rocco

As a newbie to bananas and owner to 2 musa basjoos that are really doing well indoors so far, I'll like to know what type of mulch to use when the plants go outside in the garden after the last frost?

Thx

rocco

Thanks for that mate

pitangadiego

Compost from the City Landfill.

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microfarmer

Our landfill grinds a lot of extra trash with the mulch as a consequence of homeowner greenwaste cans used for garbage and it getting mixed. They are not allowed to sell/give away the mulch, so they use it to cover garbage with.

The local electric company chips up tree trimmings from around the powerlines and provides it to area residents for free, without the added garbage.

Talk to tree trimming companies. Many pay to get rid of it.

I bought a chipper and generate my own mulch.

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JoeReal

Or if you have a friend with a horse ranch, you'll get prime mulching stuff there for free, sometimes delivered to you.

Our city sometimes give away free compost in a community garden and you can haul some of it home.

If you can't get freebie stuff, the composted steer manure from WalMart or Home Depot are one of the cheapest and yet perfectly suited for bananas. At WalMart, they sometimes go as low as $0.84 per cubic foot, and at HD, it will go on sale at $0.99 per cubic ft.

It can improve the soil structure for bananas through time. Very good stuff those freebies and the cheapest composted manure.

Richard

Joe, as I remarked in some other thread -- I've had some real problems here in San Diego with the free mulch and compost from the city greenery program. About a year ago about 1/3 of my trees needed new mulch and I used the free city product. By mid summer, only those trees were suffering from some of the worst sooty mold, mildew, and insect problems I'd seen in a long time -- whereas a neigboring tree with a different mulch source was doing fine.

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Greenie

rocco,
these guys are right!,if your mindset is to take your 2 plants to the next level then get the best compost you can get.Otherwise,any good mulch will be fine especially if your are just starting and learning.

JoeReal

Perhaps the city need to hire a better compost maker. I've learned with dismay that our city has to buy the compost from a central facility, and the city pays that facility to process our yard wastes! Anyway it is cheaper for the city not to have their own compost making facilities. The free compost are generally good and are weed, pathogen and insect free. If the yard wastes are not properly composted, like not achieving proper temperature, it could have pathogens, insects and weed seeds, like perhaps what happened in your city.

rocco

Thanks everyone! As it turns out, our city does have free compost from May 1-31st. I'll try and get some everyday, as you are only allowed 2 gabbage cans a day.

hydrojeff

hi all, my good friend has a tree service and have used alot of the mulch before, but 2 years ago he gave me a load of it and it was full of spider mites, its been the worst battle ive ever been in and still not won yet, alot of the trees they cut are dead or dieing limbs because of bugs,mites or what have you, so i keep the stuff away from my plants now. just my thoughts, i like the way pine bark breaks down, and its cheaper if you get 3 or more yards delivered and the large pieces i think look nice.

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NANAMAN

I've been using composted horse bedding, and am very happy with it. It's cheap, looks good, and supplies the plants with nutrients. Free compost would be better, but I don't have access to any.

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JoeReal

I sometimes order redwood bark nuggets by the cubic yards, delivered. What I do if there are mites or other bugs, I would soak the nuggets in water inside big trash bin. Laborious, but it kills mites and washes off a lot of weed seeds. I then spread it over the driveway to dry a little bit, then spread it around. But often, the bark nuggets are clean, but I did it once when I saw several crawling critters, and it worked. One thing for sure, spider mites don't like water.

hydrojeff

thanks Joe ill try that next time

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microfarmer

Make sure it is trash free! There is a difference between mulch and compost. Both can be used as a topdressing.

Mulch is not usually composted and is usually derived from tree trimmings, shredded bark, shredded trees, and other logging and lumber waste. Make sure you check for garbage mixed in, or that it is only tree trimmings if you are looking for 'mulch'.

Compost uses all types of yard waste and other industrial plant wastes (animal poop, grain hulls, spent mash from brewing, spent mushroom media, etc.) and 'could' also contain dried sewage sludge, mixed in, and then composted so it all breaks down. Compost needs to be fully broken down and heated to about 140-150 degrees (hot composting) before it is weed and pathogen free.

The problem with landfill greenwaste is that the curbside pickup cans get some trash from people who just don't care what can they throw garbage away in. It is near impossible to get landfill greenwaste without garbage mixed in. I work at a landfill as an equipment operator, and even though I 'could' prolly get some, I won't touch the stuff for that very reason.

Hope some of this helps.

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rocco

Thanks for that. Here is what the city provides

4 May 2006 Adding compost

microfarmer

Oh, Yea! That looks beautiful. No trash there. I use that type of stuff as more of an ammendment than a cover mulch. I use chipped tree limbs as cover mulches to retain moisture, suppress weeds (but they still make it through), and (depending on the kind of tree chipped) for apearances. My neighborhood cats would love if I topdressed with that...

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