Does Heavy Mulching aid in creating a Microclime ?

[Moose]

Heavy mulching is the practice in the Mooseland. Because my subsoil is mostly limestone rock, creating an orgainically rich top layer is the goal. Just curious - could heavy mulching be a factor in creating a microclime?

[Xerarch]

Nothing holds heat better than just pure dirt, sometimes people will actually remove mulch during the winter so that the soil under trees will absorb the warmth from the sun and thus be able to radiate it out at night, of course watering in that soil will also help keep it warm before a cold event. Mulching is clearly a good practice with many other benefits, holding heat just isn't one of them. I can't imagine that cold is much of a problem in Coral Gables though.

[Steve the palmreader]

When I was living in the Jax area I used the practice of mounding mulch around some of the more tropical plants and trees to save the plant in case of a severe freeze.If the exposed part of the plant were to freeze the mulched part of the plant or the tree would recover in spring. ( its lighter than dirt)

[Moose]

Nothing holds heat better than just pure dirt, sometimes people will actually remove mulch during the winter so that the soil under trees will absorb the warmth from the sun and thus be able to radiate it out at night, of course watering in that soil will also help keep it warm before a cold event. Mulching is clearly a good practice with many other benefits, holding heat just isn't one of them. I can't imagine that cold is much of a problem in Coral Gables though.

We all zone push so cold is a concern for some of my palms. I was very ambitous a few years back having 4 species from the Seychelles. 2010 winter came, they survived but then never returned to vigor and were all dead come the next cold season. I heavily mulch on the theorey that the ground heat will be trapped. Our cold spells usually do not linger day after day. I've seen high 30's and two days later back into the 70's.

[JungleGina]

It will absolutely help IF you are using live mulch. Not bagged colored dead mulch but the live stuff that the tree companies give away. Live mulch is full of microbes that will give off heat as they break down the mulch into rich yummy soil. We started with a good 6" layer and add to it faithfully every year. We add a little compost, lots of (mostly composted) manure and coffee grounds, and eventually ended up with nice black soil despite the fact that Florida is built on a giant anthill. The variety of woods in the mulch creates biodiversity in the soil and produces mycelium and mushrooms of all kinds, further building the soil.

[sonoranfans]

if you mound up mulch around the trunks just before winter, it will trap heat and air at the base of the palm, prevent wind from blowing the heated air away. But below ground I'll bet the rock holds heat better than mulch. We used to use heated rocks in our sleeping bags when camping in the cold. Im pretty sure heated dirt wouldnt work as I think the rock has a higher heat capacity... I am toying with the idea of using more fire pits and concrete, then burning logs on the cold nights. Of course this means having canopy to trap the heat down and low and mid height windblock(serenoa repens etc) to prevent wind from blowing the warm air away. The "heat island effect" often talked about is all about the passive solar qualities of rock, pavement, and conctrete. Out in phoenix arizona that heat island effect is worth +10 degrees F in some places(vs open desert) on cold nights...

Edited January 25, 2013 by sonoranfans

[Stevetoad]

I didn't notice any heat benefit from mulching. The benefit I saw during summer is worth it alone for me.

[Dypsisdean]

I've wondered if a thick layer of some fresh hot cooking mulch laid out in the garden might not continue to "cook" for a short time and add a touch of warmth to the ground and surrounding air.

[Dr. George]

So what contributes to the character of a microclimate? Probably temperature, air composition & movement, sunlight, soil composition, soil moisture, and humidity. I think mulching affects the composition, moisture and humidity, might influence temperature, and if it promotes growth of vegetation with canopy development, then sunlight and air movement are secondarily affected, so I'd say, yes.

As one who actively is transforming lava into landscape and agriculture, I'm a major mulch man.

(And, yes, that's my wife on the tractor)

gmp

[Moose]

George - outstanding! Your wife does not appear to be sitting on the tractor for a photo op. Her work clothes indicates she is operating that John Deere and working that mulch!

My ongoing mulching project, adding a six inch layer. May be hard to see, all the pine needles is the old layer, no pine needles is the added layer.

Here you can see the mulch layer getting added to the base of my 30 ft Bismarckia nobilis.

A completed area, creating a tropical looking path through the Mooseland.

[Moose]

Yes Gina - I whole heartedly agree. Old cured mulch that is alive is the way to go. I use a municple mulch, lots of little green wires in it from last years chopped up Christmas Trees. Why pay for mulch when a better quality can be collected for free. I've seen mushrooms appear in just a couple of days after wetting it down.

It was 62 F at 8:00 am yesterday. Perfect temperture to get a load of mulch. Look at that big old pile just 8 miles north of Mooseland.

The Moose mulch hauler is positioned for loading. Unfortunately its gotta be loaded via shovel.

[Dr. George]

A completed area, creating a tropical looking path through the Mooseland.

:greenthumb: :greenthumb: :greenthumb: :greenthumb: :greenthumb: :greenthumb: :greenthumb:

gmp

[Alicehunter2000]

Dr. George....piling that mulch around that palm on the right a little heavy, don't you think...

CIA operation.

[sonoranfans]

As far as bioactive mulch generating heat, that will certainly subside in the cold as bacteria will go dormant. Maybe it has an effect in hawaii where it never freezes, or the warmer parts of south florida. But I am skeptical of its value where a microclime is used to prevent a freeze event. The concept of heat capacity is well known to be much higher in rocks than bark... But in a huge pile of mulch, much heat can be trapped by insulation if it is thick enough, perhaps enough to keep the bacteria active in the cold. Several large mulch piles (not spread) would probably keep things warm.

Edited January 27, 2013 by sonoranfans

[Moose]

Tom - yes the microbes do tend to go dormant as the cold temps arrive. I don't know about the Palmetto, FL area but our ground and/or munciple water comes out @ 68 to 72 F. One gallon of water contains 350 BTU's. You could "warm the area" by wetting down the mulch plus wake up the microbes at the same time. Having an overhead canopy helps even more retaining the "heat". I do not have research to back up my theorey. Sometimes just doing something makes you feel better when the severe fronts come screaming in.

As far as bioactive mulch generating heat, that will certainly subside in the cold as bacteria will go dormant. Maybe it has an effect in hawaii where it never freezes, or the warmer parts of south florida. But I am skeptical of its value where a microclime is used to prevent a freeze event. The concept of heat capacity is well known to be much higher in rocks than bark... But in a huge pile of mulch, much heat can be trapped by insulation if it is thick enough, perhaps enough to keep the bacteria active in the cold. Several large mulch piles (not spread) would probably keep things warm.

[Dr. George]

Dr. George....piling that mulch around that palm on the right a little heavy, don't you think...

CIA operation.

Not to worry - That's our delivery pile off of which she is taking mulch for distribution. The Clinostigma samoense in the background are a good 20-25 feet away from the pile.

Then when she had the whole pile distributed (which was a couple of dump truck loads), she cleaned things up.

Pretty good for a city girl!

CIA = official Cause I'm Aloha shirt

gmp

[Moose]

Outstanding - what an impressive mulching project George!

How thick of a layer are you laying down?

How often do you need to re-mulch?

How fast does it break down in your climate?

[Palmə häl′ik]

Stick a meat thermomater in it on a 'frost' night, and compare outside ambient temp vs thermomater reading....

- Ray.

[Dr. George]

Outstanding - what an impressive mulching project George!

How thick of a layer are you laying down?

How often do you need to re-mulch?

How fast does it break down in your climate?

Initially we start with 4 inches - the experts at NRCS tell us not to do thicker than 4 inches so that rain will soak through it and get into the ground. If you go much thicker than that the mulch may retain much of the moisture and prevent it from getting into the soil.

It takes about a year to break down into a real nice loamy mixture.

The planter areas around the garden we have done annually for 2-3 times. After that the planter beds are pretty nice and don't need additional major mulching, and now we will be switching over to chipping/shredding garden clippings/trimmings and distributing that through the garden where needed.

We mulched 2 acres of orchard to establish topsoil to plant grass for erosion control. Were supposed to apply 4 inches of mulch a year for 3 years, but we had enough nice loamy soil by the time year 3 came around that we did not have to do the 3rd year of mulching.

The first pic below shows how rocky the soil is, and what soil there is washes away pretty quickly when you have a decent year of rain. Initially we tried a cinder driveway, but this is what was left after 3 months in a wet year, so we bit the bullet and put in 750 ft of asphalt.

The second pic shows planting after the asphalt driveway was put in. You can see how the planter bed to the left is about 5-6 inches lower than the surface of the driveway. Palms were mounded when planted then we came back in and filled the areas between the mounds with mulch.

Now, in the third pic you can see that after a couple of years of mulching we have a nice planter raised above the level of the driveway.

Here is what the soil looked like around the Clinostigmas pictured in the previous post when they were first planted (spring 2009)

And another group, 2009 then 2012

gmp

[Moose]

The Moose Mulch Transporter is loaded. It took approximately 500 shovel fulls. Temperature was up to 67 F when I finished, It felt alot warmer to me.

All the steam arising off my load was a great indicator of already present micobial activity.

[Moose]

The load is now secured and ready for transport back to the Mooseland. Not too shabby for an old man.

This is the tenth load since starting my mulching project on Dec. 15th. Unfortunately more loads are still required.

[JungleGina]

Moose, why not get it dropped in your yard? Much less distance to move it that way. The tree companies have to pay fees to take that to the dump so they're happy to give it to you, although they do appreciate a tip and that will keep them coming back. I have a U-shaped drive that I can't pass through because there's always a mountain of mulch in it. I love George's tractor! We move our mulch with a golf cart that has a hydraulic dump bed, extra long that is great for moving mulch, rock and pavers...whatever really. It works well for the size of my property and saves alot on my back. We get it by the truckload.

[Moose]

Gina - actually it is a bit difficult to get free mulch from the tree companies. At least in my area. Good quality mulch is in demand. A load of "free" oak mulch usually requires @ $100 stipend. The companies that trim trees around the power lines are not permitted to give away any mulch. They have a contract that requires them to dump their loads and pay a fee. The dump site is about 20 miles south of me, so this requires tree trimming crews to make a 40+ mile trip to pay and dump their load. Its a big corporation / county government arrangement.

I get my free mulch from the city of Hialeah. Their crews collect trees from homeowners or from their own projects. Rather than pay a fee to dump plus the fuel costs, they mulch it up and give it away. It appears that they have a balance where demand / supply is constant. Its 67 F right now, may be my last cool morning to go load mulch. This will be my 17th load.

[BS Man about Palms]

"When" I get mulch, i'm quite spoiled. Twice a month, my city has a 2$ truckload deal. pay, get in line, and PLOP, a skip loader loads your truck bed in one fell swoop and away you go... (But then you manually unload it yourself at home.. )

They close at 1pm and one Sat I was going for the gusto And got 3 loads in one day.. btw, my truck is NOT small. A 3/4? Ford diesel longbed.

Good on you Moose