I just bought a house in Round Rock, TX. I have several large Cedar
trees. Should Cedar trees have mulch around them? Someone told me they
thought that was bad for Cedars.

On 12 Apr 2006 18:43:10 -0700, "Joe" wrote:

I just bought a house in Round Rock, TX. I have several large Cedar
trees. Should Cedar trees have mulch around them? Someone told me they
thought that was bad for Cedars.

There are very few plants which don't benefit from mulching. If your
trees are mature specimens you probably have quite a bit of mulch from
the tree's cycle of shedding. It doesn't lose the foliage, but if you
look you will see the natural mulch under them.

There are no native cedar trees in the central TX area. More likely, they
are junipers. The local TV weather persons, when speaking of pollen count
of "cedar", are actually referring to junipers.

Irregardless, they don't need are require mulching. They make their own
mulch. Their longitudinal root length is as much as five times their height
running just below the surface for junipers. These suck most of the
available moisture from the soil for other tree species and ground foliage
around such. Most grasses/weeds won't tolerate their fallen decaying
foliage.

Many consider such trees as a weed, instead of an ornamental tree.

The juniper has served to break down alot of hill country rocky area into
soil. So, it has its advantages in the long term. No, its not native to TX
either. But, has taken over most of the hill country.

Beware the juniper anywhere near a septic tank. Do the math based on my
root length noted above.
--
Jonny
"Joe" wrote in message
ups.com...
I just bought a house in Round Rock, TX. I have several large Cedar
trees. Should Cedar trees have mulch around them? Someone told me they
thought that was bad for Cedars.