A Redditor shared a photo of a recently planted tree in Ohio, aghast at how much mulch was dumped at its base.
"1/5 of this tree is buried," they said in their post on r/landscaping. "Watched the guy dump a whole wheel barrow on it. Its honestly more work to put this much mulch around a tree."
One commenter seemed to hit the nail on the head: "This is job security, once the tree throws a million water sprouts and dies they'll call the landscaper back to see what happened and hopefully get a new tree."
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Mowing the lawn 🏡 Water sprouts are branches that grow quickly from a tree in response to stressful growing conditions. This attempt to increase canopy size rapidly comes at the cost of the tree's existing energy reserves. It's bad for a young tree that may not have enough energy to spare for water sprouts, primary growth, and a buffer to deal with other injuries.
Getting trees to recover from these "mulch volcanoes" is a fair bit of work but entirely possible. The mulch effectively suffocates the root system, causing an explosion of secondary roots to grow in an effort for the tree to find oxygen. In the process, they coil around the primary roots and the trunk in a process called girdling.
Greg Jordan, University of New Hampshire Extension forester and arborist, suggests removing the mulch and pruning these girdling roots by hand. Then, the tree can be remulched properly, with a three-inch-thick layer around the tree and three inches of space between the stem and the mulch.
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Wanting to plant trees on your property is a great inclination, but you have to do it right. Trees can mitigate flood conditions, prevent soil erosion, and fight heat islands by providing additional shade in the summer. That's not to mention their foundational role in supporting local biodiversity and sequestering atmospheric carbon. If you're keen to get new trees, read our guide on rewilding your yard first.
The Reddit community was understandably sad about what was happening with the mulch volcanoes in Ohio. "Poor tree," said one member.
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