How Often Should You Change Your Mulch?

Written By Carli Holas

Mulch is important for the growth and survival of any healthy lawn. But not all mulches are created equal, and they don’t last forever. You want it to keep your plants healthy and to do so, you should replace your mulch to keep its effectiveness.

As soon as you put it in, mulch begins improving the soil moisture and prevents plants from drying out too quickly. This prevents soil erosion and compaction, which ultimately benefits the plants in how often you need to replace soil. It’s spending money upfront, so you don’t have to as often.

While your lawn should naturally have its own layer of soil, adding mulch or replacing it can improve your plant growth. All the natural earth in a yard is made of sand, silt, and clay, which is good, but could use some help. Sometimes these elements last longer or have fewer negative effects with quality mulch to help.

WHEN SHOULD YOU CHANGE YOUR MULCH?

Mulch should be replaced as soon as you see signs of decomposition, soil erosion, or discoloration among any of your lawn’s plants. Otherwise, most lawns can go 5-6 years without replacing their mulch, but more often than not, extenuating circumstances affect that. It’s incredibly common for weather or critters to damage your mulch, so it needs to be changed.

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T CHANGE YOUR MULCH?

To spot decomposition, soil erosion, or discoloration when you’re unsure of what these symptoms look like, we can explain:

  • Decomposition: While mulch is supposed to decompose over time, it’s not an immediate effect. You shouldn’t notice for years, and you can see it when your mulch is moist, but your plants aren’t as well-watered. This means that water isn’t getting through, and most of the materials that give nutrients to your plants have decomposed. Not everything in mulch is meant to decompose, but stop weeds. This means that eventually, mulch will stop water from getting to your plants, too, if you don’t watch out.
  • Soil Erosion: If you start to see signs that your plants aren’t staying underground, you have soil erosion problems. For grass, places of your lawn will just grow bare. Before that, you may see some of your grass or plants growing in large numbers close to water. You’ll see this before other symptoms because the plants want to be near water.
  • Discoloration: This is the simplest sign that your mulch needs to be changed. If you start to notice that plants are changing to colors different from what they should be during a specific season, you likely need new mulch. Discoloration can be from a multitude of things that should be prevented by good mulch, such as dehydration, drowning, disease, or starvation.

MULCHES YOU CAN FIND AT PIONEER LANDSCAPING CENTERS

If you’re unsure what kind of mulch is best for your lawn, Pioneer Landscaping has plenty of choices to choose from. We carry several types of mulch that you can see at a location nearest to you. With our choices, you can make a decision based on quality and aesthetics:

  • Coffee Brown Mulch
  • Harvest Gold Mulch
  • Harvest Red Mulch
  • Harvest Brown Mulch
  • Western Red Cedar Mulch
  • Washington Cedar Mulch
  • Sod Mix
  • Mulch Mix
  • COMMAND Compost
  • EcoGro Compost
  • And more…

Contact your local Pioneer Landscaping Center for more information from one of our representatives. We’ll help you find the best mulch for your lawn.

Carli Holas