What is the preferred mulch for tomato plants? - Page 2

peppero · April 5, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by kath

Shredded leaves are plentiful and free for me and they are great for mulching.

kath

Ditto and add pine needles. I also like wheat straw.

Jon

guruofgardens · April 8, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by kath

Shredded leaves are plentiful and free for me and they are great for mulching.

Exactly! Free shredded leaves, free mown grass on top of the leaves. Repeat. Lots of work, but free and very productive.

solid7 · April 20, 2014

My case is a little different. Since I am in Florida, I don't have what you'd call "soil". I have sand. So, I basically don't grow things in ground, except for a few special cases. When I do grow in-ground, I mix in mushroom compost around where I will plant, (to get a 50/50 localized sand/soil blend) and then put fresh alfalfa hay over the top of the whole garden. I go from zero grow, to just about as good as can be expected. My crops are nowhere near as good as they were when I lived in the midwest, but I take what I can get.

solid7 · April 20, 2014

I use alfalfa hay. I love alfalfa hay mulch.

Tania · July 18, 2014

We use ramial wood chips, and they work beautifully.

The caution with these is the wood chips have to stay on top of the soil (if you dig them in, they'll tie Nitrogen). Also, the soil needs to be warmed up and moist before we can put the chips as a mulch.

The chips will last for 2 seasons. They are free.

Tatiana

July 18, 2014	#20
Tania Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Anmore, BC, Canada Posts: 3,970	We use ramial wood chips, and they work beautifully. The caution with these is the wood chips have to stay on top of the soil (if you dig them in, they'll tie Nitrogen). Also, the soil needs to be warmed up and moist before we can put the chips as a mulch. The chips will last for 2 seasons. They are free. Tatiana __________________ Tatiana's TOMATObase

April 20, 2014	#18
solid7 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Florida (East Central Coast) Posts: 78	My case is a little different. Since I am in Florida, I don't have what you'd call "soil". I have sand. So, I basically don't grow things in ground, except for a few special cases. When I do grow in-ground, I mix in mushroom compost around where I will plant, (to get a 50/50 localized sand/soil blend) and then put fresh alfalfa hay over the top of the whole garden. I go from zero grow, to just about as good as can be expected. My crops are nowhere near as good as they were when I lived in the midwest, but I take what I can get.