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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Mulch and mold spores?

8 years ago

Hello everybody,

We were thinking about mulching around the house with black mulch after finally getting the lawn in.

1) I was wondering if anyone had any problems with mold spores forming on the house or cars? I heard it is really hard to remove.

2) Is there an alternative?

I like the way the black mulch looks but not opposed to other options. I just do not want to create a new problem.

3) I was thinking of just covering the beds with about 2-3 inches of mulch. Is it necessary to put landscape cloth down to avoid stuff growing through?

Thanks.

Featured Answer

toxcrusadr

8 years ago

There are mold spores everywhere in the air whether you mulch or not. They're like pollen, and if you're in a humid climate even the local weather report will give a mold count along with pollen. Whether they grow on the house depends upon conditions. They need the right light, moisture and temperatures. I don't know for absolute sure that mulching will have zero effect, but I'm betting if your house tends to grow mold on the north side, it's going to do it anyway, so mulch to your heart's content.

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Comments (8)

kimmq
8 years ago
Answering 3 first. It is not necessary, or desirable, to put landscape fabric down under any mulch. All the landscape fabric does is allow too little mulch to be used. An article in Fine Gardening magazine about the results of a 9 year study by 2 Michigan State University soil scientists showed that mulches should be 4 to 6 inches thick to be most effective.

Question 1. anytime woody mulches are put down there will be fungi and sometimes that fungi might be the Artillery, or Shotgun, Fungus which can stain house siding when it shoots its spores out. The simplest method of control is to watch for the beginning of growth of fungi and stir the mulch to stop it. That means about every week or two looking at the mulched beds to see what is going on.

Question 2. There may be but most are not good. Stones do not support fungi growth but create problems with retained and reflected heat. Rubber is not an environmentally acceptable mulch and creates many more problems with hazardous waste. Shredded leaves are a good alternative choice and are available for free.

Dyed mulches may present an environmental hazard, depending on what is used in the dye.

kimmq is kimmsr
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tye22tye
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you for the information. Has anyone had any termite problems with mulching around the house?
kimmq
8 years ago
I have found termites around my house, but not in the mulched planting beds. The previous owners had a propensity for burying construction wood scraps in the crawl spaces and that is where the termites were found.

kimmq is kimmsr
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
8 years ago
Tye, if you use pine bark, you won't have the issues with the artillery fungus spores. Pine straw won't support the growth of those kinds of fungi, either.

They grow feed on the inner wood.
tye22tye
Original Author
8 years ago
Ok great. Is this a common mulch that somone would have in long island, ny?
toxcrusadr
8 years ago
You can usually find pine bark chunk mulch in a bag. As to whether you can get it in bulk, you'll have to ask around. But the NE has a lot of pine trees so one would think...
tye22tye
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks, for the tip. I am going to definitely check into that.

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