Just realized my cheap mulch cost me a whole garden bed

I put down this budget pine bark mulch last spring from a big box store and by July my tomatoes were all yellow and stunted. Turns out cheap mulch can rob nitrogen from the soil as it breaks down, especially if it's not aged right. I did a soil test after losing half my crop and the nitrogen levels were bottomed out. Has anyone else run into this with bargain mulch or am I just picking the wrong brand?

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2 Comments

ryan9523mo ago

Hell yeah, that sucks. It's crazy how the "cheap" option ends up costing you more in the long run. I've noticed this pattern with tons of stuff, not just mulch. You try to save a few bucks on something like cheap fertilizer or a bargain brand of potting mix, and it just sets you back because it's basically junk. It's like the whole "buy cheap, buy twice" thing but with plants you can't get back.

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hill.barbara3mo ago

@ryan952 you've got a point about cheap stuff being a trap for sure. But actually, MOST fresh bark mulch will rob nitrogen for a bit, even the expensive kinds. It's not really about the brand, it's about whether it's COMPOSTED or not. If you get pine bark that's still green and fresh, it'll tie up nitrogen no matter what you paid. What saved my beds was mixing in some blood meal or alfalfa meal with the mulch when I apply it. That way the microbes have all the nitrogen they need and they leave your tomatoes alone.

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