Fiberweb plc manufactures Biobarrier®, Biobarrier® II and Biobarrier® II Tree Skirt. All three products are made of a durable, nonwoven, polypropylene geotextile fabric with permanently attached nodules containing trifluralin. Trifluralin prevents root tip cells from dividing, which is the method by which roots grow. The nodules are engineered to slowly release the trifluralin, creating a zone where root growth is inhibited. The geotextile fabric is porous to allow air, nutrients and water through it so that soil hydrology can continue to be healthy.

Characteristics:
For more than 30 years, trifluralin has been used between rows of food crops to prevent weed growth; because of this extensive use and numerous research projects, much is known about it. It has an EPA toxicity rating of class IV, the “practically nontoxic” class (acute oral: LD50, (rats) > 10,000 mg/kg), making it slightly more toxic than sugar but less than salt. Trifluralin has an extremely low water solubility of 0.3 ppm, making it unlikely to leach. It tightly attaches to soil, so it doesn’t tend to migrate, and it decomposes in six months or less, so it doesn’t persist in the ground.