To Mulch or Not to Mulch?

Mulch can help your tree grow and thrive – if it is the right kind of mulch.  Mulch is a layer of material that covers the bare soil around plants in a landscape.  As such, mulches are a blanket over the soil environment and the roots.  Not all mulches provide the same benefits, however. 

The common gravel/rock mulch that is seen all over the city does cool the soil below and does reduce the volume and rate of water evaporating from the soil directly into the air.  However, this kind of mineral mulch also converts sunlight energy into heat energy.  Heat rises, so now the plants’ leaves are losing even more water due to the dry, hot air rising up from the rock mulch around them; trees will stress and may die from this heat.

What works better?  A three-inch deep layer of arborist’s wood chips, the stuff that comes out of the back of a tree company truck.  Because it’s organic it does not convert sunlight into heat, so right away the plants are breathing a sigh of relief.  This mulch also decomposes over several years, building up the organic matter in the soil below.  In the process, hard soils are de-compacted and tree-friendly mycorrhizal fungi become active.

We have the equipment to quickly get rid of your hot rock landscape mulch and replace it with a tree friendly wood chip mulch.  Good tree health starts in the soil, and mulch that mimics the forest floor is a key component.

Click here to find out more about our Albuquerque tree removal services