The constant disease pressures from using the wrong mulch, is causing even tough plants like these to fail. If you want plants to do well in the landscape use the correct mulch, namely coarse grade mulch with no fines. Well composted fine grade mulch reduces the disease problem, but only slightly.
Well composted fine grade mulch at least has any disease composted out of it with heat from the constant turning and composting. The fine grade material in the mulch still however greatly reduces the air flow around the crown off many plants or the collar of trees and shrubs, so it is much better to use coarse grade ground cover mulch with no fines. Sure, many will say just plant the crown of the plant above the mulch, or push the mulch back from the tree, but this is simply unpractical.
Contractors planting thousands of plants find this hard. Even if the plants are planted in such a manner, the first heavy rain sees the mulch pushed up against the plant anyway.
In fact, the recycled organic industry should be trying to produce chunky mulch with zero fines, so that customers have a choice. They should give the customers what they want, and not force customers to use what they produce. On the other hand, non composted raw mulch that is produced by tub grinding trees and shrubs from land clearing is almost bordering on pollution. The crazy aspect is that the people organizing this mulch, claim they do it for the environment, recycling rather than burning it.
All they are doing is polluting the environment. If they really cared about the environment, they would instigate correct mulch production and composting techniques, as is conducted by professionals in the recycled organics industry. I have never seen onsite tube ground mulch turned and composted correctly.
Diseased trees and shrubs are included in the mulch, often resulting in the spread of fatal tree and shrub diseases, such as Armillaria, Phytophthora and other bad fungi are also left to prosper.
Generally, contractors with little professional mulch making experience are producing this mulch. Mulch at this stage should be graded into separate mulch products and then treated correctly.
This of course is rarely if ever done. This type of mulch also is well known to spread weed, cause nitrogen draw down, and repel water, causing drought stress in plants.
Please do not confuse professionally recycled tub ground mulch with, with this non composted land cleared tub ground mulch. Another recent dubious practice is to put mulch on top of jute mat. Whether it is hard wood chip or any type of mulch, placing it on top of jut mat can lead to prolonged damp conditions, greatly increasing the incidence of disease, particularly root rot.
Plants considered tough and resistant to disease have died in these conditions. Humid summer areas such as Sydney and Brisbane should never entertain such practices, and should always strive to have good airflow around the crown or collar of a plant.
Fire can be one more result of using this tub ground non composted mulch with fines. Recently, one roadside project had its poor grade mulch catch fire, killing many of the newly planted plants.
When it is dry, all it takes is one careless person to through a cigarette butt on the unprocessed tub ground mulch, and a major fire can be born.
There have been many instances on the side of the road or even in the back of trucks where piles of composting mulch left for a week or more, particularly when palm plants are included, and these piles are not turned, that the mulch has got hot and caught fire. So unless you know what you are doing, producing recycled mulch can even be dangerous. Even well composted mulch, with fines catches fire more easily than the chunky mulch without fines, although even chunky mulch can catch fire.
Think about starting a fire with two sticks, it is the fine pieces of wood that ignite easily, not the big pieces of stick. Basic soil science suggests only coarse grade mulch with no fines should be used as a ground cover mulch. Soil scientists will all tell you that layering soil types is bad. Mulch with large amounts of fines behaves like soil, so layering a soil like substance on the top of soil is soil layering, and by definition, bad.
Layering soils often causes drainage problems, increases in soil type diseases, and erosion problems. Coarse grade mulch with no fines has good airflow, and as such does not act as a soil. Layering this over the top does not create soil laying problems.
Another benefit of using chunky mulch with no fines, is that it is less prone to wind and water erosion. Quite simply the bigger and heavier the particle, the less likely it is to move. What needs to happen is either we go back to the way the ground cover mulch used to be made from land clearing operations, which was to remove all leaf material and sticks etc, and chip the trunk parts of the tree, making sure to reject any diseased trees. This all has to be done by qualified people that understand trees and mulch.
However with new work cover laws, large wood chippers are often thought to be dangerous, so in practice this is hard to do on site. Off course it is easier to do in specialized mulch making facilities. Another alternative is to have the tub ground mulch graded. Mulch will help protect the soil from baking in direct sunlight and keep your plants happy. Mulch also prevents weeds. Adding it to your planting bed will block light from reaching the soil, which keeps many kinds of weed seeds from sprouting.
By adding a thick layer of mulch, you'll ensure that the weeds never see the light of day! Test Garden Tip: While an even layer of mulch is ideal, don't overdo it. The best depth for a mulch layer is inches. Any deeper, and it can be difficult for oxygen to reach the soil, which can cause your plants to suffer. Over time, garden mulch types made from organic materials those produced by or part of a living thing break down and increase your soil's structure and fertility.
This is especially true with compost used as a mulch because the nutrients in it will promote soil organisms and fuel plant growth. Plus, a layer of mulch can help fight climate change because covered soil holds onto carbon instead of releasing this greenhouse gas into the air.
Every spring, check on the mulched areas of your garden and add more if the layer is starting to get thin. If you're mulching a large area of your yard for the first time and not just touching up a few garden beds, you might want to schedule a delivery from a bulk supplier.
It'll be less expensive than buying a ton of bagged mulch from your local garden center, and you won't have to haul all of those bags in your vehicle to your yard either.
When late fall rolls around, check on your mulch again, and reapply if needed. In the winter, a good layer of mulch acts like insulation, helping to regulate the soil temperature.
This reduces stress on plant roots and can prevent frost heaving where smaller plants are pushed out of the ground as it freezes and thaws repeatedly. Make sure the ground has frozen a few times before adding mulch as a protective layer for the winter. Depending on your landscape design and what you're planting, each of these choices can make a good mulch. It comes from a variety of sources, including cedar trees. Shredded bark is one of the best mulch types to use on slopes and it breaks down relatively slowly.
It helps prevent soil compaction. Aesthetically speaking, fresh mulch breathes new life into a weather-worn landscape. It also acts as a guide to keep maintenance equipment away from roots and trunks in your landscape. Mini vs. Dyed vs. Hardwood Shredded Bark: One of the most used and most affordable forms of mulch, shredded hardwood bark knits together tightly. Pine Straw Pine Needles : Another mulch slow to break down, pine straw has a rust-colored hue that can give your landscape a soft, unique appearance compared to other traditional mulches.
Cedar Mulch Most of us recognize this golden reddish mulch by its pleasant woodsy aroma. Cypress Mulch Cypress mulch gives landscapes a boost of long-lasting golden coloring and much like cedar, it reflects sunlight, naturally repels insects except for termites and is naturally resistant to fungus. Subscribe to Our Blog. Recent Posts. Our Pricing Ebook The Schill Grounds Management pricing ebook addresses the price gap so you can get the service you expect at a fair price. Our Headquarters.
Follow Us. If such mulches stay very wet for a long time, they can rot and introduce disease. They also reduce air flow. The chunkier the mulch, the thicker it can be applied.
Chunky mulches can be used up to 60 — 75 mm in depth without concern for blocking rain and irrigation. If using mulch with fine particles that are 2mm or smaller, mix it with chunkier mulch with a particle size greater than 5mm.
Organic mulches add nutrients to the soil, but the rate and extent of addition varies according to their composition and particle size. A by-product of the timber industry, these are usually readily available and, because of their usually large size and freedom from weeds and pesticides, make good mulch. However, if you get them from a local tree feller, they contain quite a mixture of sizes. It is best to obtain them graded in size from a garden centre.
They break down slowly, but use nitrogen from the soil as they do so. This problem can be overcome by sprinkling some organic nitrogen-containing fertilizer on the ground before spreading them.
It can also be avoided by using it around native plants with low nutrient requirements. It is probably wise to ask your supplier for mulch that is from plantation grown timber not old growth forest. This is also a byproduct of the timber industry — pine or hardwoods — and is supplied in different sizes.
It is best used on general garden beds. Like wood chips, it also draws nitrogen from the soil as it breaks down. Obtained from kerbside recycling this mulch contains a mixture of sizes and also, occasionally, bits of glass or other materials. But, a cheap option for general use. Straw is the stem material from grains and legumes remaining after the crop haa been harvested.
It is a light mulch which breaks down relatively fast in less than a year. Straw from legumes like lucerne and peas pictured at the top of this article are excellent because they are high in nitrogen, but they can be too expensive to use as a general mulch. They are best used on areas where the high nutrient content can be utilised best, such as the vegetable garden, and any remaining after the growth season can be dug in.
A minor disadvantage is the presence of seeds which may grow — but at least they are easy to remove. Other types of straw are also available e. Unless you live close to the sugar cane area in the north of Australia, it will have a lot of embedded energy due to transportation.
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