I drive through neighborhoods daily and see trees mulched improperly. People want to do the best for their trees and apply the “More is better” principal with disastrous results.
Trees that have been over mulched dry out quicker in hot summer months and are prone to disease and attacks by rodents. Mulching a tree like a volcano also doesn’t look natural.
If your trees have mulch that looks like a volcano the best thing you can do is remove the excess. There should only be 2-3″ of mulch around a tree with a minimum of 6″ of space between the mulch and the trunk of the tree.
Be gentle when removing mulch. You don’t want to damage the tree with your shovel. Use your hands to remove mulch near the trunk and large roots. Cleanly cut roots with sharp pruning shears to help them heal more quickly.
Comments
2 responses to “How NOT to Mulch a Tree”
I have a large pin oak in my back yard that seems to have had some volcano mulching. I have a lot of exposed roots. Do you think a retaining wall about 3 feet away from the trunk with a flower bed around the base of the tree is a bad idea?
Chelsea,
I don’t recommend a bed with a retaining wall near the trunk. When you dig for the base of the retaining wall you’ll end up damaging the roots of the tree. If you don’t damage the roots of the tree you’ll end up raising the grade around the tree which also isn’t a good thing. I recommend you carefully remove as much of the volcano mulch as you can without damaging the bark or roots of the tree, and then re-mulch the tree correctly.