BOYCOTT CYPRESS MULCH
November 14th, 2003
Barbara Waddell & Pepper Patrol of Ruskin, FL
Cypress mulch is not an environmentally friendly product because:
* When dry it repels water making it difficult to wet.
* Once wet it hold a high quantity of water that reduces amount of water reaching the plant roots.
* Old-growth cypress harvested prior to 1950 was rot ant termite resistant because they consisted
of heartwood that took 100′s of year to grow.
* Young cypress harvested today is not decay or pest resistant.
CYPRESS MULCH – WHY KILL A TREE TO GROW A FLOWER ?
Cypress forests filter pollutants and serve as reservoir for floodwater. They provide prime habitat for woodpeckers, wood storks, owls opossums, bobcats and wood ducks.
Many Stands of old cypress can live up to 1500 years, grow up to 150′ tall and 25′ in girth.
Florida cypress sawmills grind entire trees and produces nothing but mulch. This mulch was formerly produced as a by-product of lumbering operations but because of demand whole forests are being destroyed. These forest are not being replanted and when clear-cut this habitat become taken over by invasive Brazilian peppers. Our cypress forests are being lost forever.
There are many alternative mulches that are environmentally friendly such as:
Recycled Yard Waste.
Eucalyptus Mulch from plantations.
Pine bark.
Pine straw.
Melaleuca Mulch from invasive non-native trees. It is long lasting and termite resistant.
Promulch – from recycled rubber tires.