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Tag: volcano mulching

3 Landscaping Pet Peeves

Some landscaping practices should be avoided. Below are my top three landscaping pet peeves.

Tags left on Plants

Why would anyone leave plant tags fluttering in the wind? Leaving tags on plants takes a beautiful landscape and makes it look like the side of the highway. Please remove all tags before leaving the job.

I occasionally leave a tag on a new plant, at my house, so I can remember what I planted or learn a plant’s name. However, if you’re bringing a plant to someone’s house either know what it is or keep a list of what you planted.

A great way to practice plant identification is to walk through a newly installed commercial landscape. Guess what the tree or shrub is and check the tag to see if you got it right!

Landscape Fabric

There’s never a reason to install landscape fabric under mulch.

In a few years, the mulch will break down and weeds will grow into the fabric becoming a headache to remove. In ten to fifteen years, when it’s time to redo the landscape, someone will suffer while ripping the fabric out. If you’ve never ripped out landscape fabric I assure you it’s no fun.

There’s never a reason to install landscape fabric under gravel either.

Dirt settles in gravel and creates the perfect seedbed for weeds. Weed roots anchor to landscape fabric under gravel the same as under mulch. It’s more of a hassle than it’s worth.

Volcano Mulching

Trees are not supposed to look like a fountain of lava shooting out of the top of a volcano. If you leave mulch against the base of a tree you’re doing more harm than good.

A properly mulched tree should have, at most, two to three inches of mulch tapering down six inches or more away from the tree.

Please stop the volcano mulching madness.

If you’re new to landscaping please heed the pet peeves on this page so your landscape doesn’t suffer.

April 13, 2020
How to Mulch a Tree Incorrectly

Every spring I cringe when I see freshly mulched landscapes. The more is better principle gets beaten silly and mulch spread with reckless abandon.

This isn’t the first time I’ve discussed how to mulch and it won’t be the last. How to mulch correctly is a topic worth repeating.

Volcano mulching is when a mound of mulch is spread around the base of a tree (See photo top of page). The cone grows yearly with each new layer. The sooner we can stop volcano mulching the better.

Below a tree thrives in the forest with no volcano mulching ‘help’ from man. There’s moss growing at the base of the tree because leaves only begin to cover the ground six inches away.

Mimic how mother nature mulches. She doesn’t dump piles of leaves against the base of trees. She spreads a light coating of leaves over the entire forest.

Why is this so hard to understand?

The illustration below shows how to mulch a tree incorrectly by volcano mulching. Mulch spread against the bark creates a moist place that encourages rot. Further, tree roots grow into the mulch making them drought prone. Finally, the mulch is so deep rain runs off and doesn’t reach the roots.

The illustration below shows how to mulch a tree correctly by spreading 2-3 inches or less of mulch 6-12 inches from the trunk of the tree. Mulch doesn’t touch the trunk.

If a tree has over 3 inches of mulch carefully remove it without injuring the bark or roots of the tree.

How to Mulch a Tree Correctly Samples

Below a tree I mulched last year has some dirt and moss around the base of the tree. It would be a shame to slowly kill this beautiful tree by over-mulching.

Another tree mulched the right way. You can see dirt at the base of the tree and that’s good. A few weeds may grow but it’s worth the effort.

How to Mulch a Tree Incorrectly Samples

I often see trees so over mulched you could mulch several more trees with the excess. I’m not kidding!

More volcano mulching. It doesn’t look natural and it’s no good for the tree. The madness has to stop!

Same look, different parking lot.

A beautiful oak tree sentenced to a slow and painful death.

Why would someone do this? I can’t make this stuff up.

Please help stop the volcano mulching madness.

July 26, 2018
How NOT to Mulch a Tree

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.

June 24, 2014