This is the time of year when snow birds and tourists return to the island. Everyone is busy cleaning the last of the summer growth from their landscapes. Many people will begin mulching their gardens as mulching will add uniformity to the landscape which makes it appear neat and pleasing to the eye.
If your landscape is planted and maintained properly over the years you should need less and less mulch. Plants should be allowed to mature so that they become one large mass in your garden beds and should always be trimmed so that the foliage shades the ground underneath. This does not allow weed seeds to germinate due to the lack of sunlight. But mulching plant beds in the landscape is a good thing to do for many reasons. Mulch cools the soil to help retains soil moisture, reduces weed growth in open areas, and decomposes to add organic matter to the soil. It will cover the sticks and leaves left behind by summer’s excessive growth which will decompose and generate more organic matter to help combat poor sandy soil conditions. And actually the most environmentally friendly thing to do is leave the leaves and twigs from your shrubs and trees as a natural mulch to add organic matter. Unless you are suffering with leaf or other diseases in which case you should remove the diseased litter.
Mulch should be applied evenly throughout the beds at a depth of 4 inches if this is the first application or 2 to 3 inches if previously mulched beds are being redressed. Always leave an inch or two of breathing space around the stems or trunks or the plants and trees. Mulch applied next to plant stems can cause rot from the constant moisture and this could result in their death.
Never mulch citrus trees. Citrus trees prefer a clean, raked soil under them out to the drip line. They have very shallow feeder roots which are susceptible to disease when constantly moist. If the tree develops foot rot it will attack the bark of the lower trunk causing it to peel and lift away. In time this will girdle the entire tree causing death. Once the disease appears it is not curable. You can try to slow the progress of the disease by cleaning the loose bark and applying a fungicide to the area.
There are many types of mulch to choose from. Chipped is cheaper than shredded mulch. The chipped mulch will wash away much quicker than shredded. Shredded will matt together and stay in place while it decomposes. You can get shredded or chipped mulches made from the wood of cypress, eucalyptus or Florimulch from the melaleuca tree. Another type of mulch is pine-bark. This mulch tends to stay in place a long time and has a more rustic look. Or pine-straw, which is really pine-needles and has a soft, fluffy appearance and adds acid to your sandy, alkaline soil. The various types of mulch are all different in color and smell so it is really a matter of personal preference which is the best. Since the melaleuca tree is a nuisance tree which we are trying to eradicate from our native forests, Florimulch or Enviromulch would be good choices environmentally.
The dyed or colored mulches like red, black and gold mulch, which have been very popular since coming on the market, may be hazardous to your health. Two Florida engineers, Helena Solo-Gabriele of the University of Miami and Tim Townsend of the University of Florida studied the use of lumber debris. Some dyed mulch is made from lumber debris. Dyed landscape mulch containing wood treated with CCA(chromium, copper and arsenic), or better known as pressure treated wood can raise the level of arsenic in soil above safe levels. Walt Disney World will not use treated lumber anywhere they keep animals. Cooperative Extension agents advise against using CCA treated wood in vegetable and fruit gardens or in children=s play areas. While not all dyed mulch contains debris from pressure treated wood, some brands do. If you still want to use this kind of mulch, you should examine it closely looking for particle board or plywood. If the mulch contains either try buying another brand or kind. Marco is a small island and we use our ground water through reverse osmosis. You should use dyed mulch cautiously. Most of the dyed mulches sold locally are from trees and not lumber.
Florimulch or Enviromulch have been around for many years. It used to be hard to find but is becoming more popular. I have always been intrigued by this mulch as a good replacement for cypress mulch, which is the mulch most people use. Cypress trees are very slow growing and we are cutting them down at an alarming rate to mulch our gardens. Melaleuca, on the other hand, is a tree we are trying to eradicate from our native forests. This mulch also seems to repel many insects including termites. And it is not contaminated with arsenic and other chemicals found in the dyed, recycled wood mulches. It decomposes more slowly and is a no-float mulch. However it has a finer texture than most mulches.
Florimulch or Enviromulch or a high quality dyed mulch are my top choices for mulching your gardens. They are an easy way to help the environment while improving your property. It costs a little more for a bag than other mulches but you should just consider that a charitable contribution to helping our native forests.
How much mulch will you need? By the bag. At a depth of 2 inches a 2 cu.ft. bag will cover 12 sq.ft. and a 3 cu.ft. bag will cover 16 sq.ft. At a depth of 3 inches a 2 cu.ft. bag will cover 8 sq.ft. and a 3 cu.ft. bag will cover 12 sq.ft. At a depth of 4 inches a 2 cu.ft. bag will cover 6 sq.ft. and a 3 cu.ft. bag will cover 8 sq.ft. In bulk. 1 cu.yd. will cover 162 sq.ft at a depth of 2 inches – 129 sq.ft. at 3 inches or 81 sq.ft. at 4 inches. To figure area multiply length times width.
Most Marco yards will need at least one pallet (75 to 80 bags) of mulch to cover their gardens. Larger yards can use several more pallets. It is a common site to see the landscape suppliers hauling pallets of mulch around the island. Our nursery alone will sell over 100,000 bags of mulch in the next three months. Let the mulching begin!