Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Gardeners, mulch question.

What's a good substitute for grass clippings? I am slowly getting away from bagging my grass. I like to have a ground cover that is good for the soil to keep weeds down and moisture in. May have to put a bag kit on my new riding mower, but I'm having good results with mulching. Thanks

Pine straw is the best, and most expensive. Several places on the www sell it in bales or boxes. Very long lasting. The long needle is supposed to be the best.

Some of the big hardware chains sell it, but the reviews I read said it was of very poor quality

I use a mulch that's indigenous to my area. Cedar (Juniper really) is in great supply around here. The smaller tree limbs I cut out of my oaks are run through a chipper and use as mulch. All the leaves that fall that are not composted are used as mulch. Sometimes I use alfalfa hay if I feel I need a nitrogen boost. Except for the alfalfa I haven't purchased mulch in decades.

BP...

If you just want to retain moisture and discourage competition from weeds and grasses most any mulch will do that.
If you are going long term and want specific byproducts to break down and to leech into the soil then it depends on what you are growing.

Info is probably free online at your state extension or consider the Arbor Day Foundation farms that are located somewhere in Nebraska.

Wheat straw after run through a rotary combine, hopefully from a field with very few weeds.

Garden plants like it much better than grass clippings.

How much you want? Got all you care to rake up down this way! We use it a lot down here, but I really prefer cypress mulch in my landscaping here.

I used to use what was called "Forest Hummus" and it worked great. I could buy it by the dump truck load and spread it , till it in and [bleep] would take off
Now here in NM I cant seem to find what I need in bulk
When you find it let me know

My wife has been using hay for quite a few years now. We add a layer each fall and as it rots it fertilizes and the soil stays pretty soft. When it's time to plant she scratches either a plot or a row into the hay and as the plants grow she brings the hay back in around the plant. There gets to be alot of voles living in that mulch though.

Thanks for the replies, if it ever quits raining, I can get back to it.

Depends on what you are using it for. In the garden, in Arkansas, I like oat or wheat straw. Will use rice straw if I have to. Other stuff causes problems here with mold and other things detrimental to a garden. Where he humidity is lower, might have different problems. miles

Look into his video series...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGZ1Wy0WES0&list=PLRQCHJ6yaHhw9sdciz62q6YyksGXMb8tb

around the metro ATL, there's active mulch markets. most often used are pine straw, pine bark, cypress mulch, whole tree chips that have been ground and screened....delivered by the dump truck load.

plenty of composted organic material as well, but get your pocketbook out.

I remember the good old days of driving the pickup into the woods near the house and raking the bed full of pinestraw inabout 10 minutes. May not be the best mulch, but nothing looks as good as pinestraw IMO. Here in PHX it is pricey!