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By: Michael McGroarty
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Mulching beds has become extremely popular these days, and
mulch can be really beneficial to your plants and the soil
in your planting beds, but there are things you need to watch
for.
Here in Ohio the most popular type of mulch that people use
is shredded hardwood bark mulch, which is a byproduct of the
timber industry. When they haul the logs into the sawmill
the first thing they do is debark them. Years ago the bark
was a huge problem for the mills because there didn't seem
to be a useful purpose for it, until people realized the hidden
benefits that it held. Still to this day, the bark is a headache
for the saw mills, and they don't always understand how to
properly handle it.
They like to pile it as high as they can so it takes up less
space in their yard. The mulch really tends to back up during
the winter months because there is little demand for it. In
order for the mills to pile the mulch high, they literally
have to drive the large front end loaders up onto the pile.
Of course the weight of these large machines compacts the
mulch in the pile, and this can become a huge problem for
you or I if we happen to get some mulch that has been stacked
too high, and compacted too tightly.
When the trees are first debarked the mulch is fairly fresh,
and needs to decompose before we dare use it around our plants.
The decomposition process requires oxygen and air flow into
the pile. When the mulch is compacted too tight, this air
flow cannot take place, and as the mulch continues to decompose
it becomes extremely hot as the organic matter ferments. Sometimes
the extreme heat combined with the inability to release the
heat can cause the pile to burst into flame through spontaneous
combustion.
In other cases the mulch heats up, cannot release the gas,
and the mulch actually becomes toxic. When this occurs the
mulch develops an overbearing odor that will take your breath
away as you dig into the pile. When you spread this toxic
mulch around your plants the gas it contains is released,
and this gas can and will burn your plants.
It has happened to me twice. Once at my own house, and once
on a job I was doing for a customer. This toxic mulch is very
potent. We spilled a little mulch in the foliage of a Dwarf
Alberta Spruce that we were mulching around, and just a few
minutes later brushed the mulch out of the plant. The next
day my customer noticed that one side of the plant was all
brown. The mulch had only been there for a matter of minutes.
Not only did I have to replace the Dwarf Alberta Spruce, but
the mulch also damaged at least 10 other plants that I had
to replace. I once saw where somebody ordered a truck load
of mulch, had it dumped in their driveway, and as the toxic
mulch slid out of the dump truck onto the asphalt the toxic
gas that was released settled on the lawn next to the driveway.
The gas, not the mulch, turned the grass brown next to the
mulch pile.
This same person spread several yards of the mulch around
their house before they realized the problem, and it ruined
many of their plants.
Now here's the hard part; trying to explain to you how to
identify toxic mulch. It has a very strong odor that will
take your breath away. But then again almost all mulch has
a powerful odor. This is very different than your typical
mulch smell, but I can't explain it any better than that.
The mulch looks perfectly normal, maybe a little darker in
color than usual. If you suspect a problem with the mulch
you have, take a couple of shovels full, and place it around
an inexpensive plant. Maybe just a couple of flowers. When
doing this test use mulch from inside the mulch pile and not
from the edges. The mulch on the edge of the pile has more
than likely released most of the toxic gas that it may have
held.
If after 24 hours the test plants are okay, the mulch should
be fine. The purpose of this article is not to induce panic
at the mulch yard, but toxic mulch can do serious damage.
At my house it burned the leaves right off some of the plants
in my landscape, and burned the grass next to the bed all
the way around the house. It looked like somebody had taken
a torch and burned the grass back about 2” all the way
around the bed. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't
have believed it.
About the author:
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit
his most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.comand
sign up for his excellent gardening newsletter.
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