How do you know if my bark mulch is not chips? I know when I get the mulch, that my gardener delivered, in my shoes, it hurts.
The slugs seem to be getting through though. I haven't seen them but some of the leaves have those lines of munching. I have also seen a few catepilars on the leaves, so maybe that is what is eating the leaves and not the slugs or snails.
I used some insecticidal soap from Schultz but with all the rain we had I am sure I need to do it again.
Alan
I know what you mean. Sometimes the heavier bags contain junk.
I use leaves mostly for winter mulching, and dump them as is. They rot down nicely by spring. I am experimenting right now with a large number of leaves doing "black bag" composting. They are about due. I wanted to give them one year. The heavy mil' construction grade bags are good for this.
I've never used cocoa shells but all the garden beds at work are filled with a heavy layer of pecan shells! A few trees are coming up but other than that, it seems to be working very, very well for weed control and it's attractive.
And it's lasting forEVer!
Makes sense. Cats would rather dig in sand instead of course organic matter. I live on a busy street. Loose cats don't live long. :-( So sad! I keep my own cats indoors.
I guess that here, we are provided with large yard waste bins. Putting leaves and other yard waste in the trash is illegal. Nicely bagged up piles of leaves are unavailable. But I don't need them anyway. I get enough leaves from my trees that I don't need any.
For those of us who compost, the yard waste bin is helpful for large branches, and other woody materials that take a long time to break down. I also toss pizza boxes in there.
The chips are solid pieces around three inches long and wide. The nuggets are smaller versions of the chips...roughly an inch or more in size. Mulch is the same stuff finely chopped up. You have to use gloves to spread it cause it feels like its full of splinters and sharp edges. The pieces can be as large as the nugget or ground up to feel almost like clumps of hair (if it gets into your shoes and hurts...it probably is mulch). The mulch won't stop caterpillars or ants but will dissuade the slugs and snails. As I noted, I put landscape fabric down first (the slugs don't like crawling along the fabric) and then put the mulch on top. Since I staple the fabric to the raised bed, they can't go underneath either.
The mulch needs to be a couple inches thick (not too thick...or the stuff underneath will begin to rot and the buggers can get through). The mulch also needs to be at least a foot wide...or wider if possible. The wider it is, the harder it will be for the slug to travel over it.
If you want to find out what is munching on your plants you can go out after dark with a flashlight. If it's slugs, you'll see them then. You would also see their slimy trails in the morning. You can also try putting out a tray of beer (something with a low edge). Put it near the affected plants. If the slugs are the culprits, they'll show up in the beer. (It's always possible that a slug or two get caught in the area as you're laying the mulch....). All this varies depending on how you're set up of course.
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Zone 5a in Canada's slug-infested Far East.
In previous years I've put newpaper down with cedar mulch on top. This year I'm trying to reduce the cost of my garden and have decided to just put grass clippings down. So far it's working ok. And it's free. Will try to save some seed this year too. The soild is finally where I like it to be so no more major amendments are necessary. I had the soil tested by the local coop extension and everything they tested for was great. I have yet to do it, but for my strawberry patch I am going to use the dried, overwintered cut seagrass (ornamental grass) from the property as a substitute for straw since it's very similar in appearance.
These are generalisations that are just too broad, some manure and some straw has too many seeds. Chicken manure contains no viable seeds. Some straw is almost pure stalks from after the grain was harvested and contains no seeds or almost no seeds. Even cow and horse manure can have no significant viable seeds depending on what the beasts were fed on, the time of year etc. If you want to be able to take advantage of all possble sources of fertiliser and mulch you have to know your shit!
As fresh manure is often too strong to apply directly hot composting with other material (eg manure plus straw plus garden clippings) will reduce its strength and kill seeds if it has any.
Absolutely.
David
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