Admiring the landscaping of a local business, one person wanted to take a closer look at what they described on Reddit as "really dark beautiful mulch." But they realized as they examined it more closely that the mulch was actually made of rubber.
Polling the community of r/landscaping, they asked, "Does anyone have any experience using this on their home landscaping? Would like to hear experiences positive and negative."
The consensus was swift and immediate: Do not use rubber mulch.
"Would not recommend," one person shared. "It never goes away and it gets all over the place (in the grass is fun when the lawnmower blades hit a piece). Eventually we had it mostly removed … and are still finding chunks."
And in addition to being difficult to contain, others pointed out that the materials themselves are highly toxic since rubber mulch is made of worn-down and shredded tires. Not only are these tires manufactured using a variety of chemicals and heavy metals, but they also pick up other toxins over the course of their usable lifetime — all before making it to a garden bed.
"This is a 'product' that will provide your tree/shrubs/plants with zero nutrients and will have no benefit whatsoever to anything you plant, your soils or your environment," one person explained. "As opposed to wood based mulch which will break down into the soil and has many benefits to both your soils and the things that grow in it."
Another echoed the sentiment. "It doesn't give anything back to the soil except maybe toxic chemicals," they said.
For all of these reasons, experts and landscapers generally recommend against using rubber mulch for any purpose.
Instead, any homeowner looking for an affordable, easy-to-maintain yard would be better off looking to nature. There are several natural ground cover options that are easy to install, such as clover, wild ginger, aster, ferns, and more. Make sure to double-check a native species list in your area to make sure you're not planting anything invasive.
To that end, choosing to rewild a yard with solely native plants benefits both homeowners and the surrounding ecosystem. Not only does a native yard save money and time on watering, but it provides crucial habitat for pollinators, who in turn serve as stabilizing agents for a healthy food chain.
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If you were to switch from a grass lawn to a more natural option, which of these factors would be your primary motivation?
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