Talk:Mulch

Application
I removed:

Mulch is usually applied towards the beginning of the growing season, and may be reapplied as necessary. It serves initially to warm the soil by helping it retain heat. This allows early seeding and transplanting of certain crops, and encourages faster growth. As the season progresses, the mulch stabilizes temperature and moisture, and prevents sunlight from supporting germinated weed seed.

Because this is incorrect, and replaced it with:

In temperate climates, the effect of mulch is dependent upon the time of year at which it is applied as it tends to slow changes in soil temperature and moisture content. Mulch, when applied to the soil in late winter/early spring, will insulate the soil, thus slowing the warming of the soil, and will hold in moisture by preventing evaporation. Mulch, when applied at the time of peak soil temperatures in mid-summer, will maintain high soil temperatures further into the autumn (fall). The affect of mulch upon soil moisture content in mid-summer is complex however. Mulch prevents sunlight prom reaching the soil surface, thus reducing evaporation. However, mulch can absorb much of the rainfall provided during short showers, which will later quickly evaporate when exposed to sunlight, thus preventing absorption into the soil, whilst heavy showers are able to saturate the mulch layer, and reach the soil below.

In order to maximise the benefits of mulch, it is often applied in late spring/early summer when soil temperatures have rose sufficiently, but soil moisture content is still relatively high.

I added to this the example of permanent mulch, which is a simpler system, much beloved of gardeners and popularized in the late Fifties by Ruth Stout. — Preceding unsigned comment added by RobertPlamondon (talk • contribs) 16:18, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Tobacco dust
I removed...


 * A useful organic mulch is tobacco shavings, technically called tobacco dust, which repels most insects and kills some.

...because tobacco dust is an insecticide, not a mulch. It is also relatively rare, and can be problematic (toxic; tobacco mosaic virus). It should be in organic pesticides. Tsavage 02:13, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Rubber mulch article
I moved all of the rubber mulch info to a new article. Phasmatisnox 10:03, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

mulch
tang ina nio —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.60.241.116 (talk) 08:26, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

mulch
gago tang ina niyo puta kau pukining ina nyo —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.60.241.116 (talk) 08:28, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Question
how is it called in English, this material that you put under the mulch to prevent weeds from developing roots??? If there's an article about it, it should be in 'see also' section78.131.137.50 (talk) 10:29, 22 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Are you referring to a weed mat? Nil Einne (talk) 09:01, 29 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Some coverings are mentioned at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weed_control#Coverings, in the article ´Weed control´ (Redirected from Weed mat), but misses at least cardboard, as from the Back to Eden Gardening Method. --Visionhelp (talk) 06:45, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

Water evaporation and temperature
Some fun facts: "Up to 250 cubic metres of mulch is produced each fortnight, after which it’s lined up in steaming “wind rows” to decompose. “Because all that activity is taking place inside, it gets really hot – up to 70C,” says Barnes. “Gardeners used to stick a jacket potato into the middle when they got to work. By lunchtime it would be cooked through.” Mulching saves Kew up to £500,000 a year in waste disposal and compost. “It’s great during a hosepipe ban, because it suppresses weed growth and helps plants keep in water by stopping evaporation.”" Malick78 (talk) 11:06, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

Colorant Additives
I added information about colorant additives. Ref "[7] Product Safety Assessment - DOW™ Monoisopropanolamine" has an error in it that I can't see, causing it to render improperly. Can anyone spot why it doesn't render correctly? Thanks! Also, one of my refs is a document posted to my Google Drive and made public. The original source downloads without the PDF mimetype and with a filename that lacks the ".pdf" extension. Not sure on best practices for relocating refs under conditions like this. Jizzbug (talk) 17:38, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I've partially reverted your addition as I couldn't find any mention in the given references on mulches having weedkilling effects etc. You seem to have undertaken a bit of WP:SYNTH. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 00:18, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Mulches are intended in part to keep weeds from growing, and the color additive has an herbicidal effect and is a primary ingredient in several herbicides. The flammability characteristics were established by the recent change in formulation of a popular mulch colorant, by showing the change in the Material Safety Data Sheet. You want me to find a separate ref saying MIPA is an herbicide, rather than letting people click thru on the wiki link and read it for themselves? Recently I had a pile of colored mulch that dissolved rather than smothered the entire patch of green prairie it was sitting on for just a few days, that's why I looked this stuff up. My natural mulch smothers the ground, my colored mulch dissolves and defoliates the ground. I'll find more refs to re-introduce the herbicidal effects, but the flammability effect was already documented via changes in one colorant's formulation and its corresponding hazard warnings (hence 2007 datasheet vs 2010 datasheet in refs). Jizzbug (talk) 16:03, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Just because the colour additive is an ingredient in herbicides does not mean that on its own it has a herbicidal effect, nor that it has been added to the mulch for that purpose. You seem to be taking one or two pieces of information and expanding and combining them to draw an original conclusion, which isn't appropriate here. Part of what I removed stated "Isopropanolamine is a key ingredient to glyphosate formulations and other herbicides. Mulch being intended in part to suppress weed growth, the pigment dispersant in mulch may be chosen due to its herbicidal properties, exaggerating this beneficial effect of mulches", which is pure speculation. Glyphosate works as a herbicide only when it enters the tissue of a plant, which occurs only via the leaves, be it as a result of direct application or indirectly from evaporation of applied product on hot days. It is not taken up by plant roots, and once in the soil it biodegrades rapidly, so even if the colour additive contained pure glyphosate (and not just a component of it), applying it within a mulch to the soil would have minimal or zero herbicidal effect on germinating weeds, and may - via evaporation on hot days just after application - damage existing plants. Only add to Wikipedia what a source directly states (and obviously reword it to avoid violating copyright). Do not extrapolate to draw new conclusions. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 08:46, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
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 * Added tag to http://www.eau.ee/~agronomy/vol07Spec1/p7sI53.pdf
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140316003547/http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_0438/0901b803804389e1.pdf to http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_0438/0901b803804389e1.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130616074850/http://www.mulchandsoilcouncil.org/faqs/mulch.php to http://www.mulchandsoilcouncil.org/faqs/mulch.php
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090331080829/http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort/factsheets2/landsmaint/jul94pr5.html to http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort/factsheets2/landsmaint/jul94pr5.html

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Mulch also used in circus round?95.91.251.18 (talk) 08:36, 26 December 2020 (UTC)
Isn't mulch not also used to cover the ground of the round or performing area of a circus, is it? I'm looking for the correct expression of the material used there and I'm still not sure if it is also called mulch. In German we call this 'Lohe'. Thanks, R. Drechsler https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Mulch&action=edit&section=new


 * Some have used tanbark, which is Shredded tree bark or sawdust to cover circus arena grounds. I would not call it mulch exactly but its a common use for the materials. In a circus it functions to keep the area clean from spills and animal excrement and as a cushion to soften falls on the harder grounds. Hardyplants (talk) 09:15, 26 December 2020 (UTC)