BLANKETING THE GARDEN
Wool landscaping fabric could
be a hit with home gardeners, but logistics are a problem
BY E.M. MORRISON
Lindstrom, Minn.
- Every spring, Sherry Stirling blankets her gardens and
small vineyard in soft wool.
 Stirling
and her husband Warner Johnson raise Merino-Dorset-cross
sheep. She lays sheared wool in her gardens and around her
trees, shrubs and grape vines as a mulch to control weeds,
retain moisture and enrich the soil.
Lots of sheep producers use the same trick, says Stirling,
secretary of the Minnesota Lamb and Wool Producers
Association. In fact, that’s what led the grower group to
develop a wool landscaping fabric several years ago. The
product performed well in research trials at the University
of Minnesota, but it was too expensive for the intended
market - commercial fruit and vegetable growers. The
association went on to develop a cheaper wool mulch, which
is now being tested. (see story on page 4, “Mulch
makeover.”)
But the group hasn’t abandoned interest in the original wool
mulch, which is made with a process called needle punching.
Stirling and other Minnesota sheep producers believe the
needle-punch wool mat could be successfully sold as
landscaping fabric for home gardeners.
The sturdy wool fabric has many advantages for yards and
gardens, Stirling says: It’s an effective weed barrier,
biodegradable, and easy to cut and install. “It would be a
locally-produced, chemical-free alternative to plastic
mulch.” And because home gardeners don’t need huge volumes
of mulch, “price is not as large a barrier,” says Bob Padula,
a Montevideo sheep producer and American Wool Council
consultant. “It’s a niche market,” Stirling says, “but
consumers are looking for something like this.”
A successful wool mulch would offer Minnesota producers
another outlet for their low-value belly and tag wool, which
is worth only pennies a pound in today’s markets. But first,
Stirling and Padula say, the Minnesota sheep industry needs
an efficient way to collect and transport low-grade wool.
Now, most Minnesota wool moves through sheep shearers to
warehouses, which distribute it to processors. Separating
out the low-grade fiber from the higher-quality fleece wool
could boost the prices growers receive for their good wool,
Padula says. But collection costs would also jump. There are
about 2,500 sheep farmers in Minnesota - most of them small
producers. “When you have small volumes scattered over a
large area, it’s expensive to collect,” Padula says.
On the other hand, he adds, Minnesota does have a wool
processing industry to build on, including one of only four
commercial scouring facilities in the country. “Minnesota is
a logical place to do this work, as we currently have a wool
textile base. Many states do not have this.” 
The biggest hurdle for Minnesota growers now is “collecting
the wool from producers and getting it to a mill that can do
the processing,” Stirling says. “We’ve been looking to AURI
for help.” One idea being talked about is forming a wool
cooperative to collect and pool low-value fiber, Padula
says. “That’s the next step for growers.”
But, Stirling says: “We haven’t figured out how to make it
work, yet. We’re still very much at the experimental stage.”
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