Wood vs Rubber Mulch: Which? (flowers, landscape, grow, insect)

[rdflk]

I've just read what about a half dozen websites have to say about mulches...hardwood vs. cedar vs rubber, etc And I'm still undecided about what to do this year.

Background: I use about 20 bags of mulch a year in five perennial beds, MD zone 6a/7b. (four along the house, 1 on a STEEP hillside in the front yard)
And I've always been a cedar much person....for more than a decade.

BUT I'm just STARTING to think about switching to rubber mulch.

For the last couple of years I've been buying, say, 50/50 cedar to hardwood, and mixing it up.

1) I'm tired of paying more for cedar mulch which seems to never go on sale....when I see hardwood mulch all the time for just $2-3.00 a bag...and cedar is at $4.4.50 a bag. (that's why I've been buying 50/50.)

2) Some years I just don't feel like putting new mulch down and rubber mulch lasts longer. Most times to stretch the time between remulching I'll go 3 inches think and not do it a gain for say 18-months.

I don't necessarily care about how it looks. I care about lower costs and not having to do the mulch every year. But I also am not crazy about the idea of switching to rubber...which I've sort have looked down on -- or not been a fan of -- in the past.

Can I mix some of all three....cedar for insect repellant, hardwood to lessen costs, and rubber to have mulch last longer.

Can the benefits of all three sort of negate the negatives they each have?

[earthlyfather]

If you mix the products you might not have a color match, but that might not matter. Second thought is to add the rubber slowly over a period of years. As the cedar or hardwood decomposes the rubber would 'take over'.

Last thought, though I've never researched. Wouldn't rubber mulch be hotter, much hotter?

[maf763]

I prefer shredded hardwood mulch for cost over cedar, and prefer both over rubber. The wood mulches break down over time and help enrich the soil in the long run, while, to me, the rubber mulch looks too fake and unnatural for a garden. I might consider using it in a border along a pool or under a swing set, but not with flowers and shrubs. My preference. As far as mixing them, eventually the woods will break down and you'll be replenishing new wood over old rubber.

I mulch once a year and usually buy a bulk load. If I need to fill in I'll buy bags.

[luv4horses]

The only use for rubber mulch in my opinion is for playgrounds -- under swings, monkey bars, etc. It is not for use around plants. If I were a plant, or a good bacteria in the soil, I would strongly object to rubber mulch!

[Cambium]

I tried that rubber mat/mulch once. Hated it. Not only for the look of it but water didn't seep through for the plants enough. There are advantages like holding weeds down and lasting longer but I like the plants to get watered with any rains we get so I only use mulch now.

And think about buying 2 yards from somewhere rather than 20 bags! You're wasting money.

A cubic yard = 27 cu feet. Those 2 foot cubic bags of mulch are $4.50 each. So 13.5 of those bags make a yard of mulch.

So multiple 13.5 x $4.50 it's like your paying $60 a yard buying those bags!!

2 yards here costs $60 delivered. You can get 3 yards and have more mulch and still pay less.

[gentlearts]

I agree. There is something downright creepy about rubber mulch. I keep thinking of that song, "They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot". Its right up there with AstroTurf.

[rdflk]

I buy bags because of convenience.

I only have a one car driveway...so if I have a bulk order delivered and I've parked inside the garage -- I'm either blocked in by the mulch -- OR I have to make it my business to HAVE to get the mulching done on delivery day....OR I have to park on the street until I get around to doing the mulching....and I baby my car -- so parking on the street or on the driveway outside in front of the mulch ain't gonna happen.

The bags are just more convenient...in my case.

If I catch hardwood on sale for 2.00 a bag...that's cheap enough....I just wish CEDAR would go on sale...SOMETIMES. Even if cedar isn't on sale as often, they could put it on sale...at SOME point. But I hardly ever, ever see it on sale.

[Never2L8]

I would think that rubber mulch, especially in large quantities and during the hot summer months, would tend to smell like the inside of a tire warehouse?

I remember trying rubber mulch about 15 (??) years ago when it first appeared on the market, in one of the shrub beds. The rubber smell bothered me so much that after a month or so I got rid of it; I couldn't stand to even open the windows on that side of the house while it was down. And it wasn't even summer at the time. Of course I'd assume they've improved the product over the years, but still... it's rubber and made from old tires, right?

Then again I'm supersensitive to odors and fragrances. When the local landscapers put down the bark/wood mulch on neighboring yards or public places, the strong sharp ammonia (??) smell from it makes me gag for a couple of days until it dissipates. I kept waiting for the rubber mulch to do the same but it never did.

[no kudzu]

I agree. Rubber looks tacky and even though you say you don't care about the looks go for hardwood so it will decompose into the soil and also let your plants receive rain water.

[Pfalz]

Originally Posted by luv4horses

The only use for rubber mulch in my opinion is for playgrounds -- under swings, monkey bars, etc. It is not for use around plants. If I were a plant, or a good bacteria in the soil, I would strongly object to rubber mulch!

+1. Rubber mulch is only for areas that you do not intend to grow anything. If you want to be frugal and don't want to mulch every year plant a groundcover.