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Membrane will be pointless, marestail will grow straight through tarmac and concrete.
It is also nigh on impossible to eridicate - customer request is impossible if they want it gone.
It will grow through whatever you put there - my advice - explain your reasons but decline the job.
It needs treating with Diamond or kurtail gold with an adjuvant but it needs regularly treating and can still take years to get rid of. As said membrane is useless, I dug some out and went 3ft deep and I was still chasing roots and 6 weeks later it was back. I'm afraid it's a war of attrition with the stuff.
A programme of spraying would work. But the timeline is years before it could be turfed.
I'm in agreement with all the other replies - membrane useless this stuff comes through concrete like it isn't there, only solution is probably 2 to 3 years spraying with products mentioned until you are confident it is eradicated, but don't hold your breath ! Don't give any guarantees and probably be best to walk away.
If it's going to be turfed don't worry about it.
be honest, tell them they've got it for the long term. In my mind having it in a lawn is the best of a bad job. Just cut it down each week and don't worry about it
Chris, I agree with the other guys. Don't bother with the membrane. Mowing it down in the lawn weekly is your best bet, but make sure you explain this to the client. Don't let them talk you into anything you're not sure about as it will come back and bite you.
Avoid membrane, I see far to many ground workers laying Terram, then topsoil and turf, only to end up with waterlogged, stagnant ground. Does my head in!
If the area is being turfed then mowing will keep on top of new growth. As others have said, likely to be living with it for years ahead.
I would agree with points made here and say that a lawn maybe the least damaging place for this unwelcome weed. I have treated it for many years for my friend where it came through the decking, patio and conservatory floor. It just takes years.
another vote for avoiding membrane. We had a small area to returf last year -- it was very dry last summer and we resisted (an elderly couple and a difficult place for them to water). Anyway within a week or two bindweed and ground elder appeared all over the area... we then discovered as we double dug the area to get the roots out by hand (this is after giving it a good spray of Roundup Provantage), there had been large shrubs there, the roots were still in the ground!. Anyway to cut a long story short we kept on delaying laying the turf until late last autumn... but kept on every fortnight spot spraying/digging out every sprout of weed. It is now a perfectly good piece of lawn, no bindweed or ground elder in sight (Fingers crossed :) ) . I suggest doing the same... get rid of the mares tail - when you are completely sure it has gone, lay the turf.
I have many customers who have the dreaded marestail. RHS suggest the only way to keep down is to deplete the plants energy reserve by cutting or hoeing regulary, sadly this takes a couple of years. Most customers were ok with it in their lawns as it ws cut regularly. It was in borders where it had chance to grow bigger and send some energy reserves into the rhyzome. Kurtail used to fettle that problem with just a couple of treatments. Sadly Kurtail isn't available now but ProGreen do a pretty good selective weedkiller which has done a pretty good job on lawns that I cut. Give them a call they are very knowledgable.