On May 27, 9:58*am, Jo Ann wrote:
On May 25, 11:21*pm, "



wrote:
On Tue, 25 May 2010 18:46:45 -0700 (PDT), Jo Ann wrote:
On May 23, 12:34*pm, "
wrote:
On Sun, 23 May 2010 10:28:44 -0400, willshak wrote:
George wrote the following:
On 5/23/2010 8:29 AM, willshak wrote:
skeeter wrote the following:
i recently had the landscaper mulch the beds. soon after we recieved a
heavy down pour which caused the mulch to streak down the hill. it
appears to have stained the lawn with what looks like a **** stain.
when i went to rake it back into the beds, i noticed the mulch has an
oil like feel to it.
they don't "stain" mulch do they? they didn't take crap mulch and coat
it with something to make it look like dark hard wood mulch would
they? this crap even stained my hands after i scooped some up.

Most red and black mulch is dyed.

You forgot the blue mulch. When the pile colored wood chips around
your house to attract termites and bank mulch high around tree trunks
to kill them fad kicked in two places around here were also selling
blue mulch.

I never saw blue, or any other color dyed mulch than the red and black,
where I live. We have the red mulch around our property. I put it down
and I have the stained gloves and clothes to prove it. My wife wants to
go with the black mulch this year. I would rather spend the extra money
and get the black rubber mulch.
It doesn't disintegrate, so you don't have to replace it every year, and
it won't float away in heavy rain. *Being heavier, I would probably be
able to clean the debris off it easier with a leaf blower.

Rubber mulch is *very* expensive. *Stone is cheaper, though I decided on
un-dyed bark nuggets for this year. *I did get a rubber mulch mat to go around
a cherry tree I planted earlier this year, threw a few bark nuggets on top to
make it look like the rest of the beds (still have a *lot* to do).

I'd like to shoot the guy who mulched all my beds with stone. *It's a
huge PITA to plant anything new, weeding is a painful nightmare, and
you can never get the roots, so it's a constant nightmare, too. *I've
been working for almost 5 years to get rid of the stones, which is
also turning out to be a big headache. *

If you're having trouble weeding you don't have enough stone.

And incidentally, if you're
mulching a young tree, they outgrow the rubber rings pretty readily,
with the roots heaving them up and creating a nice gap to get caught
by the mower.

"Outgrow"? *How so? *The thing is 3' around. *

Once you have "enough" stone, it begins to trap windblown soil and
gives weeds an even better place to start than underneath the stone.

With zero depth, weeds won't have much of a root system.

"Outgrow" as in the trunk gets bigger and starts to heave up the
ring. *After I recut a couple surrounding my trees a couple times to
allow for the larger trunk (another one for my PITA list), the big
roots eventually started heaving up the rings from the middle (i.e.,
between the tree and the outer edge of the ring--the radius). *Picture
a sloping ring installed around the tree rather than a flat one. *And,
despite being rubber etc., once the trees start to heave them, they
tend to start cracking, allowing grass to grow up.

We'll see. By then I won't be around.