For better or worse, Reddit is a fantastic place to get niche advice — but as a poster on r/landscaping learned, that guidance occasionally comes across as tough love.

"Y'all seen this mulch glue all over your feed too? Debating if I should try it," the post's title declared, alongside a screenshot of a jug of mulch glue from Instagram.

"I maintain a huge mulch bed and I have DOGS!! Thinking this would be a great idea to keep mulch in place without [my] dogs messing around," they explained in a comment.

Not everything for sale at garden centers is beneficial or even safe — invasive seeds sit on the racks at big box stores, as do landscape fabric and rubber mulch. Like rubber mulch, mulch glue can contain plastics in the form of polymers, and both break down into microplastics in soil.

A 2023 study in the peer-reviewed Journal of Hazardous Materials identified plastic derivatives like rubber mulch as a "major source of microplastics in agroecosystems," adding that microplastics become "more toxic after accumulating other contaminants from the environment."

Solutions of this nature typically solve problems caused by the unnatural upkeep that monoculture lawns demand.

Alternative approaches like rewilding your yard and upgrading to a natural lawn are rarely quick fixes, but the benefits far outweigh the effort to make the switch. Native greenery requires less in the way of resources and maintenance, and it costs less, too.

Commenters on the thread didn't get that far, though — they were too focused on the risks posed by mulch glue and worried for the user's dogs.

"So you're asking if you should spray glue on your mulch which your dogs will then likely get into? Why not spray it on your dogs and save time?" one quipped.

Commenters on the thread had a hard time getting past the idea of gluing pieces of a yard together. One told the poster they "should glue their rocks down, too," to which another jokingly observed it was a "good thing the trees are already glued in."

What's the hardest thing about taking care of your yard? Mowing the lawn 🏡 Controlling weeds 🌿 Keeping pests at bay 🐿️ I don't have a yard 🤷 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

"I'm amazed that people have time and money to waste on something like this. Let's spray some more chemicals down, why don't we," another sarcastically remarked.

Ultimately, most commenters were deeply unsettled by the idea of intentionally dousing one's own lawn with what one person called "unneeded chemicals."

"Sounds like an absolute dumb idea. Let's put down a plastic based glue on our mulch. Wtf," a user replied.

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