Free is free, and perception is reality, so you can pick and choose whatever risks you are comfortable with. The free muni-mulch will have bits of plastic, glass, and rocks in there. I'm able to sift through the mulch a bit and pick those things out before applying it. You don't have to blindly apply anything. Is commercial mulch guaranteed not to contain diseased plant parts when the label contains, "Forest By Products" and other nebulous things? And what plant diseases are we talking about? Ubiquitous wind blown organisms like powdery mildew? The garden is not a sterile environment. As for grubs, the green fruit beetle grubs will burrow into any areas with decaying OM. I get a lot in my compost bins where minu-mulch hasn't been. These grubs are everywhere in the Valley. They don't harm living plants, they won't bite you, and smash up with a stomp. Horse manure tends to be weedy unless composted at high temps, and will contain salts from the urine. And hopefully you won't be hauling it in your back seat. :)

I would say no. Years ago my inlaws filed two claims in a year....one was for damage to a visiting car done by their large dog jumping up on it and scratching it. Then a few months later lighting struck the home and took out most of the electronics. They got dropped. It REALLY sucks that you pay for insurance, then when you genuinely need to use it, they drop you. It doesn't seem like it should even be legal.

I like to use sodium bromide in conjunction with bleach and a 12-14 hour filtration cycle to go from green to clean. Put in the appropriate amount per 10k gallons plus 2 gallons of bleach per 10k gallons. Let it run through the cycle and sit idle for the next 10-12 hours. If it didn't clear up in the 1st 24hrs brush aggressively and repeat the process again. This is a must because the ingredient is activated by chlorine. On the next morning, after sitting idle, vacuum to waste. Then add bleach daily until you can hold a residual reading. This process blows away bleach only for clearing up a nasty pool. Try a search for a product called YellowTreat I hope this helps See ya, Kelly

A few years ago, I came across an old piano that was absolutely beautiful. Arts and Crafts styling in QS oak. It looked great. And I discovered it came from our old Arts and Crafts house and was owned by the original builder/owner (1916). His wife was a concert pianist. It was free, so I was all excited about it. Contacted a piano mover to do the moving, and he ultimately called me back and told me, "You don't want this piece of junk". It wasn't worth the cost of moving it. Literally falling apart. So good advice from other posters to get an expert opinion. I ended up buying a much newer Baldwin, and started taking lessons at the age of 62.