I have a lot of seed hulls from my bird feeders and I thought why not use it as mulch? I put it in one of my tomatoes beds. One plant died last week and I removed it to see if there was damage to the roots. Nothing evident. 2 others also died and a fourth one, a Roma, is still looking good. Basil in same bed is doing fine. What am I missing?
Best composted first, as it may be full of bird droppings which could provide excessive nitrogen levels. You might also get extra weeds resulting from uneaten seeds; I know someone who ended up with some Cannabis plants from discarded bird food.
I would gladly trade a couple of tomatoes for cannabis! Alas no such luck. Just got a lot of sunflowers. I tried to do something clever with the mulch thing: cheap, available, a recycle dream. Not so much! I didn't know excess nitrogen would kill tomatoes. Thanks. I will take your advice and compost it first.
Nope - the stuff is sold as "mulch". Here's an example: http://www.rubberecycle.com/ Might be OK for play areas, but not good for plants.
I'm probably wrong, but if the seeds from your bird feeder were salted (which they probably weren't) then they would probably kill off quite a few plants.
If they were, they'd also kill off quite a few birds as well! Most birds can't cope with a high salt intake in the way that people can.
I assure you there is no salt in the seeds("premium" quality, "triple washed"). But there is a lot of poop! MichaelF, I looked up the "mulch" you were serious! I seems actually a good idea for a playground, a soft cushion for falls . But it doesn't even look good. Why would anyone put it in a garden? (this is a rhetorical question)
It defeats me!!! The other problem with it - rubber burns easily. Imagine older kids setting it on fire . . . all that foul black smoke!
I guess we are left with " someone found a way to make money". Greed is always such a good motive for everything unpalatable!
Now they try to tell our children that greed - re-labeled "free enterprise" or "the profit motive" - is the source of all progress and the reason why the US beat Russia by some standard or the other. Luckily some of my children were taught by Mr R, whose views to the contrary - and sales of free trade coffee, and charitable drives for the people of Cuba and so on - a least made them aware of the possibility fo a different view. Enough of that or Daniel will quite properly cut me off.
