I just moved to Katy. I have lived in Texas my whole life, but I have not seen the HIGH mounding of mulch like this before. The oaks and pines all have this odd mulch. Looks like a volcano. It isn't good for the bark so I just wonder why it is done so much.
I talked on the phone with a tree expert and asked him why. He has no idea why it is so widespread now. I lived in Katy before and the trees were not like this last time we lived here.
The tree are gorgeous in this area, I just hope they will do OK. Trees need to have the flare at the bottom where the trunk meets the soil.
Tree mounding with mulch
Sallysblooms,
I've noticed that phenomenon too. Most recently on the NASA grounds. We took our sons on a NASA tour. We were driven by an oak grove that commemorates the astronauts killed in the shuttle disasters. Every single tree had a mulch volcano. It looked like the fire ants had gone haywire.
Mulching is good, but that way of mulching doesn't sound good to me.
I wonder if it something people in that area started doing when the drought hit?
It's become popular the past several years because mulch helps retain moisture. However, mounding the mulch like I've seen done where it covers the root flare is extremely unhealthy for the tree. Most trees planted nowadays aren't planted properly; they're planted too deep. Then you add a mound of mulch on top and you're setting yourself up for nothing but trouble. Exposing the root flare and then using a moderate amount of mulch is much better for the tree.
Does pine have a root flare above ground? I know they have a deep tap root.
I know that cypress trees do. Not sure about pine.
No, they have done it for about 10 years at least. I called a good tree specialist the other day. Just an odd thing to do. I LOVE Katy, I have lived here before and my g.mother lived here many years before it got large. I have seen it over many years. I just had to find out what was going on with the mounds. Looks like aliens and crop circles, ha. It is gorgeous here though, I love it.
No, is certainly isn't natural looking. It is funny how much it bothers me, ha.
Well NASA has whole buildings full of people whose job is science eduction. I vote you call them on Monday and ask them.
I do not think that over mulching a healthy young tree really does much damage. Mulch is light and airy and I think the only downfall would be that the tree will sometimes grow roots close to the top of the soil and making it suffer during dry condition. I find it so strange that people who make their living taking care of trees and plants, know so little about them. I am in construction and make it a point to learn as much as I can so I can do as good a job as I can. I my part of the world, all of the professional
yard men cut Crape Myrtles back to a stump. And if you ask them why they do, they say that is the way you are spose to. I call it the monkey see, monkey do method of tree trimming. They see someone doing something a certain way and they quickly follow suit. Most of us would make excellent yard men because we love plants and trees but we could not make a living, so we'll just keep asking, why do people do that?
Yes, that is a hard thing to see too, the Crepe Myrtle's cut to a stump, awful. It is really easy to just trim them in a natural way for a pretty look.
With regards to mulching, the how to's vary, according to whom you talk too, and when. Experts abound on the web and everybody's got an opinion.
Trends and helpful assisting devices for mulching come and go. Talk to several experts, and I mean the horticulturist variety, and you'll get different opinions. Kinda like the human body experts, dukeing it out today over mamography.
The following pine pics are from the grounds of the Native Plant Center at Stephen F Austin University in Nacogdoches. I'll let them speak for themselves. And lawdy, if we can't trust these folk, I give up.
Very mature pine.
'nother mature pine.
In the pine, in the piiinnneees. Know that song?
No one that really knows about trees or plants would see this and say it is OK. I really need to get pictures. It is really funny looking.
I listened to a presentation today by Larry Maginnis, the urban forester at UT:
He says that the mounding thing started in North Carolina. They had a situation with very clayey soil, so developed the idea of planting trees on a mound, so that their young roots wouldn't be waterlogged to death. Then the mulch was added as usual, a layer of even thickness, but because the soil was mounded, the overall appearance was a mound of mulch. According to him, somehow that appearance got copied with an actual mound, and the practice has been making its way west.
Goes to show that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
It's funny, I watched a neighbor planting some bushes and small trees and noticed they were planted a little too deep. He followed up with large amounts of artificial red mulch. I did pop over and started a conversation and just politely mentioned the depth. He didn't find my concern useful so now I will see what happens over the next few months. He spent a lot of money on some of those specimens, too bad he didn't find out how to plant them.
C
Redbird lady. Interesting where this started. I just talked to the landscaper about it. We moved into our new home with MOUNDS. I have been very ill for a while, so I cannot garden yet. Hubby cannot, he is SWAMPED at work and home since we still have tons to unpack etc.
SO, we are paying for a landscaper to do some work. I talked to him about the mounds and told him how silly it is and awful it looks. He told me it was to keep the trees from getting to much water... OY!
How did we ever grow huge Live Oaks without mounds all these years! HA!
He will pull back as much mulch as he can, I am hoping for the best. The natural base of the tree is so pretty, I hope we can get the arch showing. I will let you know, he will be back in three weeks to do lots of work for me.
lol All my trees that did survive the drought are rolling on the ground, laughing their leaves off, at "Too much water".
I have been pondering the question of "How did huge Live Oaks grow themselves without mounds all these years?" If we weren't here and the tree was just taking care of itself, it would dump all its leaves each spring. There wouldn't be a _mound_ of mulch at the trunk, but there definitely would be organic matter over the roots, and all the way out to the drip line. Of course, there would also be the whole rest of the mott around the tree. Even more so for a small tree, which would be establishing itself through the organic matter the bigger trees had already dropped.
So I'm thinking it's not just the mounding where we've gotten a little off-track, it's the whole concept of what we're trying to accomplish with the mulch.
So true. People just go too far and then the silly things spread. I can see if you have terrible drainage maybe, but most of the time that is fine... Silly stuff.
This somewhat off topic pic taken at SFA is of a plant planted in a boggy area. Wonder if the nicely piled mulch is the tip of a dirt iceberg?
I just started an orchard last year and I discovered a few things about mulch.
1. It attracts fireants.
2. It stops the ground from drying out and keeps the soil cool. The trees I did mulch heavily needed less water and showed less heat stress. I used my moisture gauge to test this as well.
3. I never mulched up to the trunk. I always left a 6-8 inch gap around the trunk so I would not get rot or mildew around the graft union. It can stay too wet in there sometimes.
4. I raked back the mulch a little when it cooled off except on the trees that werent as cold tolerant. I will rake it right back when it gets warm and dries up in the summer.
Good observations and practices Jujube.
Yes, a bit of mulch is good. Away from the trunk.