Your plants, and the soil in your planting beds, can be benefitted by making use of mulch, which has become extremely popular these days. There is one difficulty, though, at least in a number of parts of the country. Some places, a common type of mulch originates from shredded hardwood bark, which is a waste product from sawmills. The sawmills had complications disposing of the waste bark which resulted from the process of denuding the logs before sawing them.
The saw mills are now able to get rid of the bark as mulch, however, there is still a problem. The saw mills heap the bark up high to avoid wasting space, and with little demand for the mulch in winter the piles get really high. The task is done with front end loaders that, when driven up on the piles of bark, excessively compress the waste, resulting in a problem for the gardener. The bark matter won't decompose unless it's supplied with oxygen, and time, which is achieved by air passing through it. When compacted too tightly, the circulation of air is inhibited and the waste matter becomes increasingly hot, to the extent that it could spontaneously combust.
Considering that the resulting gas can't be released by way of airflow, the mulch can actually be contaminated and become toxic. This may well result in a foul odor, as you dig into the stack, and a bigger problem as you spread it around your plants. The pent-up gas inside the mulch is emitted, which can burn your plants. Spreading this product around your plants could cause them to turn brown in as little as few minutes. Your once verdant lawn could go an ugly brown any time you dump mulch like this onto it. You may be entirely unsuspecting, and only be informed that the mulch was bad when you discover the damage.
The unhealthy mulch features a strong odor once you get down to it in the pile, but so does the good mulch, and the smell is different, but you may not be able to tell the difference. One more tip is that bad mulch is a little darker, and if this alerts you to a potential problem you can test it by placing some around a plant that you don't value too much. Anytime doing this just remember to take mulch from closer to the center than the surface of the pile. If after 24 hours your plant still is fine, then the mulch is most likely okay.
Although it's not the end of the world, this type of problem is rather prevented than experienced. Going to the trouble of mulching and after that learning that it had damaged your plants may just make you a little unhappy. Now that you've been warned about harmful mulch, you can continue to get all the benefits without the pain by getting your mulch from a source that can assure you they have taken the correct actions to avoid it.
The saw mills are now able to get rid of the bark as mulch, however, there is still a problem. The saw mills heap the bark up high to avoid wasting space, and with little demand for the mulch in winter the piles get really high. The task is done with front end loaders that, when driven up on the piles of bark, excessively compress the waste, resulting in a problem for the gardener. The bark matter won't decompose unless it's supplied with oxygen, and time, which is achieved by air passing through it. When compacted too tightly, the circulation of air is inhibited and the waste matter becomes increasingly hot, to the extent that it could spontaneously combust.
Considering that the resulting gas can't be released by way of airflow, the mulch can actually be contaminated and become toxic. This may well result in a foul odor, as you dig into the stack, and a bigger problem as you spread it around your plants. The pent-up gas inside the mulch is emitted, which can burn your plants. Spreading this product around your plants could cause them to turn brown in as little as few minutes. Your once verdant lawn could go an ugly brown any time you dump mulch like this onto it. You may be entirely unsuspecting, and only be informed that the mulch was bad when you discover the damage.
The unhealthy mulch features a strong odor once you get down to it in the pile, but so does the good mulch, and the smell is different, but you may not be able to tell the difference. One more tip is that bad mulch is a little darker, and if this alerts you to a potential problem you can test it by placing some around a plant that you don't value too much. Anytime doing this just remember to take mulch from closer to the center than the surface of the pile. If after 24 hours your plant still is fine, then the mulch is most likely okay.
Although it's not the end of the world, this type of problem is rather prevented than experienced. Going to the trouble of mulching and after that learning that it had damaged your plants may just make you a little unhappy. Now that you've been warned about harmful mulch, you can continue to get all the benefits without the pain by getting your mulch from a source that can assure you they have taken the correct actions to avoid it.
