Pros and cons of bark mulching and how to make the material yourself

Modern plant care involves the use of protective coatings for the soil. It is recommended to use organic and inorganic materials. One of the most popular agrotechnical procedures remains bark mulching. This process helps to achieve a number of beneficial effects - retain moisture in the soil, avoid the active development of weeds, and prevent plant hypothermia.

Why do you need mulch on the site?

Mulching is an agricultural method that involves covering the soil with organic or inorganic material. This manipulation is carried out when growing crops in open ground or in greenhouse conditions.

Thanks to this procedure, the following results can be obtained:

• retain moisture in the soil;
• avoid overcooling of crops;
• protect roots from overheating;
• prevent the loss of useful elements from the earth;
• avoid the development of weeds;
• protect the top layer of soil from erosion;
• decorate the area.

Pros and cons of bark mulch

Tree bark is often used for mulching because it has a number of benefits.

These include the following:

1. Ecological cleanliness. The substance does not produce hazardous substances.
2. Durability. The material does not need to be completely changed - it is enough to update the top layer of soil.
3. Sustainability. Thanks to this, the bark does not fly away in the wind.
4. Preventing moisture evaporation. This allows you to reduce the number of waterings.
5. Good flow of moisture to the roots. This eliminates the need to move the mulch away before watering.
6. Protection of roots from low temperatures.
7. Prevention of weed growth. This helps save time on weeding.
8. Possibility to feed and acidify the soil.
9. Excellent decorative properties.

At the same time, bark mulch also has disadvantages:

1. Risk of rotting. Most often this problem occurs when the mulch layer is too thick.
2. Lack of quick results from soil mulching.
3. Risk of accumulation of mice and rodents under the mulch. Pests can destroy young plants.

In what cases is it used?

It is recommended to mulch the beds in early spring. You should first make sure that the soil is well moistened.Of no small importance is the removal of perennial weeds and the application of necessary fertilizing.

It is also permissible to mulch in mid- or late autumn. In this case, it is necessary to remove large weeds and, if necessary, apply winter fertilizers. It is recommended to renew organic mulch once a year.

Preparation

To use bark as a mulching material, it is necessary to remove defective fragments and then treat it with aseptic or insecticidal agents. Then the bark needs to be dried for 5-15 days in a well-ventilated place.

At the next stage, the material needs to be crushed:

• break by hand;
• process with a garden shredder;
• lay out in an even layer and go over the material several times with a scarifier.

Instructions for use

It is permissible to use different types of bark as mulching material. Each of them has certain characteristics.

Pine

Pine bark is considered the most common type of mulch. This wood is most often used in carpentry and furniture production. People who live near groves can collect the bark with their own hands. If the procedure is carried out correctly, it will not harm the trees, since the sap flows along the inside of the bark. In this case, the outer part includes only dead cells.

However, it is much better to use fallen bark. In this case, you don’t have to worry about the tree getting any damage. In addition, the material can be obtained from a sawmill or woodworking plant.

It is important to consider that pine bark provokes soil acidification. This is due to the activity of microorganisms that ensure rotting of the material. However, the acidifying effect is not pronounced.

larches

Larch bark is considered rarer than pine because it is not used in carpentry and is rarely used for making furniture. Therefore, you have to look for material at sawmills. This type of bark is characterized by high strength. It contains a lot of oils, which reduces the rate of decay. At the same time, the substance also causes acidification of the soil, so it is important to properly mulch the beds so as not to harm the plants.

Fruit trees

When pruning fruit trees, branches are formed. They can also be used to make mulch. This material can be used for agricultural and decorative mulching of many crops. The exception is coniferous plants, on which the bark of fruit trees has a negative effect.

Other types

To improve the soil composition, it is worth using the following materials:

• shavings;
• sawdust;
• chopped straw;
• wood chips;
• hay or tops.

By rotting the crushed wood, it is possible to achieve high-quality loosening of the soil. At the same time, the green mass contains many useful elements.

In addition, these materials rot much faster. This is especially true when adding bird or animal excrement to the composition. It is also permissible to use special medications.

Also, to improve the soil structure and increase yield parameters, it is worth adding rotted bedding for pets. This is due to the presence of the following components:

• crushed wood, which improves the structure of the soil;
• manure or litter, which contains many valuable components and activates the development of necessary microorganisms;
• urea, which compensates for nitrogen losses.

The most common errors in use

When laying mulch, many gardeners make a number of mistakes. They negatively affect the development of cultivated plants. The main errors include the following:

1. Covering dry ground. The fact is that the bark hardly allows moisture to pass through. Therefore, precipitation cannot fully wet dry soil. This negatively affects the development of cultivated plants. To avoid such problems, you need to water the beds well before placing mulch.
2. Use of bark before the emergence of cultivated plants. Wood mulch does not transmit the sun's rays well, which are required for sprouts to appear. Therefore, the first shoots appear later than expected. It is permissible to cover the beds with a mulch layer after the appearance of young plants.
3. Violation of the optimal distance between mulch and crop. If you place the material too close, the plant may deteriorate in the area of ​​contact with it. In addition, too dense placement of the material leads to problems with the growth of side shoots. To properly mulch the beds, you need to maintain an interval of 35 centimeters.