To Mulch Or Not To Mulch? That Is The Question.

Mulch, which is made of wood chips or finely shredded wood, grass clippings, and other vegetation, offers many benefits to your garden and landscape. However, did you know that there are definite risks associated with its use?

The benefits are well known to most homeowners. Applying a few inches of mulch to your garden beds will help the soil retain moisture and reduce weeds. It will also insulate your plants’ roots from blistering summer temperatures, and will add nutrients back into the soil as it slowly breaks down. Some wood mulch types, such as cypress, cedar, or pinewood chip, even repel insect pests like ticks, gnats, and fleas.

The risks include fire hazard due to spontaneous combustion, lightning strike; or by something still flaming, like a cigarette butt or fireworks ember landing on a mulch pile. Also, large mounds of decaying organic materials attract flies, termites, and beetles, as well as mice, rats, and snakes looking for a tasty rodent meal.

Piles of mulch made of wood and dried vegetation can, and do, spontaneously combust. Each year, thousands of small and large fires start this way (over 14,000 according to the National Fire Protection Association). A pile heats up through natural decay processes. A fire that develops in a smoldering mound that is placed too close to a building can easily spread to the structure. In fact, according to the New York State Property Maintenance Code, large quantities of dry vegetation must be removed from properties for this very reason.

So, to mulch or not to mulch? Definitely DO, but follow these recommendations:

• Use non-flammable materials, such as crushed rock, for garden beds located within five feet of your home or other structures.
• Store piles of organic mulch (wood, leaves, grass clippings) away from structures and keep the piles small to allow air to circulate within them and heat to dissipate.
• Remove ALL large piles of dead vegetation from your property.
• Limit the height of the organic mulches that you apply to your beds to two inches for finely shredded materials, and four inches for larger ones, such as wood chips.

Then all you have to do is sit back, relax, and enjoy the beauty that you have created. That is, after you weed, water, mow, trim, light citronella lamps…. Ah, but the beauty is worth it. Isn’t it?