Mulch is commonly used by many in their gardens as an extra protective cover for the soil.
Mulch is also commonly used for landscaping purposes.
Landscape mulches are commonly used to provide many benefits including water and soil conservation, weed control, soil temperature buffering, and soil organic matter improvement.
These benefits and the increasing interest in utilizing yard waste have resulted in a wide array of mulches being used for weed and water management and for decorative purposes around houses.
However, recently questions have been raised if organic mulch will actually attract termites and is there a termite resistant mulch in the market? Since mulch is most often made of wood and compost items, it seems natural that termites will be attracted to them as a food source.
However, a specific study was done using various breeds of termites and what mulches they are attracted to in order to find a termite resistant mulch.
One of the findings of this study - conducted in 1999 showed that the termites tended to stay away from cypress and redwood mulches.
There were two other woods that proved to be a termite resistant mulch.
The melaleuca wood mulch was not eaten by the termites at all.
Cypress heartwood was found to be extremely resistant to termite damage and the termites stayed away from this type of mulch as well.
If you want to have a termite resistant mulch as part of your landscaping program, look for those made with cypress and redwood.
Place a protective piece of black landscaping plastic on the soil before applying the mulch because termites live in the soil and can come up into the mulch without the plastic being laid down.
If you are applying the mulch around your home, choose one like melaleuca to place closest to the house since that's the mulch termites least prefer.
It might be a good idea to consider stone instead of mulch, however.
Even though stone might be more expensive to landscape with, at least that way you won't tempt the termites to come for a visit.
Mulch is a nice addition to a landscaped yard, so look for a termite resistant mulch made of the woods listed above so that they aren't as tempted to eat through it.
Of course, please realize that there is no such thing as a one hundred percent termite resistant mulch.
Just pick one that will keep them away and use the plastic to keep the termites in the soil and out of your house.