MULCH MULCH LANDSCAPING PRINCIPLES FOR FLORIDA -FRIENDLY YARDS.

Transcription

1 MULCH 4 MULCH LANDSCAPING PRINCIPLES FOR FLORIDA -FRIENDLY YARDS 57

2 Mulch A mulch layer aroud trees, shrubs, plated beds ad coverig bare groud provides may beefits. I areas that are difficult to mow, irrigate or otherwise maitai, use mulch to replace turf or groudcovers. Also cosider placig mulch i shady areas where plats do t grow well. Here are a few simple facts about mulch: Orgaic mulch materials improve soil fertility as they decompose. Mulch buffers soil temperature, keepig soils warmer i witer ad cooler i summer. Mulch helps maitai soil moisture by reducig evaporatio. A layer of mulch also miimizes water eeds for established plats. Fresh mulch ihibits weed germiatio ad growth. Over time, may types of mulch improve soil aeratio, structure ad draiage. A mulch layer ca ihibit certai plat diseases. Mulch aroud trees ad shrubs (ot agaist the truk) eases maiteace ad reduces the likelihood of damage from strig trimmers. Mulch gives platig beds a eat ad uiform appearace, addig a cotrast of color ad texture that complemets platigs. Mulches for the Ladscape: 58

3 Guidelies for Usig Mulch Follow these tips whe addig mulch to your ladscape: For well-draied sites, apply a 2 3 ich layer (after settlig) of mulch aroud trees, shrubs ad beddig plats. If there are draiage problems, use a thier layer. Coarse materials, such as pie uggets, may be applied to a depth of 4", but do t allow mulch to accumulate to a greater depth. If mulch is already preset, check the depth. Do ot add mulch if there is a sufficiet layer i place (2"-3"). Volcao mulchig, or mulch applied too deeply, hiders oxyge exchage to roots, which stresses the plat ad causes root rot. Do ot place mulch o top of a tree s rootball or agaist the truk. More tha about a ich of mulch o the rootball of ewly plated trees ad shrubs ca stress plats because mulch ca itercept water meat for the roots. Photo by: Ed Gilma, Uiversity of Florida. Mulch that is too deep or touchig the truk is applied improperly. This is commoly referred to as volcao mulchig.". If mulch is piled agaist the truk, pull it back several iches to ucover the base of the truk ad the root flare. Mulch piled agaist tree truks holds moisture agaist the truk, ad stems ad truks that remai costatly wet are proe to root rot. Mulch piled high agaist the truks of youg trees may also create habitats for rodets that chew the bark ad ca girdle the trees. Mulch out to a tree s drip lie or beyod, at least a 8-foot diameter aroud the tree. Remember that i a forest eviromet, a tree s etire root system (which usually exteds well beyod the drip lie) would be mulched. 59

4 Thick blakets of fie mulch ca become matted ad may prevet water ad air from seepig through, or become like pottig soil ad may support weed growth. Rake old mulch to break up ay matted layers ad to refresh the appearace. Orgaic mulches may require weedig ad repleishmet oce or twice a year to maitai a total depth of 2" 3". Do ot use cypress mulch because harvestig from the wild depletes wetlads. Shell, crushed stoe or pebbles ca be used as mulch but they wo t cotribute to the soil s utriet ad orgaic cotet or water-holdig capacity. Limestoe ad shell both raise soil ph. They also reflect heat, icreasig the water eeds of plats. Florida Yard Tip: How Much Mulch? Bulk quatities of mulch are sold i cubic yard volumes. To calculate the amout of mulch you eed, first measure the area to be mulched, i square feet. Next covert the desired depth to a fractio of a foot. For example, 3" divided by 12" equals ¼ ft. or 0.25 ft. Multiply this fractio by the square foot measuremet of the area to be covered (.25 feet x 100 square feet = 25 cubic feet). Covert cubic feet to cubic yards by dividig cubic feet by 27 (25/27 =.926). To cover a 100-square-foot area to a depth of 3, you will eed.926 cubic yards of mulch. TAME Melaleuca: 60

5 Recycled Mulch Search locally for sources of recycled mulch. Sometimes you ca eve acquire mulch for free! Here are some tips o obtaiig recycled mulch products: Use mulch that origiates i your ow ladscape, such as leaves, pie eedles, grass ad shrub clippigs. Local power compaies, muicipal solid waste departmets ad tree services may supply free or low-cost utility mulch ad may sometimes deliver bulk quatities. Try to get oly mulch from trimmig. It is geerally more disease-free tha mulch from other sources, such as roots. Team up with other homeowers ad have bulk quatities delivered to your eighborhood. Check the phoebook for commercial suppliers of mulch made from recycled materials. If you eed lots of mulch for a ew ladscape, place a ad i the local ewspaper so suppliers come to you. Photo by: UF/IFAS Photo by: UF/IFAS Recycled mulch products made from the ivasive plat melalueca are a excellet alterative to cypress mulch. Melaleuca mulch should be made etirely of bark ad wood (right) ad heat composted to kill ay stray seeds (left). 61

6 For Additioal Iformatio: For refereces o the iformatio cotaied i this book ad liks to additioal resources o each of the ie Florida-friedly ladscapig priciples, icludig may articles o the EDIS website (Electroic Data Iformatio Source of UF/IFAS Extesio), go to ad follow the lik to the FYN Hadbook. You ca also visit FloridaYards.org for more iformatio o Florida-friedly ladscapig, or cotact your couty s UF/IFAS Extesio office ad ask for the Florida Yards & Neighborhoods program. See edu/offices.html or check the govermet pages i your phoe book to fid your couty s Extesio office.

7 Create a Florida-Friedly Yard Yards ad ladscapes ca be a positive asset to Florida. You ca desig ad maitai your ow Florida-Friedly Yard by followig the simple, commo sese practices i this book. You will lear the basics of desigig a ladscape featurig carefully selected plats suited to Florida s uique climate, atural coditios ad wildlife. We offer you cost-savig tips that, if implemeted properly, will help you reduce water, fertilizer ad pesticide use. There is also a helpful sectio for waterfrot homeowers that addresses the special cocers of shorelie ladscape maagemet. Whether you are startig from scratch with a ew ladscape or cosiderig chages to a existig yard, the Florida Yards & Neighborhoods Hadbook offers helpful cocepts, tools ad techiques for creatig your ow Florida-Friedly Yard. We hope you ejoy the publicatio ad we look forward to assistig you i creatig a aesthetically pleasig ladscape that will also help to protect Florida s atural resources. FloridaYards.org