Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Mar 09, 2010 12:19 pm Hey Fu, it's been a couple of weeks since I registered on mulchnet for mulch. Not having any luck - maybe Sydney is a bit behind with this service So I need to source the mulch elsewhere. I haven't yet rung any local arborists but wondered whether the following are worth looking into ? Leaf Mulch Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ A mixture of leaf and woodchip waste. Leaf mulch is the most economical of the mulches, breaking down to provide structure & nutrient to the soil. Great in native and informal gardens. Euchy Mulch Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ A fine and uniform mulch in rich, red/brown tones. Attractive soil covering, especially in native gardens. Euchy mulch has proven to be stable even on slopes, and does not creep down hills Cypress Mulch Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Naturally termite resistant mulch with long lasting colour. Very stable – suitable for windy areas. Smells fantastic. Definitely a landscapers favourite. Are any of them worth using ? Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu ! 2Mar 09, 2010 1:37 pm I've had the same problem with mulchnet. My DH registered in December and we still haven't heard anything and i registered last week again. Both times we have applied for the paid mulch. We are in Melbourne. If we don't get it soon we will have to start looking elsewhere aswell i think. Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu ! 4Mar 09, 2010 2:07 pm I rang around some local arborists and they would only sell the whole 15 cube load I just paid for some aumanns "bush mulch" which is the local arborist green mulch dumped at the nursery. I could order how much I needed and delivered when I wanted it. Good stuff full of all different tree bits and smelt great. So try asking for bush mulch or just "recycle" some when you see a pile the council workers are waiting to move. Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu ! 6Mar 10, 2010 4:19 pm *spots business potential around green waste collection time* Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu where are you ?! 7Mar 10, 2010 6:33 pm yeah I wasn't aware till you guys joined that it even said it was available over there. It is new so will be years before it is a viable option i guess. Over here in WA it is pretty different. Great concept though. Now any of those are good. The leaf mulch will be the very best. It will contain the greatest diversity of particle shapes, sizes and textures for really effective results. Also try a heap of straw under it as well Great to do that as the weather cools and it has over East. Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu where are you ?! 8Mar 10, 2010 6:36 pm Beatrix, that is dead right. They can be pretty partial to beer There is the excess mulch part of mulchnet that you can register your excess mulch. This allows folks to rock up at yours with a trailer and help them selves to the left overs. It will be gone in no time. An ad in the trading post might get rid of excess mulch not used as well Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu where are you ?! 9Mar 10, 2010 6:43 pm Fu while you are at it, i am a little peeved at my green mulch after the weekend storms. I copped 70 mills of rain and the dirt was still dry under the mulch. It's on about 10-15 cm thick the top layer is dry and the mulch underneath damp. It has this white crusty stuff happening in spots which seems quite hard and water repellent. The exposed soil nearby is saturated compared to the mulched areas. Is this normal or should i have a thinner layer. Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu where are you ?! 10Mar 10, 2010 7:20 pm Is the soil under the mulch damp? These mulches keep moisture in the soil, not the mulch. I guess we are all used to seeing mulches that are wet, wet and at the surface where evaporation is at it's greatest. Also fungi grow very prolifically in these mulches and they create waxes that repel water. This doesn't mean that water stops going through it. It does with these mulches being open and made of non uniform particles. The soil about 1 inch below the surface should be moist. The soil above 1 inch will be dry. It is just as mother nature does it. The white crusty stuff may very well be fungi which break down these mulches and begin to start something more. It could also be salts which are leaching from the soil. This is particularly common where traditional macro fertilisers and liquid fertilisers are used in years past. Keep in mind also that wetting agents need to be used a heap more than just once or twice a year. Having moisture away from the surface makes plants send roots deeper and away from the surface as we see with composted black mulches. This is half the very point of greener mulches. The other half is that mulches do so much more than just keep water in the soil. They also create the soils we need for the long term sustainability of our gardens and becoming fertiliserwise Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu ! 12Mar 10, 2010 8:29 pm Southies Seems as though the eastern states are behind-the-times re many things horticultural. You may very well be right on that. here in the west we are incredibly isolated. We are horticulturally self sufficient in the worst soils in the world in a place that has the single greatest diversity of flowering plant life in Australia. There has to something going on? We also have some of the best Uni's looking at this stuff and the biggest public education programme in Australia with 40000 plus people attending Not only that other states have been known to turn to WA for water management advice and sometimes not the right way I think the east needs to start watch West Australia very carefully and learn from what we are learning and doing Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu ! 13Mar 10, 2010 8:32 pm Fu Manchu Southies Seems as though the eastern states are behind-the-times re many things horticultural. You may very well be right on that. here in the west we are incredibly isolated. We are horticulturally self sufficient in the worst soils in the world in a place that has the single greatest diversity of flowering plant life in Australia. There has to something going on? We also have some of the best Uni's looking at this stuff and the biggest public education programme in Australia with 40000 plus people attending Not only that other states have been known to turn to WA for water management advice and sometimes not the right way I think the east needs to start watch West Australia very carefully and learn from what we are learning and doing Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu where are you ?! 14Mar 10, 2010 8:37 pm Fu, In parts, no the soil is not damp where the mulch is hard white underneath. I poked a screw driver through the mulch into the soil in random spots and it goes deep so it must be moist (talking about tree mulch rings btw). Usually when there is a dry spell the clay becomes very hard. Come to think of it the white fungi is generally where the ground is quite compacted which is probably the reason why it is dry more so than the mulch fungi. While we are talking mulch, is it ok throw blood and bone or DL on top of the mulch, work it in a bit and water or do you need to move the mulch back? Same goes with seasol/powerfeed/molasses on top of mulch. Cheers, B Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu where are you ?! 15Mar 10, 2010 9:25 pm Yep and na Blood and bone is really good. Again it does more to feed soil microbes than it does to provide nitrogen to plants. The organisms in the mulch will love the blood and bone Just chuck it on and let the water do the work for you. I am a big believer in that if you have to dig it in, it isn't so good. Nothing in nature is dug in so why do we as humans feel so compelled to dig it in? It is Chewbaccaed. In other words it makes no sense. Chewbacca makes no sense Water should be the worker in any garden and if there is none around, make sure you do what you can to make it stay around. So that means no fertilisers. Just wetting agents and organic input. Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu where are you ?! 16Mar 10, 2010 10:17 pm I might ad that DL is something for the west coastal West Aussies to be wary of. Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu where are you ?! 17Mar 10, 2010 10:28 pm Might be a silly question but... what's DL and why is it bad? Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu where are you ?! 19Mar 10, 2010 11:25 pm We have some of the most alkaline soils in the world in coastal WA and even parts of SE South Aust. Do a pH test on it and it goes off the charts. It is chook poo. The City of Swan, Stirling, Joondalup, and Wanneroo have strict guidelines for the use of chook poo. My old boy when we moved here was obsessed with the stuff yet could never work out why the plants were always yellow and why the lawn was rubbish and why plants were stunted. Our pH was around 8.5 to 9. It has to do with this Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ However the above table isn't the be all end all. We begin to dip the toes into a very complex and misunderstood area. Many nursery staff base this table around the the reasons why your plants don't grow or have funny colours in the leaf. This table actually only becomes relative once you have good soil structure and health however. In those cases, it is pretty rare to have nutrient problems Feed the soil and never feed the plant. DL over east is very different and even in the NW of WA or in the wheatbelt towns. The soil structure and pH is more favourable for it. Down on the coastal plain where most of WA's population resides it is different I can use DL in my back garden because we have introduced and maintained some very good organic soil to a solid depth of 1m. If the folks next door were to do it, they'd be scratching their heads as to what the hell is going on. I don't use it by the way as my mulches and worm wee provide enough to allow the micro-organisms to do the work and naturally provide a good amount of nutrients to the plant Think of your soil like a swimming pool, if the pH isn't right the plants won't swim around and obtain the nutrients very well. Mildly acid to neutral allows plants to absorb the most nutrients. Stuffing around trying to change pH is such a desperate waste of time IMO. Much better to focus on the causes and that is nearly every time caused by poor soil health and structure. Fertilisers do not improve that situation one little bit. Re: GREEN MULCH - Fu where are you ?! 20Mar 10, 2010 11:29 pm I will also say that many clients of mine have fluffed about for years with adjusting pH and using fertilisers. Then I fix things by using foreign methods and no fertilisers and the garden turns around Feed the soil Forget about feeding the plant folks As for the original question before my waffle, over East DL can be excellent to add to mulches and garden beds as well as lawns. It offers superb organic material and can be really good in place of lime in composts, worm farms and for replacing lime in the garden. Looking to start the journey of becoming an owner builder in SA. Feeling pretty (overly) confident on the building and construction details, but really struggling to find… 0 8419 No. It's not original. Circa early to mid 90s would be my guess and maybe even as late as early 2000s 1 6632 A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 5807 |