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I totally believe in supporting small locals as well as large but shopping at lowes you are supporting local in case you cant make it to that place in Pineville listed above they have their corporate office in Wilkesboro and soon to be in Mooresville.
Personally, I like the pine needles, as the little bit of pitch on them helps to lock them together into sort of a mat that won't easily wash away in a heavy rain.
I'm curious how the rubber mulch performs in similar circumstances, especially if it's used on the side of a hill.
Tried to get the rubber mulch at Lowes the other day, their website said they had it in stock, but when I got there they said the entire pallet was already bought and could not be sold to me.
Then I was at Sams Club tonight and they had the brown rubbber mulch for only $9 a bag it was 11 something at Lowes, I put some down by the front door, in a small spot near the sidewalk, and it looks so much nicer than the pine needles on the other side of the sidewalk. I'll get to that tomorrow morning, first thing before it gets too hot!
You all have me intrigued. I'm now considering this stuff. I'm not a big fan of the pine needles. To me it looks messy and they're doing almost nothing to discourage weed growth. Maybe its just that weeds grow faster here than I'm used to up north, but at my last home I put down the weed barrier paper prior to putting down mulch and it worked very well.
It certainly doesn't appear that my builder put down any weed barrier membrane at all prior to putting down the pine needles - so maybe its not the pine needles' fault that I'm getting a ton of weeds.
Also, there was a comment about not walking on the rubber mulch because there could be some metal in the mulch. This seems counter to what they're marketing the stuff as - at least the ones calling it "kids" mulch for play areas, etc.
I don't get the rubber mulch thing, personally. Mulch's primary use is for the flowers, trees, and shrubs themselves. Aesthetics should be a secondary concern. Mulch is used to provide moisture and weed control. It also composts or breaks down into organic material that plants thrive on. While rubber mulch may be nice for aesthetic purposes, I wouldn't think it would retain moisture in the beds. Not to mention, wouldn't it cook the beds thus catalyzing dryer beds? You can always go for the mulch that has additives to maintain their color. This to me would help pleasing the eye, yet still serve its primary purpose of protecting and maintaining healthy plants.
If you are still looking for rubbermulch I may can help. My company obtains ours from a small company in Valdese, North Carolina. Depending on depth and size of your beds it may be wise to use supersacs, these are one ton sacs. If a ton is to much for your yard there are other avenues you can pursue. If you wish to do it yourself remember to use some type of edjing material such as a steel or stone edje as it will help hold the mulch in place. Also install some type of weed fabric. This will help to keep weeds out and more importantly it will assist in keeping dirt from working its way into the mulch, burying money and discoloring your finished product. I would also like to introduce you into something fairly new on the market. Synthetic pine needles. We use them at our office and they stay beautiful and stay in place well, believe it or not it's even hard to tell the difference at close view. With rubber mulch if your worried about metal stay with a brand that is suitable for playground use. The manufacturers use retread tires that do not contain metal fibers and must be certified. For small jobs in pine needles you can obtain them at a small company in Conover NC named Conover home and garden. If you need help with samples, location or installation you can call our company, Ingle&Son landscaping and irrigation located in Conover at 828 464 5306. Ask to speak to Chris as he handles most of our rubbermulch accounts and installs and is very knowledgable on the subject. Rubber does not retain water as well yet there are options to help in this as well. Watergels, irrigation, soil additives etc. Hope this all helps
Is there any concern with the rubber mulch and synthetic pine needles and the environment - such as birds and other animals trying to eat them, etc? What about if you have dogs and your dogs chew on them? Is it toxic? Do the synthetic pine needles wash away easily? I am interested in this, but don't want to sacrafice some poor birds lift for ease of use, etc.
It a real bad idea to have rubber mulch in the area. We dont always have a drought but we do have long hot summers and the heat from the mulch or any other synthetics will kill the plants that regular mulch will help.
Regular mulch not only provides nutrients, retains moisture, but keep the plants root system from living in hard rock soil.
Here a tip to save on costs I know Lowes but not sure if other places do but often you will see bags of mulch in plastic bags due to that bag busted.
Buy those bags.
Often it only like a ounce missing from the bag and they marked it half off the regular price.
Damaranicole I can only imagine what rubber mulch does to the wildlife and pets. Not only toxic nature but less building material for birds to make their nests to lay eggs.
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