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#4 |
Sungrown Perennials and their Info |
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#2 -
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Clematis |
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| #5 |
Mulch |
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Maple Seed, Growing Fruit, Milky Spore |
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Mulch
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Mulch – The Big Lie
Being in the garden industry we repetitively encounter 2 common mistakes when it comes to mulching; choosing the right mulch and applying the mulch properly. They are both very important to the health and vigor of your plants. Today I’d like to share some information concerning the application of mulch and the different types of mulch available. A lot of this information was gathered from Gary Gao, an OSU Extension Agent who came up with the description “Mulch Mania” and volcano mulch and David Shetlar, the OSU Landscape Etomology specialist. I also added my two cents worth to complete the trifecta. |
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Proper Application Process
Mulch piled up the stems and trunks of plants and trees can retain too much water, there by causing rot or disease. The standard recommendation is to have a mulch layer of no more than 2 inches of total depth. Most existing mulched landscapes would look much better just by loosening the old, 2 inch think mulch with a steel rake or garden weasel that will fluff up and renew the beauty and purpose of the old mulch.
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What Mulch is Best?
Many natural products are used for mulching plants, some very good and some very bad. The most popular mulch available is mulch made from grinding up wood that simply produces wood chips. As this begins to decay, the microbes have to get nitrogen from somewhere to aid them in the decomposition process which winds up taking nitrogen from the mulched soil causing the plants to starve. Wood-based mulch also tends to attract various fungi that forms in hot humid weather. Some of these fungal growths can look awful growing on top of the mulch and artillery fungus, if present; can be harmful to your home’s exterior. Unstirred hardwood mulch can form hydropholic (water repellant) layers when decay fungi dry out in the summer stopping any new moisture from reaching the soil below. This type of mulch can also provide perfect homes for millipedes, sowbugs, centipees, gnats, earwigs, ants and a host of other common nuisance pests. The cheaper quality this type of mulch is sold, the more of these problems tend to exist. Shredded mulch that is made from the bark of trees does not encourage many of the above problems. The same is true with any bark mulch made in the form of chips.
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Pine Bark Mulch
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Shredded Cider Bark Mulch
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Other Choices
Other natural materials used for mulching landscapes include washed stone, pea gravel, cocoa shells, and pine straw. Pine straw has become the love of my gardening life. It’s been the mulch of choice in southern states for years. I love it because of its looks, its ability to remain in place on steep slopes, stays fresh looking for several years, and because of its airy make-up, is impossible to over mulch with. Pine straw is available in bales and is applied to the planting beds like you apply wheat straw to your lawn when seeding. There are several size bales of different coverage. Look for bales that cover at least 40 sq feet.
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Final note:
To quote David Shetlar, “Mulching has become “big business! We even have trucks designed to deliver and blow tons of mulch into landscapes. And the colors and varieties of mulch range from “trashy” brown to rust red and black. We also have different smells, from the stench of “sour” mulch, to hints of pine oil to cocoa bean hulls being the yummiest!
In short, mulch has lost its original concept of being an environmental mediator to being a central part of a landscape design! And individual preferences for these designs are incredible! I’ve seen piles that are easily a foot or more right up on the tree trunks, to uniform layers of four to six inches of NEW mulch!
Remember, the standard recommendation is to have a mulch layer
of no more than two inches of TOTAL depth!”
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