Fruit trees, on the whole, do best with a living mulch, which is simply a covering of plants as in the photo above (yes that includes grass and weeds!) A living mulch is not only super fertile, but its loads easier for you too – read more about it here.
There’s a time and place though for good old woody mulch. (Don’t be using grass clippings or pea straw or manure for fruit trees please, trees aren’t at all like vegies, they need wood!)
Use it for:
- Newly planted and young fruit trees to help them boost away strongly until living mulch establishes.
- Low growing fruiting plants like shrubs, berries and dwarf citrus – they don’t always suit a living mulch especially in high rainfall places or where groundcover plants grow strongly and swamp them. An annual woody mulch helps keep air flowing around and through, and overall health high.
- Places with poor soil and sparse groundcover – mulch helps cover the ground and bring vitality.
The best woody mulch
The ultimate mulch, the one that excites the beneficial fungi ergo benefits the soil and trees the most, is a woodchip made from the small branches and twigs around the outside of the tree. This is called ramial chip and it’s full of carbs and nutrients and enzymes – all the goodies that the tree sends out to the new growth, buds and leaves.
Chip made from trunks and large branches aren’t as nutritious but even so they add carbon and organic matter. Improve them by letting them break down first before using. Get a load in ahead of time and let it sit on the earth and grow fungal threads.
DIY mulch
- Roughly chop prunings of small branches – these are un-chipped ramial chips, awesome! Use fresh or stack them up to breakdown.
- Scrape up the rustic collection of chips from under the wood pile/ wood shed.
- Leaves are also awesome, natures way after all!
- A chipper is a very fertile investment that means you can create your own ramial chip. Get a grunty one that can easily handle branches without jamming up. A very groovy thing to share in a community.
Bits and pieces are all good, use what you’ve got or can scurry up. No need for one type – nature appreciates a mixture.
How to mulch
Mulch can be applied two ways, as a weed suppressing mat, or as a health promoting sprinkle.
Mulch to suppress weeds: Do this if you need to subdue strong grass/ weed growth around young or poorly trees. Slash the grass back in about a 1sqm area around the tree, then lay wet cardboard or newspaper on top and cover with woodchip. Leave an air gap around the trunk.
Mulch to boost health: When weed suppression isn’t required but you feel that your orchard could do with a little pick me up scatter ramial chip hither and yon – on top on the groundcover plants (living mulch) beneath, around and between fruit trees. As if you were ye olde peasant sowing seed. These little nuggets will entice microbes, adding a bit more life.
Do established trees need mulch?
Whether established trees need mulch or not comes down to your own observations of soil and tree health. There’s no need to apply mulch if:
- trees grew lots of new wood during last growing season (spring thru autumn) – that shows you they are thriving and have all they need.
- your soil is fertile and awesome (lucky you!).
- trees have an established living mulch and are growing strongly (like the peach above).
