Cypress, Cedar or Pine Bark Mulch For New Bushes?

[PGB1]

Hello All!
We bought some tiny (4" pot) Gem Box Inkberry shrubs to plant where yew bushes were removed last fall. Since sun is strong there after noon, I'd like to mulch. Searching for mulch that isn't chemically treated, dyed or synthetic (even petroleum based!) leaves available locally Cypress, Cedar or Pine Bark.

Cypress concerns me if what I've read true about destruction of its habitat due to the mulch industry. (Of course, I've read the opposite!)
Cedar and pine aren't a concern earth-friendly wise, as far as I can find out. I've read pine helps lower the pH (And read that it raises it)

Dyed, chemically treated, insecticide treated, rubber, Styrofoam and similar petroleum based, we won't use- especially anything with insecticide.

Which mulch choice would you suggest for these acid loving plants in the hot sun?

Thanks For Helping!
Paul

PS: I haven't tested the soil pH yet. There are pine trees within 25 feet and I only rake the needles up in late fall. Perhaps that contributed to the acidity of the soil. Under the pines was a giant yew. I don't know if that also contributed to lower pH.

 

[Anniekay]

I like Scotts Earth Gro shredded bagged brown mulch. The bag says there are no added chemicals, (though it's dyed brown, it fades within months so, probably a natural dye) .
I plant shrubs that already like the acidic soil I have and this mulch comes from nearby forests which are planted pines for the paper and lumber industries and contains other native trees that grow amongst them. Then I adjust the soil ph individually for things like Clematis which prefer a more neutral soil.
Most plants grow well within a range of soil ph so, as long as my soil is within that range, I don't stress over it.

 

[PGB1]

Thank You, Anniekay for the good & helpful information. I appreciate it very much!

Happy Gardening!
Paul

 

[Mystic Moon Tree]

If you read wikipedia it says ink berry likes eastern usa swamp & bog edges in sandy woodlands. That tells me it likes a slightly acidic soil & you would probably do well to amend with peatmoss & sand as well as coffee grounds & a bit of lemon juice. I would use a mix of pine & cedar lightly added, until you can concentrate its own leaf & stick litter below it. I would be seriously conscerned about working the soil where a yew tree had grown. They are at the top of the list for most toxic plants in the world & they leach allelopathic (kills other plants) & toxic substances for years into the soil. So that soil could be toxic for you, your plants & aninals to eat from. They are called the tree of the dead for a reason. I would not grow food in yew tree soil, or touch it excessively.

 

[PGB1]

Thank You Mystic Moon Tree for advice about amending the soil.

I knew the berries & greens were poison to mammals, but never knew that yew were toxic to other plants. That's good to know & appreciated.

Oddly, we plant flowers around the yews each year. Pesky weeds grow, too. Those particular plants must be immune.
Hopefully, the new shrubs also will be as tolerant.

Paul

PS: Update- Soil tested to pH of 7 to 7.6. On the suggestion of the company that grew the new plants, I'll amend with low pH Canadian sphagnum peat. A company caller Premier sells pH 4.3 in our area. It's CSPMA sustainably harvested, so I don't feel too badly about using peat moss. (Still some bad feelings about using it linger.)

Interesting: https://garden.org/learn/articles/view/4358/Peat-Moss-in-the-Garden-Is-it-Sustainable/

 

[Mystic Moon Tree]

Your welcome. It seems to me that many berries preffer an acidic soil as a general rule. Peat, if bought from a sustainable supplier is not something I'm overly conscerned about. We need to use what works in reasonable moderation & without wastefullness to establish the desired ecosystems on our properties. If the plants desire a bog then a bog I will create, so long as I keep part of my property for native species . If peat is made from spagnum, I would probably also be interested in buying living spagnum moss to create a small sustainable production or mini peat bog in my food forest, so I don't have to import from elsewhere in the future. Food for thought. You could alternately lessen the amount of peat needed by starting your own citrus compost pile with: berry, citrus, lettuce, coffee & cabage scraps from the kitchen & experimenting with other types of local moss, leaf litter & sticks that can grow & decompose into an acidic, carbon rich, boggy compost on your property. Good luck with your endeavor .

 

[PGB1]

Thanks Mystic Moon Tree for giving me some ideas, the first of which is citrus in the compost pile. I didn't know it was important to the compost pile. I'll be sure to bury citrus scraps from now on. Usually I lay citrus scraps & peels on top for whatever animal or bird comes and takes them. Cooper's hawks take the orange peels.

My compost pile has been helpful in breaking up our clay soil, to an extent. Ours started actually as vegetation scraps, leaves & such mixed with mostly clay that I excavated to build a garage 25+ years ago.

On one side fence line, the neighbor has about 7 large maple trees, We have a large & a couple of small. I rake the zillions of leaves into piles. Usually the pile is 40 feet x 5 feet by 3 feet tall- three per fall.

Then I run over them with my push or battery lawn mower and mix the resulting chips in the pile. It's amazing how fast they disintegrate and the amount of steam coming from the pile one can sometimes see on cool mornings..

Over the years, the pile's evolved to fairly good appearing soil. (I add vegetation to it and shovel-mix it frequently.)

We, too, keep part of the property for native species. I call it the "What Shows Up, Grows Up" zone. Some very beautiful flowers have appeared there over the years. The little animals (rabbits, chipmunks and mice) love to run and hide in there when a perceived predator appears (my dog, myself, a hawk). The pollinators & fire flies love it too.

As for lawns- No fertilizer, no weed killer chemicals. No man made anything. No water waste. So, it's not golf course pretty, but it's green- varying colors of green, but green. And it's not necessarily all grass either. More of some grass, some wild grasses, some violets, some who knows what. All diligently mowed.