Do You Even Vert Mulch, Bro?

I do believe in mulching, but I think that vertical mulching can speed up that process. In one customers yard they were getting a large puddle that wasn't draining in their yard. The whole yard was a runoff zone. Mulching the whole yard wasn't an option. We did mulch a healthy ring around the tree but we also used an airspade to vertical mulch the entire yard. We back filled with compost and humates/ mycorizae innoculant (could well be snake oil for all I know). Hey haven't had the drainage issues since. Rain lands and goes into the soil as opposed to pooling up at the bottom of their yard. It feels good to releive obviously compacted soil.
 
What about radial trenching and Root collar excavation and pruning?

I've done 6 rcx/sgr pruning this week.

Looking forward to an air Spade. Manual and hydraulic (water) excavation is slow.


I like the low-risk, ground level aspect of all of these phc treatments.


I think surface decomposition (mini pick mattock??) before converting to mulch beds is something to considered.

On suggestion of JD3000, I scalped the grass to dirt level with a string trimmer at my house recently, then buried with mulch. Minimal resprouting of grass. I was going to repurpose paper grocery bags as biodegradable smothering ' fabric', but didn't get to it. Brown cardboard is another favorite.

BTW, saturate the ground before mulching, then saturate the mulch.
 
What about radial trenching and Root collar excavation and pruning?

I've done 6 rcx/sgr pruning this week.

Looking forward to an air Spade. Manual and hydraulic (water) excavation is slow.


I like the low-risk, ground level aspect of all of these phc treatments.


I think surface decomposition (mini pick mattock??) before converting to mulch beds is something to considered.

On suggestion of JD3000, I scalped the grass to dirt level with a string trimmer at my house recently, then buried with mulch. Minimal resprouting of grass. I was going to repurpose paper grocery bags as biodegradable smothering ' fabric', but didn't get to it. Brown cardboard is another favorite.

BTW, saturate the ground before mulching, then saturate the mulch.

Good tips, thanks Sean. We have an airspade but still do 90% of our rcx with hand tools as we need do not own a compressor. Are you concerned about doing rcx in the heat of the summer? Luckily it's incredibly difficult to grow grass here the first place so no worries about re sprouting.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #33
I solved my problem today as far as a funnel is concerned: traffic cone.
 
Good tips, thanks Sean. We have an airspade but still do 90% of our rcx with hand tools as we need do not own a compressor. Are you concerned about doing rcx in the heat of the summer? Luckily it's incredibly difficult to grow grass here the first place so no worries about re sprouting.

Not ideal. Lots of water soaking in, in the process. Mulch afterward. Continued watering for rest of the summer.

Vascular flow restored will offset root loss, theoretically.
 
I have a large portable compressor that I've used on a few oaks in February.

Always having a place to wash material downhill helps. Fingers and a garden hose with a multiple choice pistol nozzle can go far.
 
Not that big. It's better than nothing. Too tall to fit in the old truck canopy that is slightly taller than the cab.

26 gallon 150 psi Max, 1.5 hp. Sprayer tips. IMG_20170802_201414257.jpg

Mucho Better than nothing.
 
IMG_20170731_180804589_HDR.jpg IMG_20170731_203914424.jpg IMG_20170731_203929553.jpg

Husband and wife planted this oak tree too deep 22 years ago. She dug it out, I cut and chiseled. I showed her the top of the soil target. She's filling back in, grading around the hole, and we will look into a drainage exit, if needed.
 
Back
Top