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hello, just had a quick question. trying to establish a nice landscape in the front which I planted a variety of things last year except nothing really grew. so while i was digging in the dirt to put in new plants, have noticed that parts of the dirt are white in appearance including the mulch. is this a bad thing? and could it be the reason why my plants last year never really grew?
Sounds like heavy clay soil that doesn't drain well and that white on the mulch is probably a fungus as a result of the wet soil.
Need to rework the soil where you're planting with good well draining planting soil.
I live in Texas and had planted some monkey grass and texas sage but they never really grew much so when i was digging out the old monkey grass, I saw that there was white in the dirt and on the mulch
Get rid of any plants that were in it, they might spread the disease.
Stop watering, let the soil dry out.
Try to get rid of any you see and replace with fresh new soil
Mix fresh new soil into the area.
You might have a fungus in your soil and mulch but that is more likely to be a good thing. When soil is sterile, that is when you have a hard time growing things. Good, moist living earth is the best soil and no store bought stuff will ever beat it.
Take a sample of your soil and mulch to your county agent or a knowledgeable garden store (not likely to be a big box store) and get their opinion.
By the way, remember that dirt is what you wash out from under your fingernails and soil is what you grow plants in.
...... noticed that parts of the dirt are white in appearance including the mulch. ......
Quote:
Originally Posted by kretsch
........ I saw that there was white in the dirt and on the mulch
Twice now you've mentioned the mulch. Did you put the mulch there yourself or was the mulch already there when you started gardening? If you put the mulch there yourself what was the mulch composed of? Did it have chunks of horse manure in it?
Twice now you've mentioned the mulch. Did you put the mulch there yourself or was the mulch already there when you started gardening? If you put the mulch there yourself what was the mulch composed of? Did it have chunks of horse manure in it?
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The mulch was put in there last year by a guy that I hired to do some cleaning out of the front yard and he put in the mulch and helped plant the stuff that I bought. So I don't have any details about the mulch itself aside that the gardener said it was good quality
You might have a fungus in your soil and mulch but that is more likely to be a good thing. When soil is sterile, that is when you have a hard time growing things. Good, moist living earth is the best soil and no store bought stuff will ever beat it.
Take a sample of your soil and mulch to your county agent or a knowledgeable garden store (not likely to be a big box store) and get their opinion.
By the way, remember that dirt is what you wash out from under your fingernails and soil is what you grow plants in.
When I did pull out one of the plants, aside from the white appearance of the SOIL, I noticed that there a lot of ants and some worms crawling in the dirt and the roots
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