The value of dust mulch for conservation of moisture has been pretty well discredited by experimental comparisons.
However, frost injury was more severe on mulched plats, and Emerson points out that the mulch should not be applied until the plants are well established.
When all frost is over place pans under them, mulch the surface with old manure, and supply freely with air and water.
It is a good plan to mulch the roots with leaf-mould or well-rotted manure.
Mulch the roots, and keep the plants supplied with water in dry seasons.
For exhibition purposes remove the middle bud, mulch the ground with some good rotten soil from an old turf heap, and occasionally give a little manure water.
The winter mulch need not be laboriously raked from the garden- bed or field, and then carted back again.
The wintermulch need not prevent this spring culture.
If early fruit is desired, the mulchcan be raked aside and the ground worked between the rows, as soon as danger of severe frost is over.
About the middle of April, 1878, the coarsest part of this mulch was raked off the strawberry plants, and left in the spaces between the rows, the finer portion being left among the plants.
Let the winter mulch not only coyer the row, but reach a foot on either side.
The mulch too often is scattered over a comparatively hard surface, which, by the following June has become so solid as to suffer disastrously from drought in the blossoming and bearing season.
We plant strawberries one foot apart in the row, and the rows are three feet apart We mulchearly in spring, and cultivate by horse-power after the bearing season is over.
It has been said that merely pushing the winter mulch aside sufficiently to let the new growth come through is all that is needed.
A liberal summer mulch under and around the plants not only keeps the fruit clean, but renders a watering much more lasting, by shielding the soil from the sun.
In the spring, this winter mulch is left upon the ground as the summer mulch, the new growth in most instances pushing its way through it readily.
I admit that the results are often satisfactory under this method, especially if there has been deep, thorough culture in the fall, and if the mulch between and around the plants is very abundant.
Dry ground covered with mulch may be kept dry all summer.
The stems have several advantages: they are cheaper than dust; they serve as a mulch to keep the ground off the fruit; and when dug in about the bush, they make an excellent manure.
After the plants are in position mulch the ground with rotten manure, and when growth is being made in summer give liberal applications of manure water to induce free growth.
I told him about digging in this mulch yesterday before the dahlias sprouted, and he hasn't done it.
A good mulch may often produce a larger increase of growth than an application of manure.
We might as well speak of rain as manure as to call a mulch manure.
Other forms of mulch have been suggested, but the soil mulch is the only practical one.
When a crop like corn or cotton or potatoes is cultivated, the fine, loose dirt stirred by the cultivating-plow will make a mulch that serves to keep water in the soil in the same way that the plank kept moisture under it.
This stirring will form a mulch of dry soil on the surface, and this will hold the water.
Cultivation after each rain forms a dry mulch on the top of the soil and thus prevents rapid evaporation of moisture.
The mulch also helps to absorb the rains and prevents the water from running off the surface.
To provide a mulch of dry soil so as to prevent the evaporation of moisture.
Of course the plants should be worked often enough to give clean culture and to provide a soil mulch for saving moisture.
While the ground was still frozen this mulch was placed near the trees, to be used as soon as the sun had warmed the earth.
To do this, the mulch was turned back and the surface for a space of three feet all around the tree was loosened by hoe or mattock, and the mulch was then returned.
The fall mulch of manure, if used, is more for warmth than for fertility; it is a blanket for the roots, but much of its value is leached away by the suns and rains of winter.
Less nitrogen and more phosphoric acid and potash are to be used, and the mulch should not be removed in the early spring.
Nothing was done to a pair of control pots, fertilizer was blended in and grass sod grown on two others, while mulch was spread over two more.
If you mulch with grass clippings, make sure the neighbors aren't using "weed and feed" type fertilizers, or the clippings may cause the plants that are mulched to die.
Yes, gardening under permanent year-round mulch seems easy, but it does have a few glitches.
The gardener merely rakes back the mulch and exposes a few inches of bare soil, scratches a furrow, and covers the seed with humusy topsoil.
I know this to be the truth because I've had to do just that both in California where as a novice gardener I had my first mulch catastrophes, and then when I moved to Oregon, I gave mulching another trial with similar sad results.
Try permanent mulch in the deep South, or California where I was first disappointed with mulching, or the Maritime northwest where I now live, and a catastrophe develops.
Except where germinating seeds, the mulch layer is thick enough to prevent weed seeds from sprouting.
If your compost is intended for use as mulch around perennial beds or to be screened and broadcast atop lawns, then having a nitrogen-poor product is of little consequence.
That's why leaving bare earth exposed to the hot summer sun often retards plant growth and why many thoughtful gardeners either put down a thin mulch in summer or try to rapidly establish a cooling leaf canopy to shade raised beds.
Buckwheat hulls are popular as a mulch because they adsorb moisture easily, look attractive, and stay in place.
If composted organic matter is spread like mulch atop the ground on lawns or around ornamentals and allowed to remain there its nitrogen content and C/N are not especially important.
If tilling your compost into soil seems to slow the growth of plants, then mulch with it and avoid tilling it in, or adjust the C/N down by adding fertilizers like seed meal when tilling it in.
Year-round mulchproduces a number of synergistic advantages.
After setting, the surface soil should be made loose, so as to act as a mulch and prevent the loss of moisture from the packed lower layer.
After the removal of the mulch in the spring no special care is needed in cultivation.
The seedlings should be protected with a mulch of straw, leaves or other material during winter.
After the soil is thoroughly soaked with water, a good mulch will hold the moisture.
Winter Mulch usually consists of leaves, straw, hay, rough manure, boughs of evergreens, or any coarse material that will protect the plants from severe freezing and the heaving caused by alternate freezing and thawing.
Ordinarily the Mulch may be placed on to the depth of 4 to 6 inches, and if it is of loose material it may be still deeper.
This earth Mulch is made by breaking the crust of the soil and leaving it in fine particles.
If the season is dry, a mulch of straw or leaves will assist the plants to establish themselves.
When it is impossible to furnish water, it would be a good plan to mulch heavily with straw or some other substance.
In common with all perennial herbs, they are benefited by a winter mulch of leaves or litter.
As the ground becomes warm a mulch of leaf-mold or other light material should be spread over the bed to retain moisture and exclude heat.
Each fall it may have a mulch of rotted manure or of leaf-mold, which may be spaded under deeply in the spring; or the land may be spaded and left rough in the fall, which is a good practice when the soil has much clay.
MULCH is used both in protecting plants from the severe freezing of winter and the severe drought of summer.
If the season should be dry, a mulch of coarse litter may be spread around the vine.
It answers much the same purpose as a mulch of straw or leaves in interposing a material between the moist soil and the air through which the moisture cannot rise.
A mulch of leaf-mold or old manure will be helpful in keeping the soil moist and the roots cool.
Mulch all tender or half hardy plants (see Mulch).
Then mulch with old forest leaves that have begun to decay.
Use the mulch and reduce the shade to the proper density.
As to the direction of this slope I am not particular so long as there is a rich soil, plenty of shade and mulch covering the beds.
We cultivate by letting the leaves from the trees drop down upon the bed in the fall as a mulch and then in the early spring we burn the leaves off the bed.
The mulch is as essential to the healthy growth of the Ginseng plant as clothing is to the comfort and welfare of man; it can thrive without it no more than corn will grow well with it.
If very heavy, perhaps a portion of the mulch may need to be removed, but don't!
The leaves drop down upon my Golden Seal and mulch it sufficiently.
Temperature is as important as shade and the plants will do better with plenty of mulch and leaves on the beds and considerable sun than with no mulch, dry hard beds and the ideal shade.
No leaves or mulch make stalks too low and stunted.
Now, this is absolutely wrong, because the mulchand leaves keep the ground from becoming packed by rains, preserves an even moisture thru the dry part of the season and equalizes the temperature.
Let the mulch be about three or four inches deep and held on by a few light brush.
I see where some few think that the mulch should be taken off in the spring, which I think is all wrong.
The mulch is of the first importance, for the plants will do much better with the mulch and little shade than without mulch and with plenty of shade.
Mulch from the woods is being brought, and violets.
Much water helps, but they must breathe, and sometimes mulchkeeps them too cold.
The soil and horse manure mulch seemed to hold the heat very well, the frequent steamings keeping up fermentation in the mulch.
Some recommend leaving the seedless plants as a mulch during the winter, but the possible benefit of this is so insignificant that it is not worth while to leave them for a second cleaning in spring, when time is far more valuable.
Frequent and thorough cultivation is necessary not only to keep down the weeds, but also to prevent the formation of a crust on the soil after rain, and to provide a mulch of loose earth for the retention of moisture.
While this may be true in a wet or moderately moist summer, in a season of drouth the additional mulch of mellow soil can not but be beneficial to the young and tender plants.
WEBER: Will you get the same results if you put a mulch under the tree?
That mulch of loose leaves will protect the sprouted nuts perfectly during the winter in Connecticut, so they all start growing in the next spring.
I find that the pecan tree starts off nicely under the mulch fertilizer conditions of the apple.
When your seedlings are six inches high, if you thoroughly mulchthem with fine straw or manure, you will be troubled with no more weeds, and your trees will get a strong growth.
Shake the fine earth as closely around the roots as possible, mulch well, and pour on a pailful of tepid water, if it be rather a dry time, and the tree will be sure to live and make a good growth the first year.
Mulch thoroughly in the fall, and thus protect from frost until they have been set in the hedge for three years, and they may succeed and make a good live fence.
When you plant only a few in a garden, mulch your musk-melons with chips or sawdust from the wood-yard, or leaves and decayed wood from the forest, and you will get a great growth.
Hoeing keeps the soil cool and moist in hot weather, the loose layer acting like a mulch of straw.
The mulch of straw or dried grass was found to have the same effect in conserving the water as the loose layer of soil obtained by hoeing.
The mulch is a covering of material that does not readily permit the escape of water.
The early clipping and the mulch cause increase in yield of seed.
The only available material for a mulch in most instances is the soil itself.
When the usual time for heading comes, all stock should be removed, and when heads do appear, the growth should be clipped with a mower and left as a mulch on the surface.
The harrow follows to make a mulch of fine, loose soil at the surface to assist in prevention of evaporation.
Illustration: Making an earth mulchin a New York orchard.
The mulch it provides favors the holding of moisture in the soil, and it promotes friendly bacterial action.
The amount of humus thus obtained is large, and the benefit of the mulch is an important item.
The blades are so placed that they slip under the surface, letting the soil fall back so that a mulch is formed.
When winter comes, there should be sufficient grass to serve as a mulch to the roots.
I mulch my orchard late in the fall with coarse manure; would advise it on all soils, unless very rich.
I mulchmy trees; think it beneficial, but would not advise it on all soils.
I do not cultivate my orchard, butmulch it with hay for four years.
It is beneficial tomulch with old hay or straw in drought.
At five years from planting we sow the ground to clover, and this with other growths, such as weeds, is left on the ground as a mulch and fertilizer.
After all trees were out I gave each one a slight mulch of sorghum refuse.
I mulch my orchard with stable litter and straw; would not advise its use on all soils.
I mulch my orchard to retain moisture; would not advise it on all soils, as the moles make their home in it and soon kill the trees.
After the orchard is seven or eight years old, I should leave it in clover and weeds, mowing two or three times a year to make a mulch and prevent tall growth of weeds.
Keep a dust mulch on by cultivation; few know the great value of a dust mulch.
I mulch my orchard with straw, and plow every three or four years.
For rabbits I wrap the trees with corn-stalks, and for borers I mulch and keep the trees growing.
I mulch my trees with straw, and think it beneficial.
Mulch hybrid perpetuals if a dry season, and give liquid manure for the second blooming.
Mulch with short grass during hot, dry weather, and use liquid manure upon hybrid teas and teas every two weeks, immediately after watering or a rain.
The climbing roses of arbours, if in very exposed situations, in addition to the mulch of straw and manure, may have corn stalks stacked against the slats, which makes a windbreak well worth the trouble.
Uncover bushes, prune, and have the winter mulch thoroughly dug in.
The soil beneath a mulch not only has a moderately low temperature during summer, but its temperature is also exceptionally uniform, varying not more than a degree or two between day and night and only a few degrees from day to day.
In dry weather a lighted match or cigar dropped upon the mulch may easily start a conflagration that it may be impossible to stop until the orchard is destroyed.
The cost of the mulch will of course depend much upon the price at which the material may be obtained.
A mulch of manure, straw, or leaves forms a good protection, but care should be taken that the mulch does not contain seeds of any kind or serious trouble will attend the further cultivation of the crop.
The soil moisture beneath a good mulch is also more abundant and much more nearly uniform in amount than in case of bare ground, even though the latter is given good tillage.
In muck soils it will not be found necessary to mulch the ground around the plants after setting, but some kind of a covering is desirable on sandy and clay soils.
It is a substitute for cultivation, and it is generally cheaper to maintain a soilmulch by frequent cultivation than to apply litter.
The stirring of the soil for the purpose of holding the weeds in check and preserving a soil mulch over the area occupied by the growing crop, is the important factor to be considered in culture.
The value for seed purposes of tubers grown under a litter mulch has been tested during two seasons at the experiment station.
On the whole this work seems to indicate that on the farm where cultivation of the garden is likely to be neglected in midsummer, a mulch of straw can be used profitably as a substitute.
The roots of celery, after it is once transplanted, run close to the surface, and the mulch will protect them from the heat of the sun.
In the colder parts of the country it may be desirable to mulch slightly during the winter to prevent the plants heaving out of the soil.
All moisture should be withheld and a dust mulch over the surface preserved by running a sweep over the plantation once or twice more, and then the vines should be allowed to take possession of the territory.
This being the case, why should not potatoes grown under a litter mulch be especially well developed and therefore make strong seed?
A heavy mulch of decayed manure will supply them with food and check evaporation.
They should be kept scrupulously free from weeds, and it may be evident that a mulch of decayed manure is necessary to protect and strengthen them for a rich display of colour in the spring.
Water must be freely and regularly given during dry weather, either in the morning or in the evening; and a mulch of old manure spread over the bed will prevent evaporation, and save the ground from caking hard.
Put them in rather deep, tread in firmly, and lay on any rough mulch that may be handy.
The earthing up of the rows affords valuable protection to the roots of the plants, and a light mulch of thoroughly decayed manure will prove very helpful in a dry season.
A mulchof decayed manure will prove of great benefit to the plants and will prolong the period of bearing.
If the mulch cannot be afforded, water must be given, and to water the furrows in advance is better than watering after the planting, as a few observations will effectually prove.
After the fruit has set, a mulch of decayed manure will aid the plants in finishing a heavy crop.
As the flowering time approachesmulch the ground with well-decayed manure.
In the autumn, rake the mulch away and top-dress the soil on both sides for the space of two or three feet outward from the stems with well-decayed manure.
Should periods of drought ensue during the growing season, it would be well to rake the mulch one side, and saturate the ground around the young tree with an abundance of water, and the mulch afterward spread as before.
Now that the tree is planted, any kind of coarse manure spread to the depth of two or three inches on the surface as a mulch is very useful.
If the soil immediately about the plants is covered when dry, the mulch may keep it dry--to the great detriment of the forming berries.
Without this mulchthe fruit is usually unfit for the table.
Make it a rule to mulch as soon as possible after the plants begin to blossom, and also after a good soaking rain.
Then level the ground, and cover the row with a light mulch of stable-manure as you would strawberries.
It is usually best to put on the mulch as soon as the early cultivation is over in April, and then the bed may be left till the fruit is picked.
My next step during the second season is to mulch the plants, in order to keep the fruit clean.
Mulch at once, and water abundantly the first summer during dry periods.
Then a mulchof coarse manure is helpful, for it keeps the surface moist, and its richness will reach the roots gradually in a diluted form.
Mulch also plays an important part on heavy clay, for it prevents the soil from baking and cracking.
We have had several instances where a summer-applied mulch has seriously robbed the tree of needed moisture during dry weather.
In the meadow where we planted honey locust, and on a rocky knoll with oaks, the first year we applied a shovelful of night soil and a light mulch of leaf compost.
Sufficient manure was available to make it possible to complete a manure mulch around these trees.
Since this sod-mulch treatment was applied the trees have done very much better, making fine growth and maintaining a large leaf area of good color.
Our conclusions therefore are that nut plantations should be placed in sod as soon as possible and a mulch established the fall of the year the grass is sown.
It was amazing the life activity that was created under this mulch by the next spring.
Mice were controlled by pulling the mulch 3 inches from the tree in early fall and with poisoned wheat under the mulch.
The plantation may be seeded down in the early spring but mulch should not be added until late fall.
We soon found that the treatment was not good enough for the trees and we then changed to a grass sod with mulcharound each tree within the spread of the branches.
