I'm new here and am in desperate need of help. [u] Last year[/u] I put a pretty thick layer of triple ground black mulch on all the plant and flower beds around the house. (I'm in upstate NY.)
Everything was great all last year and this year until about a week ago. All of a sudden the stuff started to smell horrible. Not like when you get fresh mulch, this smelled like something died. Its all over the yard.
I checked to be sure that indeed there was nothing dead under the bushes.
I started to turn the mulch, loosening it up and raking it so that there are no big clumps. At first the smell rose up as I was working on it. Later as I worked at thinning out the layer the smell wasn't there. I've even picked up a hand full and sniffed it and there was no smell. Later on the areas I worked on started to smell.
Now if that's not weird enough for you here's some more bizarre stuff. It doesn't seem to smell during the day. Its been warm but not too hot during the days (low 70's to 80) and pretty dry for the past week. As dusk comes and the temp drops the smell returns. But its not consistent, in that some beds don't smell and others do.
Today I all but removed most of the mulch from one area and that seems to have helped. Tonight though other areas where it didn't smell last night smell tonight.
If anyone has an ideas to help with this problem I will be very grateful. I've been turning and shoveling and moving mulch for about a week now and I'm at wits end and worn out.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
(near Rochester, NY)
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bullthistle
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Sorry that you having the problem but why on God's earth would you put down black mulch something that would heat up the soil and make it dry faster. Lesson learned. You never know with dyed mulch what you are getting so if it bothers you take it up and put down the real stuff. I know it's work and costs money but hey that's life when we experiment.
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rainbowgardener
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I'm guessing OP is talking about the black satin wood chip mulch. It is just like other wood chip mulch but dyed. The dye is just for cosmetic purposes. But the dark wood chips really don't heat up the soil or dry it out any (noticeably) more than any other kind of wood chips and the color fades out pretty rapidly anyway.
If that is what you are talking about dottney (please clarify), I have used those in the past and never had any problem like that. I've left them in the plastic bag for months until they were pretty much broken down into compost and still no smell.
The fact that you can pick up the mulch and it doesn't smell, makes me think it isn't the mulch doing it. Maybe there's something in your soil that is smelling and the mulch is just contributing to the problem by keeping it moist and not very aerated. Have you added anything to the soil, like not quite finished compost or any other organic amendments?
Try raking the mulch out of the way and then turning the soil over or loosening it up with hoe and fork.
If that is what you are talking about dottney (please clarify), I have used those in the past and never had any problem like that. I've left them in the plastic bag for months until they were pretty much broken down into compost and still no smell.
The fact that you can pick up the mulch and it doesn't smell, makes me think it isn't the mulch doing it. Maybe there's something in your soil that is smelling and the mulch is just contributing to the problem by keeping it moist and not very aerated. Have you added anything to the soil, like not quite finished compost or any other organic amendments?
Try raking the mulch out of the way and then turning the soil over or loosening it up with hoe and fork.