Soil solarization is a non-chemical environmentally friendly method for controlling pests using solar power to increase the soil temperature to levels at which many soil-borne plant pathogens will be killed or greatly weakened.
Soil solarization is a non-chemical environmentally friendly method for controlling pests using solar power to increase the soil temperature to levels at which many soil-borne plant pathogens will be killed or greatly weakened.
I’ll be doing something similar to my yard this year. The house we bought was neglected for at least 4 years, maybe more. So there are loads of extremely tough weeds all over the yard. We will be placing down tarps to choke any plant life from the sun, then removing them after 5 weeks to start the germination process over on any additional dormant seeds, then back down to choke them again. Will repeat for 1 full season and then sow native prairie seeds to begin establishing. Not quite the same as heating the soil with the tarps, but similar effect for the weeds while keeping good soil biome in place.