LB Landscaping and Brick Pavers Serving Central New York

LB Mulching Information and Tips

Why Should You Mulch?

Installing mulch in your garden or around your trees has many different purposes. It can be a practical addition to your yard, keeping the plants hydrated during the hot summer days, keeping weeds from growing between your flowers, and insulating the ground in early spring to keep the soil warm enough for your plants and seeds to grow.

There are aesthetic uses as well. You can choose from many colors of mulch to add even more color to your flowerbed, or to contrast the leaves of your trees. Different mulches can add particular scents to your yard. Cedar, pine, and hardwood mulches each have unique scents. Other examples are; coffee grounds and cocoa hulls. There are other types of mulches as well, each one adding its unique properties to your landscape or garden. You can enjoy these scents while outdoors enjoying your yard, or as the wind carries them in through your windows.

How Should Mulch Be Applied?

In most circumstances, 1” or 2” of mulch is sufficient to insulate and protect your plants. For added weed protection, you should lay weed fabric down before applying your mulch. Weed fabric is a slow decomposing fabric that prevents weeds from growing up through your mulch. Weed fabric can be purchased from your local garden center.

How Much Mulch Should Be Applied?

The chart below offers a rough estimate. Please Also when using the chart to topsoil calculations, add 20% to the yardage recommended on the chart to account for compaction.
First, you will need to know the square footage of the area you’d like to cover. To do this, multiply the depth of the area by the width of it. For example, if your landscape is 3 feet deep and 50 feet wide, then 3X50 = 150 square feet. 150 square feet, at 2” thick, requires 1 yard of mulch. Please reference the chart, below:

Remember: Be careful to not apply too much mulch, suffocating your plants. 1” – 2” is about right for most plants and trees.

D e p t h

S
Q
U
A
R
E

F
E
E
T

10"

11"

100

1/2

3/4

1-1/4

1-1/2

2-1/4

2-1/2

2-3/4

3-1/2

150

1/2

1-1/2

2-1/2

2-3/4

3-1/4

3-3/4

4-1/4

4-3/4

200

3/4

1-1/4

2-1/2

3-3/4

4-1/2

5-1/2

6-1/4

6-3/4

250

3/4

1-1/2

2-1/2

4-3/4

5-1/2

6-1/4

7-3/4

8-1/2

300

2-3/4

3-3/4

4-3/4

5-1/2

6-1/2

7-1/2

8-1/2

9-1/4

350

2-1/4

3-1/4

4-1/2

5-1/2

6-1/2

7-3/4

8-3/4

9-3/4

400

1-1/4

2-1/2

3-3/4

6-1/4

7-1/2

8-3/4

11-1/4

12-1/2

13-3/4

450

1-1/2

4-1/4

5-3/4

8-1/2

9-3/4

11-1/4

12-1/2

15-1/2

500

1=1/2

4-3/4

6-1/4

7-3/4

9-1/4

10-3/4

12-1/2

15-1/2

600

3-3/4

5-3/4

7-1/2

9-1/4

11-3/4

16-3/4

18-1/2

20-1/2

700

2-1/4

4-1/2

6-1/2

8-3/4

15-1/4

17-1/4

19-1/2

21-3/4

27-1/4

800

2-1/2

7-1/2

12-1/2

17-1/2

22-1/4

24-3/4

27-/14

900

5-3/4

8-1/2

11-1.4

16-3/4

19-1/2

22-1/4

30-3/4

1000

3-1/4

6-1/4

9-1/2

12-1/2

15-1/2

18-1/2

21-3/4

24-3/4

2000

6-1/4

12-1/2

18-1/2

24-3/4

43-1/4

49-1/2

44-1/2

61-3/4

3000

9-1/4

18-1/2

46-1/2

55-3/4

83-1/2

92-3/4

102

5000

15-1/2

46-1/2

61-3/4

77-1/4

92-3/4

108

123-1/2

139

154-1/2

169-3/4

What Should Be Done for Maintenance?

Mulch should be turned, or raked over, twice a year to allow the bottom mulch to reach the top and prevent mold from growing. If your mulch is looking thin, you should add more. If it is allowed to stay thin, the insulation purpose it has will not be done. Contrarily, you should avoid applying heavy layers of mulch up around the bark of your trees, or high on your plants. This could do more damage than good for your plants by suffocating the soil.

Help:

First and foremost, you should ensure that your mulch supplier has quality mulch. You should ask what the source of the mulch is, ensure the mulch is clean and that there isn’t any debris intermixed with it, and also ask them where they obtained the mulch. You should only apply quality materials to your plants and trees. Avoid wood mulches that are made from ground up industrial pallets. Pallets are made with the lowest quality wood, and when ground, do not make very good mulch.

Your mulch should smell fresh. If it’s wood mulch, it should smell like fresh cut wood; if it’s cocoa hulls, it should smell like chocolate, and so on. If your mulch starts to emit a sour scent such as that of sulfur, vinegar, or ammonia, it means that the mulch is not allowing the ground to breathe. This is usually caused by matting of the mulch material, allowing small areas of air to get trapped within the mulch, and allowed to stagnate. Simply rotate or turn your mulch to restart the respiration process. It may still smell poorly for a short period of time before it is back to its fresh scent, but it will return.

LB’s Selection of Mulches:


Hemlock Mulch (Natural)	Cedar Mulch (Natural)	Ruby Red Mulch (Dyed)


Chocolate Brown (Natural Pine)	Black Pearle Mulch (Dyed)