Properly
placing a quality wood mulch around your trees may very well save
their life, it will at the very least improve your trees' health.
Protection
from mowers and weed whackers
The
string from a weed whacker will damage and even strip the bark off
of older mature trees when they are assaulted on a regular basis.
Young trees don’t have a chance. Their bark is thin and soft,
it strips off very easily when hit by the string of a weed whacker.
All
trees have an extremely thin layer of live growing cells called Cambium.
As the tree grows part of the cambium produces a new ring of sapwood,
and part of it produces a new layer of bark. This thin delicate cambium
layer sandwiched between the sapwood and the bark is the living, cell
producing part of the tree and is very fragile. The cambium is protected
by the bark, so when the bark is stripped away the cambium is destroyed
and the tree will slowly die.
I
come across this type of deadly damage all the time; and I explain
that if a mulch ring had been placed around the tree instead of grass
it would have kept people and their dangerous weed whackers away from
the tree.
Moisture,
Temperature and Compaction Control
Wood
mulch does a very good job of helping to hold moisture in the soil
so tree roots are protected from drying out too quickly. Wood mulch
also insulates tree roots from extremely hot or cold temperatures.
Soil
will compact when it is walked on or run over by lawn mowers. Compacted
soil makes it much more difficult for the roots to grow and for the
roots to get oxygen (which is extremely important) out of the soil.
Compacted soil has claimed the life of many trees. Wood mulch helps
prevent soil from being compacted when it is walked on or run over
by lawn movers or other things. Wood mulch is one of the best ways
to protect your tree’s root system.
Improvement
of the Soil
As
wood mulch decomposes it adds organic matter to the soil along with
important minerals and nutrients. It helps provide the tree with nourishment
and it helps the micro organisms that live in the soil. The micro
organisms work the soil and build a better soil, so wood mulch over
time will help improve the soil and make a better growing environment
for trees to grow.
There
are so many reasons why you should have wood mulch around your trees
and I have only briefly covered some of the reasons here. Every tree
should have wood mulch around it, at least a ring to keep weed whackers
away.
Preservation
Tree Care Inc
At Preservation Tree Care Inc. our in-depth knowledge of trees and skill
at treating them, make us leaders in the Science and Art of Preserving
Trees.
Mark
is a Board Certified Master Arborist and President of Preservation Tree
Care Inc.
