It is amusing to find bags of trash (ground up discarded tires) priced so
high. Has anyone tested this stuff for toxicity and long term effects in the
garden?

I would expect such mulch to raise the soil pH because of its high sulphur
content and eventually make it too toxic to grow plants. I certainly
wouldn't use it around vegetables and herbs or anything you intend to eat.

What's next? Garden sculpture and bird baths made out of Tarmac?


Vox Humana wrote in message
...
Maybe I don't get out much, but a few days ago I was browsing the garden
department at Lowe's and found some bags of rubber mulch. It was quite
expensive - around $10 for 2 cubic feet, as I recall. I found the idea
sort
of disturbing. I didn't bother to look at the bag, but I assume that the
mulch is made from old tires. The label touted the fact that you would
only
have to use this product once, unlike conventional mulch that has to be
applied every year or two. Someone use that pine nugget mulch on some of
the beds at my house and it never seems to disappear no matter how hard I
try to rid myself of it. I can't even imagine using rubber. What happens
when you need to plant something? It seems you would have to carefully
remove it if you wanted to improve the soil. Oh well, I guess it probably
isn't any worse than the red volcanic rock than the people up the street
use
around their shrubs - or is it?