Rubber Mulch Is Not Healthy For Your Garden's Health Rubber mulch isn't a healthy choice. Like everything else, it does break down, and when it does, it leaches a witch's brew of heavy metals and toxic chemicals into the soil and groundwater.
Rubber mulch provides excellent drainage for the soil and supplies great insulation against harsh weather. It also allows a higher degree of heat to be maintained in the soil as well as maintaining its moisture levels. Wood mulch, however, can starve plants.
It is abundantly clear from the scientific literature that rubber should not be used as a landscape amendment or mulch. There is no question that toxic substances leach from rubber as it degrades, contaminating the soil, landscape plants, and associated aquatic systems.
If you're looking for other organic materials and alternatives to rubber mulch you could also consider wood chips, pea gravel, or sand. The important thing is to choose a high quality material that you feel is best for your children's health and family.
Rubber Mulch Is Not Healthy For Your Garden's Health
Rubber mulch isn't a healthy choice. Like everything else, it does break down, and when it does, it leaches a witch's brew of heavy metals and toxic chemicals into the soil and groundwater.
Natural rubber contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss, pollution, and more. But climate change and disease also threaten natural rubber.
There are several reasons: In hot, sunny weather, rubber mulch gets hot. Rubber mulch absorbs the heat of the sun. On a hot summer day, the mulch also gets hot — sometimes, uncomfortably so for children.
While rubber mulch rings are easy to install and last for years, the bottom line is they're not the best for trees. Rubber mulch rings are less effective than natural mulch and can possibly hurt your tree. As the rubber breaks down over time, the rubber adds toxic contaminants into the soil.
When using mulch in your landscape, there is no need for the use of artificial weed barrier such as plastic or landscape fabric. These materials do not work and are not weed barriers. They are only necessary under stone.
This may be a matter of opinion, but most people find that rubber mulch starts to stink as it gets hotter. On a hot day it has a strong stench. As tires are ground up into chips the amount of surface area is greatly increased and all the new surfaces are freshly exposed allowing for maximum odors to be released.
For growing spaces, your best mulch option is wood chips. For pathways and barren, decorative areas, stone chips are a good choice. Heavier mulches are less prone to washing or blowing away in inclement weather.
Rubber Mulch Is Susceptible to Specific Fungi
For the most part, because it's inorganic and doesn't absorb water, rubber isn't susceptible to molds and fungi ... that is, except for species of brown rot and white rot fungus that attack the mulch's chemical additives.
We recommend aged hardwood mulch, applied in a light layer, around your flower beds. Well-aged wood mulch is an ideal choice for flower beds, as it adds nutrients to the soil as it decomposes. Softwood mulch, usually made from pine, can add a bit too much acidity, and doesn't decompose quickly.
You can safely use rubber mulch near your home's foundation or around outbuildings without worrying you'll end up with termites. In fact, rubber mulch helps protect your buildings from wood-eating pests, so you can use less pesticide.
SOFT LANDING RUBBER MULCH (SLRM)
So soft you can walk barefoot, and unlikely to cause injury if thrown. Rubber mulch makes backyard swingsets much safer because it does not absorb water or freeze like traditional mulch does.
There are two ways by which you can clean your rubber mulch, one is to use a leaf blower to clean out leaves or debris from your mulch. But if you are looking for a more thorough clean, we suggest washing your mulch. Sprinkle environment-friendly soap on the mulch covered area and spray with a hose.
Another great thing about the nature of rubber mulch is it's being waterproof. During winter and wet days, you won't have to worry about slipping in your yard if it's properly covered in rubber mulch.
Long story short, they're bad news for all living things, including us humans. And that's just natural rubber. Synthetic rubber poses threats of its own. The main one is that it's usually made from crude oil, which is non-renewable, non-biodegradable, and releases harmful chemicals into the environment.
This includes throat, lung and nose irritation. It also creates sneezing, breathing difficulties and coughing. More severely, if someone has a high concentration exposure to such fumes, it can create lung damage and even cancer or other serious hazards. Rubber has a lot of carcinogens used in its production.
Synthetic and natural rubber dust and fragments now occur in food, airborne as particulates in air pollution, hidden in the earth as soil pollution, and in waterways, lakes and the sea.
The Environmental Protection Agency has studied rubber mulch and found it to be a safe material, posing no health hazards to pets or people.
Evenly distribute the rock and soil. It should be around 2 inches deep in all surface areas. Whenever the mulch is part of a playground, make sure to make it 6 inches deep in order to add an extra cushion in order the break children's falls more easily. Walkways or running tracks do not need to be this deep.