The most essential benefit of the cedar is that it doesn't come from extremely fragile habitats in the deep south. These cypress swamps are being ravaged for mulch. This mulch is not a renewable resource, and the damage to that kind of ecosystem is immeasurable.

Most people think that mulch is something of a by-product commodity. Certainly renewable. In most instances, that is probably the truth. Not in the case of cypress, however.

Thank you. We went ahead and bought cedar. :)

Most people think that mulch is something of a by-product commodity.

This was news to me that it wasn't. I never paid much attention to mulch before, thinking that is was well...like leftovers.

Are you saying that they are tearing down cypress trees just to make mulch? That doesn't sound very business savvy. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying I don't get it. I've used cypress before but only because it was the cheapest. For me that's always been the issue....cost. What could make cypress mulch so special that they would destroy whole groves just to make what is basically a by-product?

Val

That is EXACTLY what they are doing, Val. Do a bit of research on it. You don't 'get' that some individual are happy to make money on a commodity that others are willing to pay money for, even though it is at great sacrifice to the environment? ;-) I wish the real world was really like that, believe me.

The sad thing is that bald cypress and pond cypress could both be grown as a renewable resource. They don't HAVE to be grown in wetlands at all.

There is absolutely nothing special about cypress. That's the irony of it. Mythology reported by the advertisers have fueled the love of this product, and at great cost to an essential habitat.

Too, studies have shown that (fresh) cypress mulch has allelopathic properties which can cause difficulties for some plants. It is also very water absorbent, which prevents much of the irrigation or rainfall from ever reaching the soil.

You don't 'get' that some individual are happy to make money

I must learn to write more explicitly :-)

I get the whole concept of making money, supply and demand and all that jazz. What I don't get (and maybe I'm being dense about mulch) is why would you cut down 'whole' trees just to make mulch?

I always thought that the industry was more like.....cut down trees, use best wood for lumber, then whatever can't be used for something useful make mulch out of, then plant more trees for future use. This is what I've understood good forestry practices to be.

Now granted, I can understand that there are unscrupulous people out there that will take advantage of people and situations but isn't the forestry industry monitored?

I also understand what you're saying about the mythology. Anyone can say anything about something and someone will believe it somewhere. This is not why I've bought cypress mulch in the past. In my area it's usually a lot cheaper than say like cedar or even regular wood "chips".

I would have thought that if they are destroying whole groves for "just" mulch that it would have been much more expensive than other products on the market.

The good news is that I mulched really heavy last year, don't need any this year and hopefully by the time I do need to mulch again I can do it with all the great compost I hope to make. And if I do ever have to buy mulch again, I will try to make sure it's not cypress.

Val