Mulching Strategies
- Recent Topic Edits
- Salish Sea References
- Ecology Coastal Oblique Photography
- The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound provides a peer reviewed version of the wiki
- The Nearshore Map Portal
- Habitat Work Schedule Map
- PRISM Project Search
- Washington Coastal Atlas
- Wiki Rules
- Wiki text does not reflect the policy or opinion of any agency or organization
- Please adhere to our social contract
- Complain here, and be nice.
- What Links To This Page?
- Management measures (← links)
- Topics (← links)
- Biological Opinion (← links)
- Fish sampling design in river deltas (← links)
- River Delta Reference List (← links)
- Delta flood and drainage (← links)
- Climate Change (← links)
- Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Grade (← links)
- Ecosystem functions, goods and services (← links)
- Dynamics (← links)
- Ecosystem processes (← links)
- Olympia Oyster Restoration (← links)
- Engineered Log Jams (← links)
- Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIAs) (← links)
- Development of tidal channels following restoration (← links)
- Delta hydrodynamics and channels (← links)
- Delta sediment dynamics and vegetation (← links)
- Delta utilization by salmon (← links)
- Delta social dynamics (← links)
- Creosote removal (← links)
- Logging road removal (← links)
- Fish passage barrier removal (← links)
- Process-based Restoration (← links)
- Delta plain accretion rate among systems compared to sea level rise (← links)
- Effects of relict levees on sediment and debris deposition in delta systems (← links)
- Viability of assisted vs. unassisted development of tidal fresh swamp (← links)
- Factors preventing development of productive delta marsh vegetation (← links)
- Delta biodiversity and food webs (← links)
- Factors affecting long term composition and productivity of delta invertebrate communities (← links)
- Potential extent, function, and requirements for beaver habitat modification in delta landscapes (← links)
- Effects of introduced species on delta functions (← links)
- Effects of delta landscape connectivity on realized function for juvenile salmon (← links)
- Tide gate effects on salmonid passage and utilization (← links)
- Effects of local delta habitat structure on salmonid carrying capacity (← links)
- Influence of ecosystem service quantification on stakeholder preferences around restoration (← links)
- Distributary configuration effects on delta sediment deposition (← links)
- Agroforestry (← links)
- Wood Waste (← links)
- Eelgrass (← links)
- Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (← links)
- In lieu fee mitigation (← links)
- Harvesting surface water for irrigation (← links)
- Flood fencing (← links)
- Effects of Stormwater Pollution on Fish (← links)
- Nearshore Monitoring Strategy (← links)
- Beneficial use of dredge materials (← links)
- Puget Sound Ecosystem Planning (← links)
- Riparian Buffers (← links)
- Endangered Species Act (← links)
- Instream flow (← links)
Mulching is the practice of placing dead plant material on the surface of soil to achieve a mix of effects: 1) suppression of unwanted vegetation, 2) reduction of evapotranspiration, 3) import of nutrients, 4) reduction of erosion, and creation of a permeable soil surface. The timing, material, depth, organization and application methods vary depending on the situation, available resources and equipment, and desired results.
Windrow Mulching
This strategy attempts to use the natural productivity of a field to produce a deep mulch within a strip, to support conversion from pasture to woody vegetation. The pasture is mown and material is gathered in a strip, either with a scythe, or mowing and windrowing equipment. A spring cutting and windrowing may produce a strip of dead pasture where planting is easier, the following season the process is repeated to provide a summer mulch for the new planting.
A windrow mulching system could begin with a cover crop such as winter rye, planted densely in early fall, following summer fallow tillage to control competing vegetation. The winter rye rapidly establishes a monospecific stand, and produces biomass by early summer, when it is mowed and windrowed to produce woody planting strips in the following winter.
Wood Chips
- Also called Ramial Chips, when provided by tree services.
- Competition for chips has increased over the last two decades.
Spoiled Straw/Hay
- Horse barns and dairies may have hay that has molded, and is not fit for consumptions.
- After Thanksgiving holidays, many supermarkets have displays that include bales of hay that are saturated and need to be disposed of.
Chop and Drop
- Growing material on site purely for the purpose of turning it into mulch.
"Cut and Carry"
- Areas within or near a site can be cultivated for production of mulch, that is then carried or transported to a planting strip.
Slash Piles
- Woody debris or logging slash can be loosely piled to create areas resistant to ungulate browse.
- Mulch suspended on much slash can supress weeds by increasing the effective "depth" of the mulch, requiring more growth to reach light.