5 Important Reasons Why You Should Mulch Around Your Trees

With Spring feeling more like Winter in Monmouth County this year, many people are holding off with their flower and tree planting in anticipation of warmer weather. 

Regardless of how long you decide to wait, there's one very important thing businesses and homeowners alike, should be mindful of. Mulching around flower beds makes for great curb appeal and has numerous benefits in addition to augmenting the natural beauty of the garden. 

1. Mulch insulates the soil helping to provide a buffer from heat and cold temperatures.
2. Mulch retains water helping to keep the roots moist.
3. Mulch keeps weeds out to help prevent root competition.
4. Mulch prevents soil compaction.
5. Mulch reduces lawn mower damage.​

        (source: Arbor Day Foundation)

Mulching around trees, however, can be a life or death process if not done properly.

Planting new trees is expensive, especially on larger properties, so it's imperative that property owners mulch properly to protect their investment. It's important to know that there is a right way and a wrong way to put down mulch. In fact, if done poorly, mulch can cause a tree to kill itself.

In Kathy Purdy's article, Mulch Can Kill Trees, she discusses how poorly laid mulch can truly harm a tree.  "When you put mulch around the trunk of a tree and cover the root flare, you are covering up parts of the tree that were meant to be exposed to air. The excess moisture can cause rot, but the trunk of the tree is supposed to have access to air, and by piling up mulch against the bark you are preventing this. If the mulch is left there long enough, the tree will try to compensate by growing adventitious roots. Unfortunately, these same roots can wind up wrapping around the tree and girdling it."
 She goes on to write that "this is how a tree ultimately ends up killing itself. So we have three ways improper mulching can kill a tree: 1. rot, 2. suffocation, 3. girdling.