When you see unexpected piles of dirt on your lawn, you may have a mole problem. But if you find unexpected piles of dirt around your neighborhood trees, your community might have a mulch volcano problem.
One Redditor was concerned to find the latter around the shrubs where they lived, and they asked the r/landscaping forum for some guidance.
"Is it normal to have a foot and half of mulch around the base of the trees in my neighborhood?" they said. "I feel like it could kill the tree. Every tree in my neighborhood is like this."
"People like to call those 'mulch volcanoes' and you're right, they are not good for the trees," read the top comment.
A mulch volcano is when a gardener or landscaper piles a dome-like structure of mulch on the ground surrounding a tree that covers its roots in the interest of giving it helpful nutrients for a long time.
However, instead of boosting the tree's health, it's more likely this practice will kill it instead.
By covering the root flare, the mulch volcano restricts access to carbon dioxide and water, which are essential for growth. That mulch will retain water, too, and while that might seem ideal to provide access to this crucial resource, if the wet mulch is pressed up against the tree, it could cause rot that will soon strip its bark away.
Bark acts like a suit of armor for a tree, protecting it from bacteria, fungi, and disease. But if that armor has been removed, the tree will be exposed, which could lead to illness or even the tree's demise.
Community trees provide natural shading and cooling, and they help to absorb toxic gases from the atmosphere. Seeing them die will not only deprive your neighborhood of these beneficial services, but it will also remove a little welcome greenery from the area, and you also might see a reduction in vital pollinators that come to visit.
"Landscapers want to do the quickest, easiest and most billable jobs," one Redditor said. "It's mindless work to throw a ton of mulch down. They lay it on thick to prevent weeds and they don't adjust the amount of mulch ordered season to season. They end up killing plants by smothering them in mulch."
"Absolutely not good for the tree," another added. "I fight with my landscaper every single year not to do this. I make them come back out and remove it when they do. Should be laid flat and much more shallow."
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