Rubber mulch is a stupid idea (lawn, landscaping, palm, trees)
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I've always hated the premise of this stuff. Never used it, never will.
I believe in recycling and finding creative ways to do it, but this one should be taken off the list.
Ain't it the truth! Rubber mulch? Talk about off-gassing of obnoxious carbon-containing chemicals. If you are someone who just loves the ease, colors, and maintenance properties of rubber mulch you would probably be better off using landscape cloth plus shredded tree bark around artificial flowers, shrubs, and palm trees. Ersatz landscaping at its most brilliant.
This was a battle I lost with a school board for the playground base. Funny thing was, the landscaping crew was the loudest complainer after the fact stating that it was a problem for the ride on mowers!!!
All the playgrounds in the city parks here have been redone in the last five or six years, and they used rubber mulch, which stinks to high heaven when the sun warms it up. I can not imagine a home owner using this stuff for anything.
I'm not impressed with colored wood mulch either after having my gloves and walkways stained from them. Dyes and a natural product combo is even worse than rubber mulch to me. I used to get cocoa hull mulch at a reasonable price until Hershey moved operations from Pennsylvania to Mexico and miss using it.
In NY I now have river rock in the beds next to the house, mulch away from the house. In FL, I have mulch around 3/4 of the house, but have heard too that it's a haven for termites and other bugs. The previous owners have rubber mulch on the shady side of the house. It looks like red mulch and doesn't smell. I've needed to add to the regular mulch every year and haven't had to add to the rubber mulch in four years. I've been waiting to replace it, that may not happen. The other owners also had red lava rock around a bush, the lawn mover loved those!
I'm not sure what I want to eventually use there. I've been taking all the shells and shark teeth we collect at the beach and slowly filling one area with them. This could take a while.
A lot of rubber mulch is now being removed from playgrounds due to the hazardous chemicals that kids were being exposed to. The same goes for pressure-treated wood on playground equipment.
All the playgrounds in the city parks here have been redone in the last five or six years, and they used rubber mulch, which stinks to high heaven when the sun warms it up. I can not imagine a home owner using this stuff for anything.
It really does stink. Thankfully, no one in my neighborhood uses it. Now if they'd only do away with the red mulch. That stuff is hideous.
We hear things, We read things, but sometimes we don't know things until we experience it. Aside from the chemical crap, water never got underneath there. I had it under a Japanese Maple tree. Removed it after a month when I realized its a garbage idea. Great to hold weeds down sure, but also looks hideous...
And I agree, Red mulch is hideous too. That is going the way of aol and black trim on Hi-Hats
We hear things, We read things, but sometimes we don't know things until we experience it. Aside from the chemical crap, water never got underneath there. I had it under a Japanese Maple tree. Removed it after a month when I realized its a garbage idea. Great to hold weeds down sure, but also looks hideous...
And I agree, Red mulch is hideous too. That is going the way of aol and black trim on Hi-Hats
Ha ha! Reminds me of my mom. She loved her AOL and red mulch.
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