weeds, put down a weed barrier landscape cloth, and then reapply the mulch...and put a thicker layer of mulch.



I also found that putting down a Pre-emerging Weed and Feed (like Scott's Weed & Feed lawn fertilizer) on your lawn and around your shrubs and trees will prevent weed seeds from germinating without harming the trees or shrubs...they just soak up the nitrogen and other nutrients. I assume you could probably just buy the pre-emergence weed killer separately and just apply that around the tree rings after you have dug out the old weeds and remulched.



....Rich

 

[Norm Reeves]

Pull the weeds and increase the depth of the mulch to 4"......:grin:

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Thicker mulch will cut down the problem of weeds from below, but make sure not to put the mulch deep and thick up against the trunk.



Also, when you lay down fresh mulch cover liberally with Preen, and that will help to prevent weeds that start on the surface.



TJR

 

[Robert Caffyn]

NO mulch "volcano's" around the trees!! Rich hit right on it. Remove mulch, landscape fabric and re-mulch. Get the mulch that's in a bag, I believe you'll have less weed problems that way. But PLEASE don't apply ANY weed killer. At the worst, you'll just have to pull weeds more often. Happy diggin', Bob

 

[Norm Reeves]

Received this article in my email today.....might be of interest to you.