Is Hardwood Bark Toxic

Some types of landscape bark may be toxic if used around young plants.

Is hardwood bark toxic. The poster worldwide woods ranked by hardness should be required reading for anyone enrolled in the school of wood nerdery. Chocolate mulch and black mulch are enriched with an environmentally safe non toxic colorant. Is colored mulch toxic. Types of mulch safe for pets.

Landscape bark and hardwood chips are often used around flowerbeds trees and shrubs as a mulch material. The mulch may become laden with toxic byproducts such as methanol acetic acid ammonia and hydrogen sulfide gas. This is especially true with pine needle mulch as the pine needles can actually puncture the stomach lining if ingested. It is a mix of hardwood bark mulch and compost and is 100 organic so it helps with beneficial biology in your garden areas.

Pine cedar and hemlock mulches are good alternatives to cocoa bean mulch if you have pets however keep in mind that dogs can choke on mulch and must still be supervised. Recently however i received an e mail from a local landscaper that reported severe damage to annuals and perennials in a landscape bed immediately after applying hardwood mulch. Some cheap dyes however can be dyed with harmful or toxic chemicals. This season i used organic mechanics organic hardwood bark mulch with great results.

This organic mulch looks great in your garden and is safe for kids and pets. When this occurs the mulch develops an over bearing odor that will take your breath. Properly composted organic material has a near neutral ph of 6 0 to 7 2 in general hardwood chip mulch is more of a problem than pine bark mulch. I have amassed over 500 wood species on a single poster arranged into eight major geographic regions with each wood sorted and ranked according to its janka hardness.

Here in ohio the most popular type of mulch that people use is shredded hardwood bark mulch which is a by product of the timber industry. The problem sometimes referred to as sour mulch or toxic mulch occurs when mulch is left is large piles and undergoes anaerobic conditions. Seven bark is a common shrub or bush in the same genus as the hydrangea but it is a wild variety that originates from the eastern united states. And the mulch actually becomes toxic.

Natural mulch has no added color. When they haul the logs into the sawmill the first thing they do is debark them. I sometimes encounter customers who ask is colored mulch toxic most colored mulches are dyed with harmless dyes like iron oxide based dyes for red or carbon based dyes for black and dark brown. Another way is to purchase organic bagged mulch.