Earthtainer Landscape Fabric Question

[foxriverdan]

I am building Ray's Earthtainers this year and I went to Lowe's today to get landscape fabric. Ray's specifications call for a double layer of "a premium quality product such as DuPont's 15 year landscape fabric". I would get the DuPont material, but I can't find it online or in any of my local stores. At Lowe's they had Sta-Green Premium fabric (which has a 15 year warranty) for 14.98 for a 3' by 50' roll, and Sta-Green Ultimate fabric (which has a lifetime warranty) for 19.98 for a 3' by 50' roll. I bought the Ultimate version, which is significantly thicker than the Premium version.

When I look at Lowe's website, I can see both versions, but they apparently made a mistake and both are listed as "Sta-Green Premium Landscape Fabric". The one priced at 19.98 has a Model# of LLF35OUL, and that matches the model number on the Ultimate roll that I bought.

The Ultimate package says that it "Allows air and water penetration". The online description for the Premium roll priced at 14.98 says "Excellent air and water flow". The Ultimate package also mentions "Dual-layer technology for weed prevention", whereas there is no mention of this in the 14.98 roll description, which accounts for the fact that the Ultimate material is thicker than the Premium material.

My question is, is the Ultimate fabric that I bought overkill? Is a double layer of this dual-layer material going to be too much of a barrier for the water to wick through? If the Premium material is preferable for Earthtainers, it would be no problem for me to return the Ultimate material and get the Premium material instead.


Thanks!
Dan

[rnewste]

Dan,

I would use the Sta-Green Premium material. It needs to be able to allow flow of moisture through it, but tough enough to block plant roots from penetrating down into the water reservoir. You just never want to use a cloth-based "fabric" which the roots would just laugh at on their way driving down into the reservoir.

Raybo

[foxriverdan]

Thanks Ray! I will return the Ultimate fabric tomorrow and get a roll of Premium fabric.

I am having a tough time finding the steel tube to make the bends in my Burpee pea and cucumber fences. Do you know of a source on Amazon or anywhere else that would have this? The closest I have come is this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XN8IZO/...=I2PX6ZX87R9NX

"Stainless Steel 304L Seamless Round Tubing, 1/4" OD, 0.18" ID, 0.035 wall, 12" Length"

Will this do?

And I just want to say thank you for providing your awesome Earthtainer III Guide online. I am building at least twelve of them and I am trying to follow your instructions to a "T". I even built a pegboard template with a rectangular frame of 1 by 2s that fits snugly over the bottom of a 31-gallon Rugged Tote to guide me as I drill the aeration holes and the pilot holes for the 2" and 3-5/8" hole saws that I am quite proud of!

Best Regards,
Dan

[rnewste]

Dan,

It looks like this tube should work fine. Good job on the Aeration Bench drilling.

Raybo

[Worth1]

I just looked at the tubing to see if it is annealed and is is.
They sell it both ways.
You want the annealed so you can bend it.

Worth

[foxriverdan]

Thank you Ray! I will order that tube today.

Dan

[foxriverdan]

Hi Worth,

Thank you! That is a fine point that I was not aware of, but I am confused. I looked up "Annealing" on Wiki and it says:

"Annealing, in metallurgy and materials science, is a heat treatment that alters the physical and sometimes chemical properties of a material to increase its ductility and reduce its hardness, making it more workable."

Don't I want the steel tube to be as hard as possible so that it doesn't lose its shape when I am using it as a tool to make the bends in the metal fence? Perhaps I don't understand the effects of annealing on steel.

Best Regards,
Dan

[Worth1]

I thought you were going to bend the tubing.
What are you doing with it?
Don't let me complicate things.
Worth

[foxriverdan]

No problem Worth, I learned a new word today! I am using the steel tube as a tool to make the bends in the legs of the Burpee pea and cucumber fences so they will clamp onto the tops of the Rugged Totes per Ray's Earthtainer III instructions. We'll see how the annealed steel tube holds up to making 12 fences x 12 legs per fence x 3 bends per leg = 432 bends!

Dan

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by foxriverdan

No problem Worth, I learned a new word today! I am using the steel tube as a tool to make the bends in the legs of the Burpee pea and cucumber fences so they will clamp onto the tops of the Rugged Totes per Ray's Earthtainer III instructions. We'll see how the annealed steel tube holds up to making 12 fences x 12 legs per fence x 3 bends per leg = 432 bends!

Dan

Oh it will be fine for that.


Worth