Mulching - what can be used?

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by russell_c_cook, Oct 22, 2015.

  1. russell_c_cook

    russell_c_cook Junior Member

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    Hi everyone,

    I've had my allotment at Northey Street for a couple of monthhs now, and things are going satisfactorily, especially the tomatoes.

    I initially put down a fairly thin layer of sugar cane straw as mulch, and recently have been chopping up nut grass (they have no nuts, funnily enough, and I cut the root up thoroughly) and dropping it on top as more mulch. My logic is that once it's dried out it'll basically be straw, and this way the nutrients it took up stay in the bed.

    Is this advisable? Also, are there any things that are a definite bad idea for mulch? For example I've heard that bamboo leaves and black walnut leaves contain growth inhibitors so aren't a good idea.

    I've got a lot of leaves in my courtyard that I'd like to make use of, but would like to "look before I leap" and get some more info first.

    Any ideas would be great :)
     
  2. Flatland

    Flatland Member

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    I've tried killing nut grass and it will die the way you are using it but it can also be sneaky and put down roots through the mulch. To stop this I turned it a few times so that anything that was growing out turned over to face the sun and get dried out. Once it was totally dry it was fine
     
  3. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    I'm about to try drying a big pile of couch root. If nut grass is similar I'm with Flatland, don't put it on the garden too soon.

    I'd use black walnut leaves so long as they were mixed with other leaves. If they're your main source of leaves it would be worth doing an experiement. Put some in a bin, make leaf mould (leave for 6 months), and then try growing something easy in it. If that works, then you know you have a great resource in your yard. I'm not sure if the black walnut leaves have growth inhibitors or if it's the roots of the living tree that discourage other plants from growing there.
     
  4. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    Nut grasses are sedges, if you want to use them for mulch it is best to dry them completely before putting them down on soil or even in a mixed mulch.
    Black Walnut leaves have compounds in them that have the same allopathic properties as the roots. Dry them then compost them before use so the allopathic compounds are rendered inert.

    I have used things like shredded newspaper, shredded document paper, cardboard, along with all the "normal" mulching materials with good success.
    If you use pine needles, you will acidify the soil, if you use pine bark or pine chips you won't have as much acidity leach in as you do with the needles.

    One of my best performing beds started out with 8 inches of hardwood wood chips for mulch. I pulled this back to plant into, now two years later I can just plant directly into the mulch, no need to remove any of it. Mycorrhizal fungi have really taken off in this bed and every vegetable planted in this mulch bed does far better than the same plants in other beds.
     
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  5. russell_c_cook

    russell_c_cook Junior Member

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    Thanks for the replies everyone.

    Bryant, can you tell me more about why drying them out first would be better?
    What I've done so far is pull them up, chop them with scissors, then drop them down on the bed.

    I heard from the local nursery that using tomato plants as mulch is a big mistake, apparently they release harmful substances into the soil.
     
  6. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    in my experience with weeds and composting and also with how worms will work on various materials if you can dry them out completely that will also make it easier for the worms and fungi to break them down after they get rehydrated. this works well with all root crops and veggie stems that are otherwise difficult to break down if left alone.
     
  7. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    If it's a plant that propagates vigourously by root, the risk is that a small piece of root will regrow. For instance you wouldn't want to do this with comfrey, which can regrow if a small piece of root drops down into the mulch below. I also wouldn't do with this couch, because it is so strong at growing from root pieces. But I guess it depends on how small you chopped the nutgrass and how careful you were about putting it on top of mulch so it doesn't drop through. It might also not be that big a deal if you can easily pull out and bits that regrow. We don't have nutgrass here, so I don't know how big the risk is. I'd prefer to err on the side of caution and dry out the roots before putting them on.
     
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  8. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    that's a good point. Drying also breaks down the cell walls of plants making it easier for the nutrients to be released.
     
  9. russell_c_cook

    russell_c_cook Junior Member

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    Thanks again for all the feedback.

    I've been cutting the roots length wise before dropping to try and reduce the chance of the plant rerooting, but from now on I'll let it dry out first, with the added benefit of faster nutrient release.
     
  10. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    pebble, that is why i dry root crops before putting them in the worm farm, without drying a piece of carrot if i put that in the worm bins it will take weeks or months before it gets broken down by the worms, whereas, if dried and then added in it will be gone within a few days to a week. also, helps keep potato pieces from resprouting and growing...
     
  11. russell_c_cook

    russell_c_cook Junior Member

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    With the worm farm, I freeze then thaw my food scraps, which I also find hugely increases the speed with which the worms eat them.

    Off on a small tangent related to drying plants out, I've started doing some experiments to separate the lomandra fibres from the green stuff (cholorophyll?). So far I've tried soaking it from fresh for 15 days then scraping it and it seemed to work OK. I could try drying > soaking > scraping, this might be quicker and/or more thorough.
     
  12. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    Lots of good reasons to dry out plant materials have been mentioned by others. The process is important for all the reasons mentioned. Sedges are very strong growers and I've grown them from pieces of root as small as .25 cm. simply from dropping them on the ground. When you dry out green matter you are removing moisture from the cells without disrupting the cell walls. The now dry cell walls are brittle and this make it easier for the decomposers to chew through those cell walls and do their job of clean up crew. When you freeze fresh green plant materials the liquids become solid and expand, disrupting the cell walls and letting the liquids leak out (thawing will make this evident) With the cell walls broken the nutrients are immediately available for breakdown and take up by other organisms be they worms, fungi, roots or bugs. Both methods have their place.

    I use a third method of cellular disruption (blender) when I use my local fungi to make slurries which I like to pour around the drip lines of my orchard trees, the grape vines and in my gardens. By using the fungi that already call Asnikiye Heca home, I spread their mycorrhizal goodness to more of the soil and so enrich the land we use for growing our food. I also soak new seeds in a fungi slurry before planting and then use a diluted slurry to water in the new seed bed. This gives me a triple play so to speak and ensure that the new roots have access to mycorrhizal helpers.

    Russell, have you ever tried freezing the material you want the fibers from? It might be that freezing to break the cell walls, then drying to reduce moisture would make it even easier to gather those fibers. I tried this once with yucca and it worked a treat.
     
  13. russell_c_cook

    russell_c_cook Junior Member

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    Hi, Bryant.

    With the lomandra plant for fibres, so far I've tried:

    1) Scraping fresh
    2) Soaking 15 days then scraping
    3) Soaking 26 days then scraping

    I've dried some leaves/strands, so will also try soaking these pre-dried leaves/strands for a week, then scraping them.

    Next time I go down the community garden I'll get a little more and try freezing>thawing>scraping.

    Thanks for the idea - I plan to write a bit about my impressions once I've experimented a bit more.
     

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