one-month old new mulch done by pros already seen weeds

[Anonymous]

newbie here but didn't expect to see weeds growing through mulch already, or was it not done right? did they forget to spray chemicals? what do i do now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what do i do now?

Pull the weeds?

Mulch isn't going to prevent the stubborn weeds from finding their way through. If you have a lot of weeds, it is possible that the mulch wasn't put down thick enough, but even that is not a guarantee. The other issue is the quality of the mulch. If you bought bagged or bulk mulch from a nursery, it is high quality, but if you got free mulch from the county, they make that stuff out of yard waste, so you never know what's in that stuff.

Oh, and most people don't spray when they use mulch. That's kind of the point, that mulch is a better way to prevent weeds than putting down chemicals.

[Anonymous]

That’s normal. Especially with all this rain.

[Anonymous]

Mulch can help with weeds, OP, but it isn't weedblock. You have to weed by hand. The good thing is that weeds that root in mulch are usually a lot easier to pull out. Spraying chemicals doesn't prevent weeds. You can spray the weeds and they will die, but new ones will appear.

You can have the landscapers put down weedblock (fabric) under the mulch that will keep new weeds from sprouting up for a year or maybe two. Some weed seeds will blow in and root in the mulch on top of the weedblock fabric and you'll need to pull those. You could do weedblock fabric covered by stone mulch and that will be slower to get weeds.

Another approach is not to use either fabric or much mulch, but instead densely plant ground cover that will suppress weeds and I think looks a lot nicer than bare mulch.

[Anonymous]

How much mulch was applied? A six to eight inch layer will keep weeds down. If its just a light covering they'll grow through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much mulch was applied? A six to eight inch layer will keep weeds down. If its just a light covering they'll grow through.

Six to eight inches? That's a ridiculous amount of mulch, and if piled around trees at that depth, will do more harm than good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much mulch was applied? A six to eight inch layer will keep weeds down. If its just a light covering they'll grow through.

Six to eight inches? That's a ridiculous amount of mulch, and if piled around trees at that depth, will do more harm than good.

Why would I pile it around trees?
I covered bare spots in my yard and no weeds now.

[Anonymous]

Do people really spray chemicals and then pile on 6-8 inches of mulch? That isn’t gardening. Why even have a yard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people really spray chemicals and then pile on 6-8 inches of mulch? That isn’t gardening. Why even have a yard?

I put 6 or more inches of straw mulch on my vegetable garden. Minimal weeds, minimal need for watering and the straw breaks down nicely by the end of the season. The rest of the yard where I don't have grass get several inches of pine bark mulch. Paths and edges get a thick layer of woodchips that I obtain for free from tree services. It works very well for me. No need for chemicals if you smother the weeds enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people really spray chemicals and then pile on 6-8 inches of mulch? That isn’t gardening. Why even have a yard?

I put 6 or more inches of straw mulch on my vegetable garden. Minimal weeds, minimal need for watering and the straw breaks down nicely by the end of the season. The rest of the yard where I don't have grass get several inches of pine bark mulch. Paths and edges get a thick layer of woodchips that I obtain for free from tree services. It works very well for me. No need for chemicals if you smother the weeds enough.

6" of straw is a bit different than 6" of shredded hardwood mulch or 6" of tree service wood chips

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people really spray chemicals and then pile on 6-8 inches of mulch? That isn’t gardening. Why even have a yard?

I put 6 or more inches of straw mulch on my vegetable garden. Minimal weeds, minimal need for watering and the straw breaks down nicely by the end of the season. The rest of the yard where I don't have grass get several inches of pine bark mulch. Paths and edges get a thick layer of woodchips that I obtain for free from tree services. It works very well for me. No need for chemicals if you smother the weeds enough.

6" of straw is a bit different than 6" of shredded hardwood mulch or 6" of tree service wood chips

That was the whole point? Different mulch for different purposes. I like gardening, not weeding so a one-time effort at the start of the season keeps things much easier.

[Anonymous]

Pull the weed and then spread Preen. Preen does a decent job controlling weed but mulch is a breading ground for weed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people really spray chemicals and then pile on 6-8 inches of mulch? That isn’t gardening. Why even have a yard?

I put 6 or more inches of straw mulch on my vegetable garden. Minimal weeds, minimal need for watering and the straw breaks down nicely by the end of the season. The rest of the yard where I don't have grass get several inches of pine bark mulch. Paths and edges get a thick layer of woodchips that I obtain for free from tree services. It works very well for me. No need for chemicals if you smother the weeds enough.

6" of straw is a bit different than 6" of shredded hardwood mulch or 6" of tree service wood chips

That was the whole point? Different mulch for different purposes. I like gardening, not weeding so a one-time effort at the start of the season keeps things much easier.

I'm the first PP, not the last PP, but I'm pretty sure the OP wasn't asking about straw mulch around veggie beds. Otherwise she wouldn't be asking about chemicals, right? She's talking about those vast beds of mulch, sometimes dotted with plants, that people seem to think are necessary to make a yard look neat and trim. It drives me nuts. And you don't need to "smother" the weeds with 6 inches of mulch (!!!) no matter what, but especially if you plant enough plants.

[Anonymous]

If the mulch was just put down a month ago, that is pretty late in season...and combined with all the rain, I'm not surprised you have some weeds. A thicker layer of mulch will usually help keep weeds at bay longer.

I don't think it is the norm to spray a weed killer prior to mulching. But, I had that done last year in patch where I had a lot of weeds and few plants. It did seem to keep the weeds away longer.

Now you have to pull the weeds or spray them. Personally, I pull large weeds but try to spray small, new weeds (that aren't right near plants) before they get bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much mulch was applied? A six to eight inch layer will keep weeds down. If its just a light covering they'll grow through.

Six to eight inches? That's a ridiculous amount of mulch, and if piled around trees at that depth, will do more harm than good.

Why would I pile it around trees?
I covered bare spots in my yard and no weeds now.

Because that's what a lot of people do (put mulch around trees). It's bad for the trees, but they do it anyway. As for the bare spots, they sell grass seed for that.

I just use a couple of inches of shredded hardwood mulch in the flower beds around the house.