OT mulch warning re: animals

Julia in MN

Probably make them grow bigger and stronger and more vandalous (is that a word?) Lily cat got poisoned from a house plant. We were lucky and the good vet fixed her up but that is scary. Taria

d.

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Thanks for the tip -- I wasn't even familiar with cocoa mulch. I did know about how dangerous dark chocolate is to dogs, and cats too, though cats usually don't indisciminately eat large quantities of things like that.

Sherry

I use cocoa mulch. It totally rocks as a mulch, and it breaks down quickly doing great things for the soil.

I don't much worry about other people's pets eating it. I worry a lot more about them eating my daturas, or foxglove, or aconite, or wormwood, and etc. The live plants are usually much more attractive to animals than old dry husks, and a LOT more poisonous.

Sadly the stupid squirrels and woodchucks and such are way too smart to eat such stuff, and cheerfully munch on the veggies I plant for the humans to eat instead.

NightMist

I think the bigger danger from cocoa mulch was the heart attack I almost had when I saw the price at the garden shop. ;-)

That totally has to be a regional thing. Here in western NY the cocoa mulch I buy (at a local landscaping place) is no more expensive than the dyed shredded cypress mulch they sell at Wal-Mart, $4-5 a sack.

I wonder if our proximity to Hershey makes a difference? It is not right next door, but close enough for a weekend if you drive.

NightMist

I'm not sure what type of mulch it is but I buy a dump truck load of shredded mulch for $110 delivered to my side yard. It's a real bargain- especially with the huge flower beds I have. Since I've sold my house (but haven't moved out yet) I plan to downsize the gardening chores in the next one. Well, that's the plan. We'll just have to see!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Last time I looked at cocoa mulch here, it was about $12 for 2 cubic feet. Redwood bark is less than a quarter of that. Of course, I don't tend to mulch much. Bare ground is nature's way of telling me to buy more plants. :)

I keep telling my DH that! (G) He then tells that at the rate I'm going there won't be any grass left. My general response to that is: "And your point is?"

NightMist try>Last time I looked at cocoa mulch here, it was about $12 for 2 cubic feet.

Howdy!

Well, Kath-darlin', Scharffen Berger *is* a bit pricey. But how could you use anything less than "the best"?

R/Sandy - thinking of the cravings every time I walked outside... imagining myself tearing off to the store for chocolate bars and completely blowing the fabric budget on cocoa ...cedar seems to work just fine in my yard... ;-P

Please, don't remind me. They're closing the Berkeley plant. *sob!*

Marcella and I are heading down there for one last blast. About 2kg of cocoa powder will be coming home with me.

I love the way they call it a "pro pack". I always knew I was a chocolate professional. :)