Beware Of Toxic Mulch
By Michael J. McGroarty, Fri Dec 9th
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Mulching beds has become extremely popular these days, andmulch can be really beneficial to your plants and the soil inyour planting beds, but there are things you need to watch for.
Here in Ohio the most popular type of mulch that people use isshredded hardwood bark mulch, which is a byproduct of the timberindustry. When they haul the logs into the sawmill the firstthing they do is debark them. Years ago the bark was a hugeproblem for the mills because there didn't seem to be a usefulpurpose for it, until people realized the hidden benefits thatit held. Still to this day, the bark is a headache for the sawmills, and they don't always understand how to properly handleit.
They like to pile it as high as they can so it takes up lessspace in their yard. The mulch really tends to back up duringthe winter months because there is little demand for it. Inorder for the mills to pile the mulch high, they literally haveto drive the large front end loaders up onto the pile. Of coursethe weight of these large machines compacts the mulch in thepile, and this can become a huge problem for you or I if wehappen to get some mulch that has been stacked too high, andcompacted 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 thepile. When the mulch is compacted too tight, this air flowcannot take place, and as the mulch continues to decompose itbecomes extremely hot as the organic matter ferments. Sometimesthe extreme heat combined with the inability to release the heatcan cause the pile to burst into flame through spontaneouscombustion.
In other cases the mulch heats up, cannot release the gas, andthe mulch actually becomes toxic. When this occurs the mulchdevelops an overbearing odor that will take your breath away asyou dig into the pile. When you spread this toxic mulch aroundyour plants the gas it contains is released, and this gas canand will burn your plants.
It has happened to me twice. Once at my own house, and once ona job I was doing for a customer. This toxic mulch is verypotent. We spilled a little mulch in the foliage of a DwarfAlberta Spruce that we were mulching around, and just a fewminutes later brushed the mulch out of the plant. The next daymy 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, butthe mulch also damaged at least
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