The Best Mulch

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Ed of Somis

Unfortunately, my prior post asking about the importance of mulch kind of turned into a personal discussion of nursery pots with a couple of individuals. Oh well...Do you have a favorite kind of mulch? Why do you like that specific mulch?

Favorite is wheat straw. It breaks down quickly to make nice organic matter and is easy to work with. Looks nice.
I mainly use pine straw, leaves and hardwood chips because they are free and readily available since I now have 21 acres of mostly woods. I also had pine straw in AZ. I have also used animal bedding (pine shavings) with good results. Just make sure they have aged some before mixing them into the soil or leave them on top. They really only steal nitrogen if mixed into soil fresh, not as mulch.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Barbee

Pine straw is just pine needles baled into small hand tied bales. They have sort of a waxy coating so rain/water doesn't soak into them. They are available everywhere down south but not so much in Ohio. I drove to KY to get some

What I really want to know is how do they get all the twigs and pine cones out of the pine straw when they bale it? It looks so nice and mine always look messy, since it is mixed with pine cones and sticks.

[bughunter99]

Originally Posted by Salaam

Hello all,

I've planted for the first time (well, the other first time was a long time ago) in ground here in Ottawa and I'm wondering what mulch to use. I am assuming that because of my location, the most important thing is to keep the soil warm, and that a plastic mulch does this better than straw or hay or wood chips. Is this assumption correct?

Thanks!

Dark plastic will help it warm up, but will prevent water from penetrating the soil evenly.

Other mulches should not be applied until the soil is good and warm. If placed on cold soil, it acts like a blanket, locking in the cold and making things slower to warm up. Exception here might be those weird mulches that are dyed pitch black. I avoid those completely but they may be dark enough that they absorbs lots of light/heat. Not sure.

[sjamesNorway]

Has anybody used pine bark fines as mulch? They're recommended for container mix, and are dark, so would presumedly help heat up the soil.

[Stvrob]

The best mulch is that which you have in abundance already.

[SueCT]

I use Mainely Mulch, a commercial product I really like. If you have a very large area, however, it is expensive. I have a fairly small garden of mostly tomatoes so I can get away with about 1 1/2 baqs per year. It is a "virtually" weed free chopped hay and straw suitable for organic gardens. I don't have any woods on my property so I have to buy mulch and it is the best I have use so far.