Mulches

Hello Everyone!

So I put down some wood mulch (can't remember what kind) but these came from two different places.
The first set came from Home Depot. The second came from Wally World.
I put these down in the fall (about October) ,
When I first put these down in the front flower bed there were no weeds or aberrant plants. Just the crepe myrtles, a couple of boxwood shrubs and some other kind of bush that I inherited when we bought the home.
About 3mos after putting down this lovely mulch I looked one day and found clover growing in the mulch. There were more in the Wal Mart brand then in the Home Depot brand, but still, how did this happen?
I will pull all this out and weed it out, but I want to put more mulch down in the spring. So what kind of mulch do I put down? Why did not have clover prior to me putting down mulch and then all the sudden it comes?

Thanks everyone,
Anita

Mulch isn't perfect--you're still going to have weeds, just less than you would if you didn't use it. The thicker the layer of mulch you add, the better job it'll do at controlling weeds, so if you feel like you've got a lot more weeds than you would have expected, my guess is you put down a thin layer and need to add a couple more inches. Sometimes there'll be weed seeds that were already in the soil underneath, and when their time of the year comes they'll sprout and if your layer of mulch isn't thick enough, they can pop up through it. Or weed seeds can get blown in from somewhere else and land on top of the mulch, and if the layer of mulch isn't thick enough they can get their roots through it and into the soil. The brand/type of mulch doesn't matter, it's more about how thick of a layer you put down

ty ecrane,
I put down about 4inches of mulch at the time. So I do not think it was the thickness.
However, you may a good point about exsiting seeds coming up tru the mulch. Much to my disappointment. As I said I will redo the mulch.
I was just wondering if perhaps the mulch might have been contaminated in some way?
Thank you again,
Anita

I suppose it's possible, but I don't think mulch is that likely to be contaminated with weed seeds. More than likely there were seeds underneath that were able to germinate, or even with several inches of mulch you can still get seeds that land on top and are able to take root. The more inches of mulch you have, the less weeds you'll have, but even mulch at the proper thickness won't 100% control weeds.

Sovie2000
Here are tips from a NC Landscaper.
First you can but down some type of weed block under your mulch.
It can be store bought black weed block fabric or go all natural and use several layer of wet newspaper under your mulch. The very best tip is to watch were your grass clipping blow when you mow.
I only use triple shredded hardwood mulch. It decomposes to add a nice organic layer to your beds. Hardwood is the best mulch to retain soil moisture. But you will get some weed just because the mulch does stay moist. The way mulch is made is it is very unlikley that the weeds came with the much you purchased
NC Butterfly

I've read bad things about putting weed fabric down over garden beds. If you're putting in a path or something then it's no big deal, but if it's a garden bed it's not good for the soil to have the weed fabric over it. Newspaper is fine though.

The answer may also be the fact you had clover appear.

Clover has a taproot AND it's a legume. Your 4" of mulch may have strangled & prevented other lesser weeds from successfully penetrating but clover has magnitudes more energy because of its taproot than typical weeds and has plenty of energy to penetrate.

That's my guess. As to why more in one brand than the other I can't answer.

This message was edited Feb 22, 2008 2:21 PM

Thank you ,

You have all been most helpful with excellent suggestions.
I now know which direction to take this.

Have a lovely garden day,
Anita