Mulching and Keeping Deer Away
From Joe in North Canton – ‘My question is about mulching. I’m afraid I might’ve messed up. Starting out, we had some of the black cover and we mulched on top of it. And I didn’t have enough, so I’d gotten a new water heater. So I used cardboard, ran out of that. So then I would use a plastic that I got to mulch in. Does that plastic hurt it? I’m a little worried about the dogwood, I probably got a few inches away.’
So the plastic is not water permeable. If there’s plants with a root system underneath that plastic, that could damage the plants that are nearby. If there’s no plants nearby, using that plastic is probably fine. It’s just going to end up breaking down there in the soil eventually.
All right, rake the mulch back off of that area. Pull that plastic up and either use weed fabric or something that’s water permeable so water can get down to the root system of the plant, or just rake the mulch back over that area and then water that area extremely well. You want to catch that plant back up for the water that it’s been missing.
Cardboard and newspaper and that kind of thing is a great idea to use because it does break down over time, but it will help prevent weeds. I’d be careful using cardboard that is close to the root system of a tree. Newspaper would definitely be a little more water permeable, allow moisture to go through that and get down into the soil a little better.
The next question is ‘the deer keep getting at my day lilies, what can I do?”
We do sell a product called Repels All, it comes in a liquid or granular form. The granular seems to hold up a lot longer, and will help deter the deer from coming into those areas. Now, it’s not foolproof. I have found that the liquid is good to spray on the flowers. That would be something else you would do in the evening when the sun’s gone down, because it can actually burn the foliage.
The Repels All spray is good for that kind of thing because sometimes if the lilies are up high enough, they’re not even going to be smelling the ground. They’re just going to go right for them. They like the hosta flowers too. But that’s what the spray is good for. It just doesn’t last as long as the granular. It just has to be reapplied more frequently.
Questions? Email us at [email protected] or call one of our two locations: Portage (330-499-0101) or Everhard (330-492-1243).
