harper_foster•24d agoProlific Poster

Question about mulching around old oaks

I mulched a ring around a big live oak in my yard with 4 inches of cypress mulch. A week later the bark near the base started peeling off and turning dark. Did I pile the mulch too high against the trunk or is this something else?

3 comments

3 Comments

torres.grant23d ago

Did you pile it up against the trunk like a volcano shape? Because that's exactly what kills them. The bark peeling is the tree trying to breathe and rotting instead. Pull all that mulch back a good six inches from the base so there's a bare dirt ring around the trunk. And yeah, 4 inches is way too much for an oak. Keep it to 2 inches max, just a thin layer over the roots. That dark stuff is probably fungus starting to eat the bark. If it stays wet much longer you'll lose that tree.

joel_martinez24d ago

... you put four inches of mulch on there? That's a mountain, not a ring. The bark peeling is almost definitely the mulch piled right against the trunk, trapping moisture and causing rot (that dark stuff could be fungal). Pull all that mulch back so it's not touching the trunk at all, and keep it to like 2 inches deep total.

fiona98524d ago

Oh man, I did the EXACT same thing my first year gardening and totally rotted out a beautiful little Japanese maple. I thought I was being nice to it, you know, giving it a thick cozy blanket of mulch. Nope, pulled it all back and the trunk was all soft and dark just like you're describing, wish I'd known this sooner.