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Keep Mulch Away From Tree Trunks

Making It Grow Minute
SC Public Radio

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Moles start with the letter m – m for meat. Voles starts with v and they are vegetarians. Although human vegetarians munch on nothing harder than a raw carrot, voles happily eat the bark off trees. These rodents are active day or night, using underground burrows or heavy vegetation for protection. When trees have mulch piled up around their trunks, volcano mulching, the voles have a safe environment in which to munch away    -they   girdle the tree by their feeding. Keeping mulch at least four inches away from the tree’s trunk and having it no deeper than three or four inches once it’s settled, can go a long way towards protecting trees from these destructive animals and lessens the risk of disease and rot for that tree’s trunk.  The trunk   is designed by nature to be dry, it’s the plant’s roots that need moisture. 

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.