How to Create and Maintain Tree Mulch Rings
When we moved to this property, I was very eager to get the fruit trees in our orchard planted and growing. Many holes were dug and filled with a variety of apples, pears, and peaches. This was shortly after scraping off the old, tatty pasture grass (many areas had more weeds than grass) and before hydroseeding with a fresh pasture grass mix (that was supposed to include wildflowers but I'm not sure the hydroseed company actually made the effort).
Hydroseeding isn't really a precise activity and all the fruit trees received a good drenching of seed at their bases. This was hard to fully remove and the grass rooted and grew well in the areas below each tree. I knew this should be removed, so I set about the task of re-establishing mulch rings around quite a few trees. It really is surprising how much water and nutrients grass will capture before either has a chance to reach the root zone of the young trees.
Benefits of Maintaining Mulch Rings Around Trees
The main benefit for maintaining mulch rings around your trees, especially young fruit trees, is to significantly reduce or eliminate competition for water and nutrients from grass and weeds growing around the root zone, as noted above.
Another benefit is keeping a clear distance around the trunk that doesn't need to be string trimmed or mowed, thereby eliminating damage to the trunk with these activities.
Over time, if you mulch with something like wood chips or garden compost, these materials will break down and improve the soil within the mulch ring and benefit your trees.
How To Re-establish or Create Mulch Rings
It's very simple to re-establish or create mulch rings at the base of your trees. I cover one easy method below.
Tools to Use:
A shovel or edger
A can of marking paint, a hose, or a length of rope
(Optional) a mattock of some kind
1. Use a can of marking paint, a hose, a length of rope or anything else you can think of to mark out a circle around the base of the tree with the circumference / diameter sized to fit your needs. In practice, you'll often see larger mulch rings for larger trees given their more expansive root zones. For younger trees, I usually end up with a diameter around four feet.
2. Use a shovel or edger to cut about 2" deep following your marked circle all the way around the tree. It just needs to be deep enough to get through the sod root zone.
3. Remove the sod circle using your shovel or the flat, adze-like side of a mattock. If you opt for the mattock approach, carefully and repeatedly swing the mattock underneath the sod to cut the roots and loosen for removal. If you opt for the shovel approach, work the shovel under the sod (again, at about 2" below the surface) and use it to cut loose the sod pieces. Try and keep both the shovel and mattock as level as you can as you work across the circle. You may have to help the shovel along with a shove or a kick and then use a lever action to pry up. To make the sod pieces easier to lift, use your shovel to cut the sod circle into quarters or even smaller pieces.
Caution: If you are re-establishing mulch rings around existing trees, be careful of the trees’ roots as you cut and remove the sod.
4. Once you've removed the sod circle, mulch the area with wood chips, compost, or any other mulching material. This will help retain moisture and maintain the area by helping to suppress or weaken weeds.
Tip: Don't waste the sod pieces you've just removed, especially if you end up with quite a bit of sod. You can use it in a number of ways, but one I would recommend is to create a turf stack and let it break down into a nice loamy soil you can use in the garden or add to your compost mix.
Weedy Pete
