mulching query

[actionad]

hi everyone looking to pick a few brains. i have a cedar to reduce very hard as the old wind did its thing and trashed it! its very precious to my client. im just wondering whether a mulch would help its recovery as its soil conditions are not ideal ie. grass and pretty compacted. thanks in advance

[sloth]

Mulch away see a thread on here with a title something like 'to mulch or not to mulch?' for inspiration and BS3998 for more details...

 

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Arbtalk mobile app

[felixthelogchopper]

Put some corrugated cardboard under the mulch to help with the decompaction. The glue in the cardboard attracts worms.

[Adam M]

And make sure you bung some piccies up!

[actionad]

thanks alot guys, did not know that about cardboard attracting worms, so im gonna mulch away and ill do my best to bung some photos up in next few weeks.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Put some corrugated cardboard under the mulch to help with the decompaction. The glue in the cardboard attracts worms.

 

That's very interesting. Is that by observation?

 

Cheers..

Paul

[Andrew Gale]

Well rotted mulch though, not the green stuff from the pruning exercise; the Woodland Trust's Ancient and Other Veteran Trees book has a good section on mulching too

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Hi Andrew,

 

Interestingly Glynn Percival's view here is that the benefits of (any) mulching, green or well composted, outweigh any risks of nitrogen depletion etc. If however you've got well composted available then that is clearly preferable.

 

Further he suggests chips from Rosaceae species to be best because of the higher sugar content...or similar.

 

All good stuff eh

 

Paul

[Andrew Gale]

Hi Paul, as you say, all good stuff, I guess a well established tree can weather the effects of possible nitrogen loss; however, a mature tree that's been knocked about by storms and lost a lot of growth may not be too keen on fresh stuff, possibly air on the side of caution?

 

Photo's before and after would be good; interesting about the Rosaceae wood chips, not heard of that.

 

Andrew

[treeseer]

Rosaceous chips aka hawthorn seemed to be fungistatic as well.../

 

If nature was hard on the tree, don't you be too hard on it, too! Best to just cut to the first good nodes behind the breaks; forget about collar cutting on storm damage. If the owner loves it s/he will wait for it to regain a natural form.

 

All the mulch and worms in the world won't restore the juice stored in limbs.