Mulch

[TravelGal]

Can someone give me a cliff notes version of "mulch"? The city of LA gives it away "for your garden." Are there different types of mulch? Some better for veggies than flowers? Do you make your own? If so, how? When do you put it on and why? How much do you use? In other words, I'm lucky I can spell the word but I'd like to know more. Thank you. :D

[Methanolandbrats]

No better way to spread pests and plant diseases than that "free" crap from the city.

[dando]

Can someone give me a cliff notes version of "mulch"? The city of LA gives it away "for your garden." Are there different types of mulch? Some better for veggies than flowers? Do you make your own? If so, how? When do you put it on and why? How much do you use? In other words, I'm lucky I can spell the word but I'd like to know more. Thank you. :D

Ummm, well, yeah...rule of thumb is to spread it 2" deep in your beds. We typically do mulch when the weather and ground warms around here, which is typically late March or in April (although we had snow on the ground into late March last year and had a fairly heavy snow on Easter in April 2-3 years ago). Last year I didn't apply it until late April into May. The landscape companies were also affected since they couldn't apply crabgrass fertilizer in mid-March due to the snow. This winter we've had <10" of snow total for the entire season. Go figger. In any case, y'all won't have that issue, so you can start applying it pretty anytime from here on out.

As far as different kinds, it mostly depends on the look you like. Cypress, dark hardwood, pine straw, wood chips, etc. You can get an idea @ ohiomulch.com, which is where I get mine. Obviously not close for you, but you can get an idea on what is available. Pine straw is big in the south. I'm guessing that Cypress is more popular in your SoCal parts. As far as how much you'll need, that's difficult to estimate. It seems like every year I go back and forth on what to order and I'm either over or under...might have to do with the mulch company not quite giving me enough or too much. :confused: I usually do 9-10 cubic yards of bulk mulch (I hate handling bags of mulch), which is a pretty good pile on the driveway each spring. Usually takes me a day to dump it and spread...and then a week for my back to recover from it. :saywhat:

-Kevin

[cameraman]

Free:eek: The city here composts everything and it costs $30 for a 3 yard scoop. Their compost isn't mulch, it is very fine textured and is meant to be dug into your garden.

[Andrew Longman]

This guy is on the radio Saturday mornings and has a ton of "opinions" on composting and mulching (which are very different -- compost is much cooler) http://www.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/

I have a PhD entomologist neighbor who runs a mail order/internet native plants business who thinks he's nuts. But then I think she is nuts. YMMV

If nothing else he's fun to listen to. His August 20 show might be most relevant. http://www.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/201108.html

This might be quicker:

http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=760

And for pure cliffs notes these are his 10 Commandments of Mulch:


1. The word “mulch” does not mean wood chips or shredded bark. “Mulch” is anything that covers the soil to retain moisture and prevent weeds. Nurseries would LIKE you to think that wood = mulch because they’re often paid to take wood chips and shredded bark from tree cutters trying to avoid high landfill costs. If they can then sell it to you as mulch, they get paid twice.

2. There is no better mulch than compost. No, compost is not acidic and it doesn’t harm plants (it’s plant FOOD!). But nurseries have to actually buy compost, so some might tell a little…eh, ‘fib’ to achieve that higher profit. Did I just say, “fib”? I’m sorry—that’s not fair. I meant to say: “Liar, liar; pants on fire”. I apologize for the error. Anyway, in a groundbreaking study from Iowa and Ohio State Universities two inches of compost prevented weeds just as well as two inches of ground wood mulch. And the compost provided all the food it’s plants needed for the season, while the wood mulch actually increased the plants’ need for food (see #9, below). You gonna believe some guy what wants to sell you wood to make a bigger profit? Or the published results of University researchers?

3. Compost is pretty. When I spoke with that study’s lead researcher, Dr. Dan Herms, he observed that the compost mulch was as black and nice looking as the dyed black wood mulch they were testing it against. It looked so nice, in fact, that he switched to it personally. Simply put, a mulch of compost provides all the benefits you can get from mulch with none of the negatives of wood or other troublesome mulches. Other mulches of high regard include shredded Fall leaves, pine needles and pine straw; and really cool esoteric local ones like cocoa bean shells and rice hulls.

4. Wood mulch is not nice—especially dyed wood mulch. It’s made by grinding up old pallets and other trash wood, and may contain arsenic, creosote and other nasty stuff. It is the lowest quality mulch you can buy. Oh, except for…

5. Rubber mulch is WORSE! You know you have to pay to throw away your old tires. Do you really think it’s a smart idea to buy them back after somebody grinds them up and calls them mulch? Rubber mulch leaches zinc and other pollutants; and it STINKS in the summertime. Why does everyone with a toxic waste disposal problem always have to think, “Hey—I’ll bet we can convince people to use this stuff in their garden!”?

6. Thou should not use wood mulch near thy home. As many hundreds of listeners have told us they learned the hard way, any kind of wood mulch—like wood chips, so-called triple-premium shredded bark and those increasingly popular root mulches—can breed a nuisance mold known as ‘shotgun’ or ‘artillery’ fungus that will permanently stain homes and cars within 30 feet of the mulch with impossible to remove fungal spores that look like little tar balls. Sorry, but the reason University Bulletins don’t offer removal tips is that once they dry, those spores are there for good.

7. Thou should not run ANY mulch right up to thy home. Everyone in America has subterranean termites in their landscape. Subterraneans prefer to travel under cover. Mulching right up to the side of your home with anything—even stone—provides the protection and moisture they require to find their way RIGHT to your framing. Always leave at least a six-inch area clear around your home.

8. Never touch a plant with any mulch. Mulches are for preventing weeds and retaining soil moisture—they are not blankies; they do not keep plants warm or comfort them. Just the opposite, in fact: ANY mulch that’s piled up against a plant stem or tree trunk provides cover and traps moisture, inviting pests, disease and rot to destroy that poor plant. There is no good reason for mulch to ever touch a plant; there are many good reasons for it not to. Always leave a few inches wide open around the trunk or stem.

9. Wood mulches starve plants. As we have often warned, wood is high in carbon. Carbon seeks out nitrogen to help it break down into soil, just like in a compost pile. Mulch your plants with wood and the wood will steal their food in its quest to become really nice dirt a few years from then. When I hear that a plant isn’t thriving, my first response is generally, “get rid of the wood mulch”.

10. You CAN use wood mulch! It’s great for smothering unwanted plants and keeping weeds down in walkways far away from homes and cars.

For even more info, check out last year’s diatribe on this topic:
http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=552

[cameraman]

You leave bare fine compost on the ground here in Utah it will dry out and blow away in a couple of days. I don't know where that guy lives but it isn't anywhere with 15% relative humidity.

[dando]

This guy is on the radio Saturday mornings and has a ton of "opinions" on composting and mulching (which are very different -- compost is much cooler) http://www.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/

I have a PhD entomologist neighbor who runs a mail order/internet native plants business who thinks he's nuts. But then I think she is nuts. YMMV

If nothing else he's fun to listen to. His August 20 show might be most relevant. http://www.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/201108.html

This might be quicker:

http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=760

And for pure cliffs notes these are his 10 Commandments of Mulch:

Sorry, but this guy is nuts. Master Gardeners around here would laugh in his face. Compost is generally used as a soil conditioner around here to fertilize and break up the lovely hard clay, brick-like substance we call soil. :saywhat: There is VERY fine wood mulch here that is dyed a very dark brown (to the point that it looks black). And of course, you pay the price for it @ 50-100% more than shredded wood mulch. I've been tending a 1/2 acre lawn for ~20 years w/o any issues using would mulch, and frankly I've had to whack the heck out of shrubs from Forsythia to Lilacs to Rhododendrons to evergreens almost twice annually to keep them from overtaking the beds (and we usually plant dwarfs when possible).

TG, I also forgot to mention that lava rock is also used in hot and dry areas like Texas and the SW. We had a neighbor who did that in our old 'hood, and it looked like ****. Of course that was also in a 'hood where many homes were leased to Honda employees or their distributors here from Japan or Cali, who might mow the lawn once a month (@ 6pm on Sunday in the summer no less), and might tend to the weeds in their beds once or twice a season. :saywhat: :mad:

-Kevin

[Andrew Longman]

Sorry, but this guy is nuts.So I've heard. ;)

Best story I remember about him was a show he did with a caller complaining about a ladybug invasion in her house. She wanted to know how to kill them.

Mike McGrath screamed in horror and said they would be "absolutely fabulous" for her garden in the spring. Just vacuum them up into a new vacuum cleaner bag and keep them in the fridge until Spring.

If she didn't want them, send them to him and he'd be happy to take all he could get.

The next week he was on pleading for people to stop sending him ladybugs. His wife was freaking out and he had no more room anywhere in his fridges. :rofl: Sort of like when Soupy Sales asked kids to send him the contents of their parents' wallets.:laugh:

FWIW my cousin lives in Richmond Heights, OH and is an avid organic gardener. He gets "free" mulch from the town pile every few months and has had no issues that I know of.

[dando]

So I've heard. ;)

Best story I remember about him was a show he did with a caller complaining about a ladybug invasion in her house. She wanted to know how to kill them.

Mike McGrath screamed in horror and said they would be "absolutely fabulous" for her garden in the spring. Just vacuum them up into a new vacuum cleaner bag and keep them in the fridge until Spring.

If she didn't want them, send them to him and he'd be happy to take all he could get.

The next week he was on pleading for people to stop sending him ladybugs. His wife was freaking out and he had no more room anywhere in his fridges. :rofl: Sort of like when Soupy Sales asked kids to send him the contents of their parents' wallets.:laugh:

FWIW my cousin lives in Richmond Heights, OH and is an avid organic gardener. He gets "free" mulch from the town pile every few months and has had no issues that I know of.

More than likely those probably weren't lady bugs, but Asian beetles instead.

http://www.kensavage.com/archives/ladybug-infestations-asian-lady-beetles/

Many years ago the geniuses in the USDA had Asian beetles released them en masse to combat other insects (http://ohioline.osu.edu/hse-fact/1030.html), but they have since flourished to the point that they have become a nuisance (they stink, smell and stain when they come inside and die). Other than they don't appear to cause any harm until the fall when the temps drop. I suspect they just want to watch football. :gomer:

-Kevin

[Andrew Longman]

More than likely those probably weren't lady bugs, but Asian beetles instead.True.

But they were introduced as a beneficial predator and are still pretty good for fighting aphids, et al.

Other than being a bit unsettling they don't seem to be much of a problem if you leave them alone (or vacuum them up and put them in the fridge)

I was happy to see this in your link though
No releases of the multicolored Asian lady beetle were made by The Ohio State University.
At least that's one good thing I can say about tOSU.

BTW the dreaded stink bug was first spotted over Elmo's way in Allentown, PA. http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/brown-marmorated-stink-bug

Now those stink. We never had much of an issue with them until our new dog decided he likes to bring them in the house to play with.

What's that have to do with mulch? I'm not sure.

[dando]

What's that have to do with mulch? I'm not sure.

For those that appreciate the movie Up: Squirrel! ;)

-Kevin

[nrc]

Compost is high in nutrients for plants but can act as a weed barrier? Explain the logic underlying that conclusion. :confused:

[stroker]

Compost is high in nutrients for plants but can act as a weed barrier? Explain the logic underlying that conclusion. :confused:

I think the decomposition process creates heat or chemicals that kills most anything trying to grow through it.

[cameraman]

The wood chip mulch is the weed barrier/soil moisture saver. Compost is organic "dirt" that will happily sprout just about any seed sitting on top of it.

I have raised beds that had drip irrigation tubes covered with weed barrier fabric which was covered in turn with coarse shredded wood mulch. The tomatoes etc were cut through. It works great here in the very dry Utah summers, there's minimal loss of water to evaporation. Great yields from the happy plants and a very low water bill. The compost gets dug into the soil in the spring before all that other stuff gets laid on top. The weed barrier also combats the curse of this valley of bindweed (morning glory), which exists as a network of roots about two feet down which covers every inch of the valley:flame: I removed a concrete slab that had been in place for 40 years and within two weeks there was bindweed sprouting over the entire area. Not from seeds but from the deep roots. You'll find them when trenching for sewer lines. About 3 feet down you'll find these 1/2" diameter roots that just run forever.

Squirrel!

[TravelGal]

You guys are the bomb. AFTER the Superbowl, I'm going to reread this all and have a chance to read all the links. :thumbup: