Kitchen Garden Forum

Hello

Some years ago I used a mulch product made from Coco Shells from the chocolate industry and found it better than bark as it doesn't blow about or attract cats.

Needing some this season for some new planting I find it has become very hard to obtain -- my local garden centres don't stock it and the only mail-order supplier I've found is The Organic Gardening Catalogue who don't have stock untill April. As I'd like to mulch up stright after planting next week (the plants are ordered) any other ideas would be welcome.

Thanks for any help

William

You could try here

http://www.gardencentre.co.uk/product.asp?id=3018

Hi Gardenboy. Warning if cocoa shell is in an area dogs use - like chocolate it is toxic to dogs and can make them very ill or kill them if they eat enough of it. Worth bearing this risk in mind.

Hi Natures Babe,
Would you care to name your source of information re your comments
about the harm to dogs.
JB.

Morning Johnboy

The makers do warn HERE

QUOTE

Cocoa shell is a natural fertiliser, containing 3 percent nitrogen, 1 percent phosphorous and 3 percent potassium, commonly referred to as an NPK fertiliser. The pH factor of the mulch is 5.8. Bark and wood mulches contain much lower levels of these nutrients.

It also contains 0.5 percent magnesium which is a key nutrient for plants. It is 100 percent natural organic matter, which carries no health risk or fire hazard. It contains no dyes, and exudes a rich natural colour.

Cocoa Shell Mulch does however contain a naturally occurring substance called Theobromine which is harmful and potentially dangerous to dogs. However, the good news is that this dissipates after a few weeks, after the mulch has been watered in and settled. The general advice is to keep dogs away from the area until it has had time to bed in.

If you dog is showing signs of restlessness, panting, pacing, or anxious behaviour and you think it may have eaten your new cocoa shell mulch, contact the vet immediately.

A white mould occasionally appears on cocoa shell when first applied this soon disappears as the cocoa shell starts to form the crust which binds it together. It may emit a more unpleasant odour during this period, but this will soon go. The Cocoa Shell Mulch contains a naturally occurring protein, which causes the mould. It is perfectly normal and will disappear in time. You could use a fungicide to prevent the formation of the mould if you wish

Hi Johnboy, here is one link -

http://agilitynet.co.uk/health/gardenalert_cocoashells.html


a much safer mulch here

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 864235132#

Hi Nature's Babe and Alan,
Thank you for pointing me to the information. Thankfully I do not use such preparations. It seems there is always something wrong with such things. As for me I have plentiful supplies of FYM and poultry manure and make masses of compost of my own based on Comfrey I have no need of them.
JB.

The cocoa shells were good for keeping cats off but we stopped using them after hearing about the dog problem as we have a regular dog visitor.

Johnboy, I agree poultry manure and comfrey are great, comfrey is especially good fertiliser for potatoes, I soak leaves a few weeks to make liquid fertiliser, nettles soaked work well as a liquid fertiliser too.

Hi Nature's Babe,
Strangely I do not grow main crop potatoes as I have up until this year had them grown commercially very close by. I do grow Maris Bard Earlies and they are laid in a cradle of Comfrey/Pulverized Straw compost and they generally do very well. Comfrey compost is always laid down the rows as they grow.
I do not soak any Comfrey preparation in water. I make Comfrey concentrate and always have this to hand. I store in 5L containers and always have probably 10 containers awaiting use. Then no offensive smells.
My Tomatoes are produced entirely using Comfrey products.
I also make Comfrey compost and as was explained some time back I have a machine that pulverises straw and in that state it becomes super absorbent and it is used layer by layer interspersed with the Comfrey. Because of the straw there is no offensive run-off from the excess liquid produced by the Comfrey seeping from the biodegrading compost.
JB.

Hi Johnboy, I put comfrey in the compost too, and layer with chicken straw and kitchen waste, am working on the natural fertility of the soil and use the compost for potting up plants.
Autumn I mulch some beds with chicken straw and it protects the soil from the winter rains and washes it through into the soil dilute, leaving mulch on top to which I add spent crop remains and non seeding weeds after drying them off on the paths, the worms gradually eat the mulch into the soil. I plant through the mulch and it conserves moisture, the beds are small enough so I can reach into them, so the soil isn't disturbed or compacted. The soil looks lovely dark and crumbly under the mulch with plenty of worms, a few years ago it was heavy clay,and not a lot of topsoil.

Hi Nature's Babe,
My method of manuring is to remove all the weeds from a plot spread the manure and allow it to become thoroughly saturated by natural rainfall and then cover with HD Black Polythene in the Autumn and let the worms do their work and then uncover the bed generally at the begining of March. I then remove the Polythene and rake off anything not taken into the soil. The beds are then ready to accept almost anything even Carrots although the bed has been manured. I have a designated bean bed which has the same treatment and the beans have grown in the same bed now for, I think, 15 years. My early potatoes are grown in specially built raised beds and when I said that the comfrey compost is used down the row it was not actually true although it amounts to the same thing. The raised bed can be transported from place to place around the plot and the soil beneath the bed is dug and well composted with Comfrey compost and then a 6" layer of Comfrey compost and the Potatoes placed on that and 6 " of soil is then placed over the top as the potatoes break the surface a mixture of soil and CC compost to a depth of 3" and again as the potatoes rise until they are 12" below the surface. I then cover with fleece initially because we have frosts well into the begining of June and when fear of frost has passed the fleece is removed and really within about a month I am digging potatoes. Commercially hereabouts 2nd earlies are planted as main crop because of the late frosts.
JB.

Sounds like a cool method to warm the soil early and keep weeds down, and you say it's ok for carrots too, no forked roots? Well I guess it is second year if manured in Autumn. As long as they're not seeding I use nettles in compost too. I might try your method in autumn for root veg next year.
Does it stay moist under the black polythene or do you make tiny drainage holes for rain to get through?

Hello

A bit late but I wanted to round this off and thank Alan for his suggestion.

I've now ordered and received proptly from gardencentre.co.uk and the stuff is waiting to be spread when there is some rain on the way.

Thanks again
Will