Hi there,
I run a suburban Ottawa food bank and from time to time have access to fairly large quantities of finely shredded paper - old files, etc. Mostly colored copy paper.
Has anyone ever tried using this stuff as garden mulch? Any drawbacks that you can think of? If it would work, it seems a good way to use it.
Ann
Using shredded paper as mulch???
I don't think colored paper is recommended to use for mulch Ann. :(
Quoting:
WHEN: If you live in colder climates with snow, begin mulching once plants have emerged in the spring. If you�re in the south, you�ll need to mulch year round if there is no snow to mask the dormant or frozen greenery.
WHAT: Generally speaking, all wood mulch such as cypress, redwood or pine is less desirable because the cellulose in the wood leeches nitrogen from the soil, which is necessary for growth and greening of plants. Mulch with a higher bark content has less cellulose than wood, and is therefore a bit better. If you do use wood mulch, remember that shredded wood mulch is better than chips because it won't float away during heavy rains.
Shredded newspaper print can be used for mulch as well, but it's best to stay away from colored paper because of the dyes.
Pine needles (also known as pine straw) are inexpensive and what I personally use.
Grass clippings won�t cost you anything, but you must be careful they are not full of weed heads and seeds or else you�ll be defeating the weed smothering properties of mulch. DO NOT use grass clippings if you�ve sprayed your lawn with weed killer. It could hurt your garden.
Shredded leaves make for another free mulch, but they should be laid in a protected area because they are lightweight and may blow about.
Stay away from hay. It contains too many seeds and may overtake your garden.
Organic mulch will lessen evaporation and save on water more than hard surface (stone) mulches, but you may find the hard surface type more appealing visually. Large or small lava rock, marble pieces, gravel, brick pieces as well as brick dust come in a variety of colors, so choose what will coordinate with the color of your home, garage, etc.
HOW: The denser the mulch, the thinner you need to spread it. Spread shredded wood about two inches thick, while pine straw can be as thick as four to six inches because the rain and watering will compact it more rapidly.
Don�t forget to mulch your potted plants, particularly those in terra cotta pots. They are porous, which causes moisture to evaporate through the surface of the pot itself.
The bottom line is an unmulched landscape leaves plain dirt flowerbeds with sprouting weeds that look unkempt. Now, get out there and mulch everything that's brown!
http://www.greenlightwrite.com/mulch.htm
Does anyone know what effect the dyes have? Harmful to plants? Poisonous to vegetables? (In my case, they are mostly, but not exclusively, yellow).
Ann
This message was edited Jul 13, 2005 9:48 PM
Types of Mulches: Their Advantages & Disadvantages
Mulch Type Advantages Disadvantages
Organic mulches
Cocoa-bean hulls Long lasting, dark Compactable, forming
brown color. a crusty surface.
Expensive.
Crushed corncobs Uniform in color. May retain too much
moisture at surface
or compact if kept
wet.
Grass clippings Readily available. Must be applied
loosely, in thin layers
to reduce matting.
Hops Attractive color. Disagreeable odor
Nonflammable. until dry. Not very
attractive, May
become matted.
Leaves (composted) Readily available. Not very attractive.
May become matted.
Leaves (fresh dried) Readily available. Not very attractive.
May blow away. Fire
hazard. Wet leaves
compact into slimy
mats.
Manure (straw) Usually available. Unpleasant odor.
Weed seeds.
Newspaper Readily available. Don't use color inserts
or red ink.
Peat (sphagnum) Usually available May crust on surface,
in bulk amounts. May blow away.
Pine needles Attractive. Do not Difficulty to obtain
compact. in quantity. Can be
a fire hazard.
Shredded bark, bark Long lasting, Cost relatively high
chips or chunks attractive. Shredded bark may
compact.
Straw Readily available. Blows easily. Highly
flammable. Weed
seeds.
Wood chips, shavings, Long lasting. Texture and color
pole peelings, Readily available. not uniform.
recycled wood shingles
Inorganic, inert mulches
Clay aggregates Gray/brown colors Expensive.
(heat treated) available Lighter
than gravel, easier
to transport.
Weed-barrier fabrics Reduces weeds. Al- Some may be
lows air and water costly, Most deterio-
penetration. Long rate in sunlight un-
lasting if covered less covered with
with mulch. another mulch mate-
rial such as wood
chips
Gravel, stone Available in colors Will not prevent
to match or comple- growth of some
ment the architec- weedy grasses.
ture. Inexpensive.
Mulch Type Comments
Organic mulches
Cocoa-bean hulls Molds may form on
surface.
Crushed corncobs Cobs dyes various
colors. Availability
limited in some areas.
Grass clippings Allow grass to dry
before applying as a
mulch.
Hops May be available
from local brewery.
Leaves (composted) Good soil amendment.
Leaves (fresh dried) Most appropriate in
naturalized gardens
or shrub masses.
Manure (straw) Better soil amendment
than mulch. Should be
aged and/or heat treated.
Newspaper Use 3 to 6 sheets
thick and cover with
organic mulches.
Peat (sphagnum) The only acid-forming
peat, but even this is
variable with source.
Best used as soil
amendment, not as a mulch.
Pine needles Best for winter protection
of fall-transplanted
material.
Shredded bark, bark Used for informal
chips or chunks walkways.
Straw Best used as temporary
mulch around plants
needing winter protection.
Wood chips, shavings, Rustic but usually
pole peelings, attractive. Will not
recycled wood shingles compact readily.
Inorganic, inert mulches
Clay aggregates Brand names available
(heat treated) (Turface, Terragreen).
Weed-barrier fabrics A good substitute for
black plastics.
Gravel, stone Use black polyethylene
beneath to prevent weeds.
Adapted from Mulches for Homo Grounds, by J.R. Feucht, Cooperative
Extension landscape plants specialist.
*Sort of* answers your question......
Quoting:
There is one other that is readily available to just about anyone. It is different from the those mentioned so far because it is a processed organic material. Newspaper is a wood product. It performs well as a mulch in all aspects of other organic mulches except that it has limited nutrient value and it doesn't look, in my opinion, as nice as natural organic materials. I have read nothing that leads me to believe it should not be used. The paper is OK and the ink will not create problems in the soil or be taken up by the plants. The best way to use newspapers is probably to put them down on the soil first, several pages thick, and cover them with a light natural mulch to hide them. This will make it possible to stretch your natural mulch farther if it is in short supply.
and
Quoting:
NEWSPAPER
Remove and recycle the slick-papered color supplements from your Sunday paper and what You've got left is a super-effective weed-suppressing mulch -- and yes, it's safe to use! "There is nothing in black and white or color newsprint that will damage your plants or harm the soil," insists Rufus Chaney, Ph.D., a scientist who works in the USDA-ARS environmental research laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. Let us repeat: Dr. Chaney's studies have confirmed that mulching with the black-and-white pages from the newspaper introduces NO toxic chemicals into the garden.
And that's good news -- because newspaper is exceptionally effective at suppressing weeds. Norman Pellett, Ph.D., a professor of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont, observed that a 6 inch thick layer of shredded newspaper applied at the beginning of the summer of 92 allowed no more than eight weeds per square yard to grow during that summer and the following one! That's right -- without renewing the laver of newspaper, it controlled weeds for two summers!
And, despite theoretical fears that the level of nitrogen in your soil may temporarily drop as microbes in your soil use up some nitrogen to process the cellulose in the paper, Dr. Pellett's team noticed no symptoms of nitrogen deficiency.
And kraft paper (the brown paper used to make grocery bags) and cardboard are even more effective at preventing weeds than newspaper, says Allen Barker, Ph.D., professor of plant nutrition at the University of Massachusetts. "Just a sheet or two of kraft paper or a single piece of cardboard will block light and provide a physical barrier that keeps weeds from sprouting beneath them," he assures us.
And paper products convey benefits well beyond reduced weeding. Sweet corn, soybeans and tomatoes mulched with 6 to 8 inch layers of shredded newspaper yielded consistently more than plots that went unmulched or that were mulched with 4 to 6 inches of straw in a 2 year study conducted by David Munn, Ph.D., an associate professor of soil science at the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute. And raspberry plants mulched with shredded newspaper outproduced those mulched with black plastic (and no mulch) in a study by Michele Warmund, Ph.D., an associate professor of pomology at the University of Missouri, and her colleagues.
Paper can also be used to heat up cool spring sod instead of black plastic. A group of market gardeners in Virginia, who tested both newsprint and kraft paper as mulches in 1994 and 1995 (and reported the results in the December 1995 issue of The Virginia Biological Farmer), proved it.
A few days before they planned to put in their crops, these gardeners put down some kraft paper that they had brushed with waste cooking oil, and found that it warmed the soil beneath the paper by about 6 degrees. In comparison, black plastic only warmed their soil 3 degrees! "Dust and mold gradually clouded the oiled paper, and its soil warming tapered off within 4 to 6 weeks,"reports Mark Schonbeck of Windswept Farms, the gardener who coordinated the study. "But this [gradual cooling] may actually be real advantage because crops benefit from warm soil early in the season but not during the heat of summer," he notes.
Complete guide to organic mulch. (includes related information on when to use mulch) Scott Meyer.
This message was edited Jul 13, 2005 7:17 PM
Wow! 6 inches of newspaper? Would sure reduce the contents of my black box. ;-)
Ann
Yeppers.......pretty sure the Ottawa newspapers are pretty wordy and would give you lots and lots of mulch (great if you can use the shredder at work too.....but I've laid full sheets down as well).
Hi Again,
I think I found the answer I needed -
http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/orgmatter/#paper
"Shredded computer or other office paper and glossy magazine-style paper decomposes slowly and may contain dioxins. There are enough concerns about the dioxin in bleached and glossy paper that it would be wise not to use them in the garden.
Waxed paper almost never breaks down.
There has been concern about using colored paper or ink, which contains heavy metals. Evidence shows such low concentration of heavy metals - if any at all - that colored paper may be used without significant risk. Many inks currently used are soy-based."
Guess I'll just recycle all that office paper. But maybe I'll shred my newspapers. ;-)
Ann
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