Need mulch advice
 

I am planning to put some mulch in my garden. A friend told me that some
mulch might attract termites. Any suggestions on this? My options are
Hardwood,Pine or Redwood/Cedar Mulch. I'm thinking Hardwood would be the
best bet here but I'm not sure. Thanks

-- Ferhat

Cedar is the natural deterrent to the pests and it lasts longer because
it takes longer to break down.. It will cost you more per square yard.

No it does not attrack termites

Termites look for a WATER source and Cellulose (paper.wood etc)

I do not have any termites under any of my mulch and I chip most of mine
from my yard waste

Just another urban legend


"Ferhat" ferhat(at)nospam_dot_net wrote in message
.. .
I am planning to put some mulch in my garden. A friend told me that some
mulch might attract termites. Any suggestions on this? My options are
Hardwood,Pine or Redwood/Cedar Mulch. I'm thinking Hardwood would be the
best bet here but I'm not sure. Thanks

-- Ferhat

On 2005-05-03, Ferhat wrote:
I am planning to put some mulch in my garden. A friend told me that some
mulch might attract termites. Any suggestions on this? My options are
Hardwood,Pine or Redwood/Cedar Mulch. I'm thinking Hardwood would be the
best bet here but I'm not sure. Thanks

-- Ferhat



When you say garden, do you mean vegetable, flowers, or shrubs?

For vegetables, I suggest leaves, newspapers or a combo of both.

Any of the ones you mention would be fine for flowers and shrubs.

I also have heard that hardwood mulch attracts termites, but I think
Tomatolord's post may be accurate that it is an urban legend. I have
seen termites in dead roots and pieces of wood, but I don't think they
are particularly attracted to wood chips since they are not condusive
to tunneling and boring. It would be a last resort for desperate
termites under very drastic conditions (drought) and the only source of
wood near the water was woodchips.

here is one url: It packs in a good synopsis of mulch.
http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC1604.htm

They say pinebark and woodchips "may" attract termites but they do not
put that caveat by shredded hardwood mulch.


--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.

So, is there anywhere in the area that has cheaper mulch than the Lowe's
options? Not that they're awfully expensive, but I may be looking at
acquiring a fair bit of it soon.

On Wed, 4 May 2005 wrote:

On 2005-05-03, Ferhat wrote:
I am planning to put some mulch in my garden. A friend told me that some
mulch might attract termites. Any suggestions on this? My options are
Hardwood,Pine or Redwood/Cedar Mulch. I'm thinking Hardwood would be the
best bet here but I'm not sure. Thanks

-- Ferhat



When you say garden, do you mean vegetable, flowers, or shrubs?

For vegetables, I suggest leaves, newspapers or a combo of both.

Any of the ones you mention would be fine for flowers and shrubs.

I also have heard that hardwood mulch attracts termites, but I think
Tomatolord's post may be accurate that it is an urban legend. I have
seen termites in dead roots and pieces of wood, but I don't think they
are particularly attracted to wood chips since they are not condusive
to tunneling and boring. It would be a last resort for desperate
termites under very drastic conditions (drought) and the only source of
wood near the water was woodchips.

here is one url: It packs in a good synopsis of mulch.
http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC1604.htm

They say pinebark and woodchips "may" attract termites but they do not
put that caveat by shredded hardwood mulch.


--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.

In article . duke.edu, wrote:
So, is there anywhere in the area that has cheaper mulch than the Lowe's
options? Not that they're awfully expensive, but I may be looking at
acquiring a fair bit of it soon.

There are several companies in the area that can deliver by the truck load.
You may want to do a Google search on this newsgroup for names that have been
mentioned before.

As also been mentioned here before, there might not be a great price
difference between Lowes/HD and the bulk guys, on a per cu ft basis. With the
bagged mulch, you don't have to shovel it into your wheelbarrow, and can buy
it as needed. However, as I recently found out at HD, they can use different
vendors. The last batch I bought was a different brand, with a different
texture (size of pieces) and color. After a few weeks in the sun/rain, the
difference is not very noticeable.

The total difference in $$ can be substantial depending on the amount of
mulch. The people who deliver generally don't want to mess with less than
about 12 yards.

The last load I got (16 yards) netted out to about $18/cu yard (triple
ground hardwood). That compares to about $30 ($2.30/2 cu feet) from HD.

Doc Muhlbaier

"Don S" wrote in message
...
In article . duke.edu,
wrote:
So, is there anywhere in the area that has cheaper mulch than the Lowe's
options? Not that they're awfully expensive, but I may be looking at
acquiring a fair bit of it soon.

There are several companies in the area that can deliver by the truck
load.
You may want to do a Google search on this newsgroup for names that have
been
mentioned before.

As also been mentioned here before, there might not be a great price
difference between Lowes/HD and the bulk guys, on a per cu ft basis. With
the
bagged mulch, you don't have to shovel it into your wheelbarrow, and can
buy
it as needed. However, as I recently found out at HD, they can use
different
vendors. The last batch I bought was a different brand, with a different
texture (size of pieces) and color. After a few weeks in the sun/rain,
the
difference is not very noticeable.

I was planning to get mine from Family Home & Garden. They sell for
$18/cu.yard for pine and hardwood mulch, $30 for redwood/cedar mulch

-- Ferhat

wrote in message
pub.duke.edu...
So, is there anywhere in the area that has cheaper mulch than the Lowe's
options? Not that they're awfully expensive, but I may be looking at
acquiring a fair bit of it soon.

On Wed, 4 May 2005 wrote:

On 2005-05-03, Ferhat wrote:
I am planning to put some mulch in my garden. A friend told me that
some
mulch might attract termites. Any suggestions on this? My options are
Hardwood,Pine or Redwood/Cedar Mulch. I'm thinking Hardwood would be
the
best bet here but I'm not sure. Thanks

-- Ferhat



When you say garden, do you mean vegetable, flowers, or shrubs?

For vegetables, I suggest leaves, newspapers or a combo of both.

Any of the ones you mention would be fine for flowers and shrubs.

I also have heard that hardwood mulch attracts termites, but I think
Tomatolord's post may be accurate that it is an urban legend. I have
seen termites in dead roots and pieces of wood, but I don't think they
are particularly attracted to wood chips since they are not condusive
to tunneling and boring. It would be a last resort for desperate
termites under very drastic conditions (drought) and the only source of
wood near the water was woodchips.

here is one url: It packs in a good synopsis of mulch.
http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC1604.htm

They say pinebark and woodchips "may" attract termites but they do not
put that caveat by shredded hardwood mulch.


--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.

Thanks a lot for the information. I have both a rose garden and a vegetable
garden that I was planning to use this mulch on.

-- Ferhat

wrote in message
. ..
On 2005-05-03, Ferhat wrote:
I am planning to put some mulch in my garden. A friend told me that some
mulch might attract termites. Any suggestions on this? My options are
Hardwood,Pine or Redwood/Cedar Mulch. I'm thinking Hardwood would be the
best bet here but I'm not sure. Thanks

-- Ferhat



When you say garden, do you mean vegetable, flowers, or shrubs?

For vegetables, I suggest leaves, newspapers or a combo of both.

Any of the ones you mention would be fine for flowers and shrubs.

I also have heard that hardwood mulch attracts termites, but I think
Tomatolord's post may be accurate that it is an urban legend. I have
seen termites in dead roots and pieces of wood, but I don't think they
are particularly attracted to wood chips since they are not condusive
to tunneling and boring. It would be a last resort for desperate
termites under very drastic conditions (drought) and the only source of
wood near the water was woodchips.

here is one url: It packs in a good synopsis of mulch.
http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC1604.htm

They say pinebark and woodchips "may" attract termites but they do not
put that caveat by shredded hardwood mulch.


--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.

I think the difference in price is due to the difference in materials
being delivered. Triple ground hardwood (which Doc quoted at $18/cubic
yard) is different than cypress mulch which runs about $1.15 per cubic
foot ($2.30 for 2 cu.ft.bag or $31.05 per cubic yard in bags) I find
that the cypress mulch lasts about three years where the general
hardwood triple shred is gone after two years.

I think the difference in price is due to the difference in materials
being delivered. Triple ground hardwood (which Doc quoted at $18/cubic
yard) is different than cypress mulch which runs about $1.15 per cubic
foot ($2.30 for 2 cu.ft.bag or $31.05 per cubic yard in bags) I find
that the cypress mulch lasts about three years where the general
hardwood triple shred is gone after two years.

I think the difference in price is due to the difference in materials
being delivered. Triple ground hardwood (which Doc quoted at $18/cubic
yard) is different than cypress mulch which runs about $1.15 per cubic
foot ($2.30 for 2 cu.ft.bag or $31.05 per cubic yard in bags) I find
that the cypress mulch lasts about three years where the general
hardwood triple shred is gone after two years.