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Dear We-Ha.com:

Have you seen mulch volcanos? They probably were invented by an owner or less informed landscaper with the thought that more mulch around a tree means fewer weeds. It might work for a while, but at the same time, the tree is slowly strangled to death. Just look at the photos enclosed to see what happens to very healthy trees once a mulch volcano is applied.

Trees need air at the point where they come out of the ground. That’s where the bark starts. Bark is dead tree skin that protects the tree. Bark needs to stay dry. Normal mulching, level with the surrounding soil is used not only to stop weeds but also to keep moisture in the soil. That means that a mulch volcano adds moisture around the bark, right where it needs to stay dry. The result is wet bark that invites mold, fungus, and insects that thrive on dead, wet wood.

When mulch gets wet, after a year it clumps together, dries out, and will not do its job of retaining moisture. The poor solution is to add more mulch on top of the volcano the following year. The tree responds by sending out new roots into the higher mulch. Problem solved? No! Some of those roots wrap around the trunk looking for as much moisture they can get and strangle the tree. Then rot, fungus and insects continue higher up the tree. As the insects now have more wet bark to eat, and mold and fungus are happy, the bark starts to disappear and split and leaves the tree unprotected.

This is a vicious cycle until, after 5, 10, 15 years, depending on the size of the tree, it simply dies right at the point where it exits the ground.

When I saw four maple trees knocked over on a property in West Hartford, I asked the owner if they knew why. They thought that the wind blew them over. I mentioned the mulch volcano and that all four trees died at the same spot, with obvious rot and fungus within the first two feet where it comes out of the ground. There are many other trees on the property with the same volcanos in various stages of dying, losing their leaves, have no leaves, or are just stalks of bare trunks. It is not a disease, because there are also similar trees on the property, without mulch volcanos, that are very healthy.

Please, please, don’t think that mulch volcanos look good and stop weeds. You are just telling your tree that you don’t care and want it to die right at the time when it starts to look its best.

Raymond Giolitto
West Hartford

Photo credit: Raymond Giolitto

Photo credit: Raymond Giolitto

Photo credit: Raymond Giolitto

Photo credit: Raymond Giolitto