Landscapers under fire after image of controversial neighborhood feature circulates online: 'Piles … like that are dangerous'

Driving around their neighborhood, one person was so horrified by a certain landscaping feature that they simply had to laugh.

The offending feature in question was what's nicknamed a mulch volcano, which is essentially a pile of mulch at the base of a tree that is so high that it resembles a volcano. 

They posted a photo of these particular volcanoes on the subreddit r/Arborists, and the piles really are a sight to behold. Each volcano looks at least several feet high and several times as wide, forming a circle so vast it leaves the tree itself looking shrunken at the center.

"I think these trees need more mulch," they wrote sarcastically.

Commenters quickly jumped in to roast the landscapers as well. "Treecano," one said.

Another wrote: "More mulch than sense I guess."

One pointed out the great irony of landscaping around the base of a living tree with pieces of dead trees. "I wonder how many trees were mulched just to mulch those trees," they mused.

And while it's a fair point, mulch volcanoes are generally frowned upon for even more serious reasons. 

Particularly when piled high over the root flare — the part of a tree's roots that are still above ground, just next to the trunk — mulch can be smothering, blocking air and nutrients from reaching the tree. It can also hold stagnant water in place against the roots, leading to fungus and root rot.

Mulch also holds heat well, even trapping warmth from the sun and burning the roots alive.

"We learned last week that piles of mulch like that are dangerous," one Redditor shared, in reference to even more extreme heat: a large mulch fire that burned for several days in Detroit.

One person half-joked that it was "future-proof."

Instead, landscapers are better off leaving the trees be — or if a client really wants something at the base for aesthetic reasons, native and pollinator-friendly plants are the way to go.

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