USING RUBBER MULCH

[Mmathis]

Has anyone used rubber mulch, and most especially used it in "bog-type" situations?

I decided to incorporate some into my turtle bogs [see pics]. There were 2 reasons. 1 - as "fill" so that the boxies will have a softer substrate to walk on [concrete, gravel, & rocks are abrasive to the plastron, or bottom shell]. So I took out a lot of the gravel at the outer margins and replaced it / mixed it with rubber mulch. And 2 - to reduce the weight on the "false-bottom" of the turtle bog areas.

It floats initially, but after a few minutes it will sink and mix in. The only problem I can see is that it wouldn't offer as much support to the plants as gravel does.

 

[HTH]

Let us know how it works out in general. Around here wood mulch is just termite food.

 

[Mmathis]

Well, I see it used a lot in general landscaping, but it seems very expensive [compare that it takes 2 or 3 bags of the rubber to cover what a bag of regular chips, mulch, bark, etc. covers, and costs around $6 a bag]. You'd think they would try to make re-cycled products MORE affordable which would encourage them to be used more. On the other hand, the rubber lasts forever and you DO have to replace/replenish wood products, so maybe in the long run, the cost justifies itself....?

I will be watching it and reporting if I see problems or advantages. But would also welcome input, concerns.

 

[sissy]

not sure about the dyes they use or if it is environmentally safe .Would it give off chemicals into the water .I know i read about people throwing tires in a pond here and all the fish were dieing and the parks department associated it to the tires they found in the bottom and removed them and the restocked the pond with fish and it has been fine since .It was on the news here from Roanoke .I remember before I sold my house in NJ I bought bags of cocoa mulch from hershey park and gosh first comment at the open house was about the neat smell .I wish I could get hold of it here but it costs to much to ship .Mulch I have to treat and I don't put it near the foundation of the house .I use 20 mule team borax to treat as it is safe .

 

[Neo]

I've had recycled tires made into stepping stones around my small pond for 3 years now with no problems. After buying them I did worry for awhile (I think I may have even asked about them here on the forum) after testing the water everything seemed fine so I just slowly added fish.

 

[sissy]

The only thing I guess I worry about if it gets washed into the pond ,but it can happen with regular mulch too and they dye that too .

 

[Mmathis]

http://www.natureswayresources.com/DocsPdfs/RubberMulch.pdf

Found this. I guess it answers about every question. Hmmm....

 

[sissy]

I know I wanted to get it for by my driveway garden but you can't find it down here in bulk delivery and when i figure out what I would need it would be over 40 bags and that would cost a fortune .I know in Nj my neighbor had it by her childrens swing set but a big truck came and dumped it for them ,cheaper that way .I know you can get it in big giant bags too ,but not here .