Future SprogNov 4

They’ve arrived! The felted sheep dag wool mats are here.

These are the professionally made ones. Looks like they’re using a needle felter to make it, and then die cut the slot and center. Magic! I sniffed the box and confirmed that it’s genuine daggy sheep wool. Wow

I’ve installed a few. Put one on the kōwhai that’s been having perpetual problems with grass as it doesn’t shade the ground, a standalone Pittosporum (korakia or Gentii or something), and my little Rimu I which recently composted.

Show threadEuan Mason
@futuresprog #Weed suppression #mats can have a deleterious effect when compared the other weed control options on dry sites because they intercept #rainfall and reduce water infiltration. We tried them in a designed experiment in Canterbury. #forestry
Nov 9 at 6:53pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadFuture SprogNov 10

That is interesting! Do you have more details on that research?

You may have seen another of my toots showing water pooling on top of a wool mat. If the stem is at the lowest point then water seems to get in fine but all the weeds don’t mind poking their heads out and growing like mad.

@TreeStarMan

Show threadEuan MasonNov 10
@futuresprog The first paper is here: Mason, E.G., Interactions between influences of genotype and grass competition on growth and wood stiffness of juvenile radiata pine in a summer-dry environment, Canadian Journal of Forest Research 36 (10): 2454-2463, 2006
Show threadEuan MasonNov 10
@futuresprog Here's a Figure from the paper, showing time gained (for equivalent yields) due to weed control compared to no weed control at all (x-axis). Numbers next to treatments are the clear area in m^2 around the base of each tree for the first 1.5 years.
Show threadFuture SprogNov 10

Thank you. That is a very interesting paper. I liked the note that broom and mats are morphologically different.

Definitely depending on installation the mats could move water away from the trunk, or funnel it to the trunk.

It sounds like both the sites were sloped. My garden I’m attempting to keep weed free is mostly flat.

I can see that from today’s rain the mats have moisture on them that would have fallen on the ground.

@TreeStarMan

Show threadEuan MasonNov 10
@futuresprog Sloping mats is an interesting idea. We used pegs to secure ours. I set a world record for mat placement with pegs :). The cost of mats was far higher than the cost of herbicide spray. For a start, simply carrying the mats for hundreds of trees was a major task, and the mats cost far more to purchase than herbicide. Then there’s a large time difference between a spot spray that takes just a few seconds and placing & pegging a mat.
Show threadFuture SprogNov 10

Is that the record for most pegs in a single mat or most mats pegged in a day?

Yeah, they’re more labour intensive initially than spraying, so I can see why spray would be preferred. Did they require much work in years 2 & 3?

@TreeStarMan

Show threadEuan MasonNov 11
@futuresprog Most mats in a day. :)They didn’t require much maintenance, and weed control lasted longer than with a residual herbicide mix but nevertheless the overall benefit was lower than with a more temporary herbicide spot.
Show threadEuan MasonNov 11
@futuresprog The Ahuriri experiment is still there, aged 28, and we have remeasured it periodically. The response to weed control was temporary, as you might expect, and the time gain with 2 m diameter spots didn’t become much higher than 3 years. I must publish the long-term measurements before I die.
Show threadEuan MasonNov 11
@futuresprog That growth gain from weed control at Ahuriri is the highest I’ve ever seen in a radiata pine experiment. The prime effect of weeds at that site was on the water cycle. In Kaingaroa, where weeds compete primarily for light, gains of about 1 year have been recorded, with the exception that on flat, frosty sites weed control ensures survival and lack of weed control means the trees mostly die.