polythene plan- less weeding?

I grow a lot of carrots and was unable to keep up with the weeding at the start of the season this year so, here's the plan, clear the ground and cover it with black polythene. Hoped for result, longer germinating season for weeds, ie now, and then again in late march, april, but the polythene will block the light killing them off.
1. Will it work?
2. By taking the covering off for a period in early april, stirring up the soil and watering, will I promote more germination before covering them again and killing off again?
3. Will the polythene promote earlier weed germination, how much earlier?
4. any other suggestions?

ta

 

Roy if you want to do something like that, use weedfibre not polythene. By using polythene you are not just preventing light from getting through, but also air and water. Causing more harm than good.:thumb:

 

Hi Dai, is it the killing off of worms thats the problem with polythene? There are holes in the polythene, which I've covered with offcuts of wood, the holes will let water in, and I cant see the seal around the edge being airtight.
thanks

 

Polythene and fibre harbours loads of slugs too.

Once the seed has germinated a good mulch of fairly fine compost will help keep the weeds down.

 

I'm in agreement with Dai regarding using polythene in that way.
Here's a couple of suggestion -
1. Instead of sowing the carrots in drills and then having to thin and weed, dibble holes every 4 or 5 inches or so, fill the holes with sieved compost and soil and sow a pinch of 3 seeds. You can then remove the weakest two seedlings and let the remaining one grow into a nice straight carrot. Weeding will be a lor easier too.

2. For next to no weeds and no weeding, lay weed fibre and makes holes in it again about 4 or 5 inches apart and sow your seed as above. I grow my leeks using this method and it works very well. The best way to make nice round holes in weed fibre (or polythene) is to heat a metal tube (I use a bit of scaffold tube) with a gas blow lamp and burn the holes. This way you reduce the chances of the fibre or polythene ripping.

 

I used weed membrane on my allotment and it works well. I got rid of twitch, and bind weed. Water does get through this black weed membrane.

 

The solution is regular hoeing, nothing more.

However if you want to reduce the number of germinating weeds then use the stale seedbed method either flaming off the weed sedlings or spraying with roundup. Weed mebrane will harbour slugs etc

 

No doubt at all that hoeing between rows works - though no so well during wet summers, but hoeing between closely space veg such as carrots, leeks or beetroot isn't so easy. I've been using membrane for several years and have had no apparent increase in slug damage. In fact since I replanted my strawberry bed through membrane I've certainly had much less slug damage.
I also use a flame gun on the veg beds just before planting or sowing and again after the beds are cleared in late autumn - just great for incinerating any seeds close to the surface.
Using membrane has saved me days weeding every year and I reckon that it has also helped reduce year by year the overall weed population in the garden.