Mulch

[chuckie500]

Its nearly spring and everyone is thinking about mulching their garden.

1. Which mulches are best if you have dogs??

2. I've heard that cocoa mulch is poisonous, are their any others that are bad? And Coir peat mulch (the bricks you soak in water), is that made from the cocoa plant, so is that bad too?

I normally use the sugar cane type.

Thanks

[t-time]

We don't have Cocoa Mulch in Australia ;)

Coir bricks are fine as well - not poisonous - but they may cause bowel blockage if eaten.

You can use any mulches really just wary of fertilisers and blood& bone products - the stinkier the better as far as the dogs are concerned! ;)

Sugarcane mulch

[Kirislin]

Its nearly spring and everyone is thinking about mulching their garden.

1. Which mulches are best if you have dogs??

2. I've heard that cocoa mulch is poisonous, are their any others that are bad? And Coir peat mulch (the bricks you soak in water), is that made from the cocoa plant, so is that bad too?

I normally use the sugar cane type.

Thanks

No, I think coir is from the coconut palm and cocoa mulch is from the same plant that chocolate comes from.

[gillybob]

Straw or lucerne or even news paper can be used. I buy lucerne pellets that are sold as cat litter. They are 100% lucerne and good for the soil.

[Tiggy]

I use wood chips because anything else blows away when we get them horrible easterly winds in summer, the dogs steal a few pieces when I first put it down .

[auir]

we use a cypress pine mulch, our bc use to try and chew on it when he was a pup but he since grew out of that

as someone else said the stronger the smell the more interest they will have to it

although our mulch does look nice, he did eat all the trees that where planted in the garden beds which have the mulch LOL

[Linda K]

we have both wood chips and sugar cane mulch

[persephone]

Pea straw, lucerne, wood chips, hay, most things like that are fine It does depend a bit on what plants you are mulching, the area involved, and how you water. You can use gravel/river pebbles too ,don't forget

[WreckitWhippet]

I've got wood chip, coir mulch, lucerne hay and straw around the yard in various places. I just use whatever suits the area

[chuckie500]

A friend of mine put some blood and bone down on the weekend and one of their dogs was eating bits and had to go a number of times. So I won't use that or dynamic lifter as one of mine loves to eat that. I go for liquid fertilizer. No chance of eating that. Thanks for the mulch answers. I can now mulch with confidence.

[t-time]

No, I think coir is from the coconut palm and cocoa mulch is from the same plant that chocolate comes from.

Correct

I ended up with a very sick doggy when the said doggy ate blood & bone.

If it's stinky, they will try and eat it - without a doubt!

[JulesP]

My mulch tip for the day. Avoid the pretty coloured mulch. Just put some down and watched the dye come out. Looked at my border collies and shuddered! They are normally red from my red dirt but if they go on this mulch when it is red they are going to get really stained.