Atlanta-based arborist Christie Bryant (@speakingfortrees) warned TikTok followers about a common landscaping mistake after encountering a dying oak tree.
@speakingfortrees Weed fabric kills trees. It block water and nutrients from plants. It should have a warning label! #savetrees #lovetrees #gardenmistake #badstuff #landscape #garden #learn #gardening #dead #arborist #treecompany #treeclimber ♬ original sound - Speaking for the Trees
"I was so excited when I walked into this fence and I saw this wonderful, lovely layer of mulch," Bryant began.
"This is exactly how I want y'all to take care of your trees, but they did a fatal thing," she continued. "They laid down weed fabric before they laid down the mulch. … This tree has been suffering from drought stress."
Landscape fabric, typically made from plastics like polyester or polypropylene, is often marketed as a way to suppress weeds. Unfortunately, landscaping fabric is one of the worst approaches to weed control, one that causes more problems than it solves.
Initially, the plastic barrier might appear to prevent weed growth, but it quickly becomes a huge problem. Weeds get enmeshed with it, making it difficult to remove without damaging the fabric.
Inevitably, the layer degrades into tiny pieces, and removal can take days. Landscape fabric is also suffocating, decreasing soil quality, and killing beneficial insects like worms and beetles.
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To avoid the many drawbacks of landscaping fabric, choose an eco-friendly alternative like cardboard, newspaper, burlap, or woodchips. These materials are relatively inexpensive or virtually free, naturally break down over time, and can even enrich the soil with nutrients.
Upgrading to a natural lawn is another fantastic, albeit longer-term solution — native plants are inherently more suited to local ecosystems, making weeds less likely to take root.
Commenters warned their fellow gardeners to avoid landscape fabric, saving themselves the future headache of removing it.
"I wish everyone could see this," one user remarked.
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Mowing the lawn 🏡 "Same thing at our house from the previous owners," another commenter said. "No water was getting to my huge chestnut tree."
"I spent a whole week removing that crap, it was installed by the previous owner," a third user wrote. "The soil, when I removed it, looked freaking dead underneath, finally it's back to natural."
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