Weeds can practically pop up anywhere in your garden, through concrete and rocks, and even in sand!
They can feel unstoppable, but there is a way to keep weeds from growing in sand.
How Do Weeds Grow In Sand?
There are a few reasons why weeds are able to grow in sand, even if your regular garden plants won’t.
Plenty of Sunlight
Where can you find sand?
Usually by large bodies of water and what do you typically not find near a large body of water? Shade.
Sand is usually in full sunshine all day long.
Weeds love sand because they can spread out however far they want but most houseplants do not require that much sun.
Lack of Nutrition
Sand really doesn’t offer much nutrition and there isn’t an easy way to add more.
Weeds may be able to take advantage of very little available nutrition, plants in the house generally can’t.
Most houseplants need a nutrient-rich blend of soil with a balanced microbiome system.
Unstable Ground
When you’re take a walk at the beach you’ve probably figured out that it can be difficult because the sand moves with your feet.
When you’re walking through a field, the soil is not moving like that, because it provides support.
The difference has to do with the size of the particles. Sand particles are larger than soil particles.
They do not bind together very well, therefore it becomes difficult for plant roots to attach.
“Growing like a weed”, is a commonly used expression when you talk about how fast a child seems to grow, but it is true that weeds do grow at an alarming rate.
And not just up, weed roots grow just as fast downward which anchors them, even the in the most unstable of sands.
How To Stop Weeds From Growing In Sand
There’s good news!
There are ways to stop weeds from growing in sand, and ways to prevent it.
Products You Have At Home
You probably already have two items at home to assist in killing weeds; vinegar and salt.
The acid in vinegar moves down through the sand and burns the roots so weeds can’t grow back.
Salt kills plants through osmosis.
When the salt concentration in the sand is greater than that in the plant, the salt then draws the water from the plant.
You can add salt either directly to the sand or mix it with some water then spray onto the whole plant.
Caution! If you live on a beach close to the ocean, salt won’t be effective in killing the weeds. Those weeds are accustomed to high salt levels!
Herbicides
There are many different types of herbicides and they tend to work in a variety of ways. Some herbicides kill plants by interrupting photosynthesis. Others will disrupt the plant’s cell membranes and kill the plant that way.
No matter the herbicide you use, the results are pretty consistent. No more weeds.
You really don’t want to use herbicides in sandy areas where children or pets might play, because those kids or pets could become sick from the excess herbicides in their systems.
Even when spraying for weeds nearby, don’t use herbicides on or near areas to your garden.
You might not be spraying the garden, but the herbicides will spread through the ground and kill the plants affected by the herbicides nearby.
Weed Barriers
A weed barrier is a type of fabric that’s designed to be strong enough to impeded weeds from growing through it while still allowing water to flow through it.
The majority of people install this in their garden underneath a layer of mulch and cut holes where their existing plants are or where they plan to plant after the weed barrier is installed.
Experience- If you are doing this over sandy ground you can choose to put the weed barrier with mulch or you can put bricks, gravel or any other heavy materials on top to weigh it down.
Just don’t us anything organic to weigh the barrier down or you will be putting nutrients to the sand that will encourage the growth of weeds.
Mulch
Mulch is a layer of material that is placed on the soil’s surface that helps with water retention, temperature moderation, and weed suppression.
Mulch suppresses weeds by blocking their access to sunlight.
This stops germination of any future seeds and grows weed from the seed stage of growth.
If you are dealing with a weedy plant that is already growing, and you cannot cover the whole plant with mulch, you may need to remove it first, or kill the roots another way.
Solarization
If you’re thinking about using a method that doesn’t involve chemicals or a permanent structural thing to kill the seeds in the sandy area, then this option of polarization may work best for you.
Now, solarization takes a couple perfect summer days to complete the job. It needs to be hot, and it needs to be sunny, preferably scorching hot and blah, blah, you get the idea.
So, after you looked at the weather and are confident there will be a fair amount of sun, steps to perform are:
- loosen the sand by raking or shoveling it.
- so then you saturate the area with water.
- you cover the area with clear plastic sheeting. If the area is small and reasonably-sized enough, the cheapest method is to buy a clear shower curtain that can be used for this purpose.
- you weight down the plastic sheeting and seal the edges completely.
- once you have weighted down the plastic sheeting, you can leave it for up to two months, but visit the area often checking for holes. As holes appear through constant maintenance, repair them as they appear using packing tape.
that watering you did in step 2, was to encourage seed germination, yah, I call that a counter-intuitive move on my part.
But shortly after they germinate, they are going to be hitting the ground so hot, it is helped by the plastic sheeting, very similar to a greenhouse.
The heat is going to destroy whatever seeds pop and get rid of whatever weeds you had in your soil.
No chemicals, and only a semi-permanent plastic sheeting that really isn’t going to be effective as the weeds steaming (ha-ha).
Pull Them Out
If you spot a weed growing in sand, simply pull it out.
You can pull most weeds out of sand pretty easily, as the roots can’t grow into sand like they can into soil. Once you pull it, the weed should come out.
For dandelions, you might need a weed removal tool. Dandelion roots grow fast and very deep, and very strong.
Final Thoughts
Weeds can be annoying, but they can be removed.
There are many methods that can be utilized to remove weeds from sand and keep them from coming back.
The main point of all of the methods is persistence. Getting all the weeds out might take some time, but you’ll eventually have your beach (or sandbox) however you want it.