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San Diego

I have 2 questions, one, I have never mulched before and plan on doing it this year, is grass clipping alright? How thick should it be and when should it go on? I'm also using 100% neem oil for a natural fungicide/insecticide for the first time to be sprayed on the plant and also watered to the roots. Anyone else have experience using this? I'm curious to find out info. thanks Jim

4/20/2003 2:48:10 PM

Caceres, mid west of Spain

Hi Jim,
I use to mulch with old straw. Actually yesterday I mulched my garlics and potatoes. I thought a lot about mulching pumpkins and I still doubting. I found advantages and inconvenients as well. If I do something it will be after the vines be buried of course. Too thick mulch will affect water management and evaporation refreshment, which for me is very important, and too thin mulch will permit weeds to arise and grow, difficulting the task of eliminate them.

Don

4/20/2003 3:24:28 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

A second thought on fresh grass clipping is if there is some blight on the lawn that isn't bad on the grass but highly contagious to curcubits you could be adding trouble. bugs and fungi are cooked away by composting raw grass clippings could bring em into the patch...I think straw would be a better idea. Plenty of guys know more then me so I'm sure you'll get more responses. Chuck

4/20/2003 9:35:35 PM

Western Pa.

I think the jury's still out on this one. Grass clippings could hide bugs, slugs, mice, etc., as Chuck points out, and may also harbor fungus and mold when it's damp and humid. It does seem to be beneficial during drought periods to retain moisture, and also helps to keep weeds down. It may rob the plant of nitrogen as it breaks down, but Fred Calai did this for years(after burying vines), and I don't think he did too bad!

4/21/2003 9:04:30 AM

Cape Cod

I've read that grass clippings are not desirable because they hold moisture in them, causing roots to grow upward towards the moisture, rather than down. If the clippings dry out, say, from a hot sun, the roots will take a hit.

4/21/2003 9:19:18 PM

[email protected]

Slugs I can see. Maybe even mice. But....While any mulch can foster disease causing fungal & insect pathogens, regular grass clippings are no different than straw. Straw is a grass. Most turf diseases cannot affect cucurbits. The causal pathogens are too highly species specific. Fusarium is common in family but not variety. Helminthosporium, Rhizoctonia, etc, are all too far removed to cause concern.

Most fungal disease are caused by airborne spores that travel from many yards to many miles before finding a susceptible host. If a mulch of any kind helps to cause a suitable environment for developement, then the mulch could be confused as the cause. This is like accusing restaurants of causing hungry people since they all eat when they get there. ???!!! Hungry people go other places too. But they might not find food. Kabish?

Composted mulches are certainly safer in most regards. But I would use a light hand in using any mulch without some conclusive evidence that it hasn't been found detrimental to pumpkins. Some anual crops are very sensitive to moisture retaining mulches of any kind. I can't say for sure. But for sure these mulches don't cause disease. However they may cause an environmental condition that favors disease developement.

My gut tells me to go easy. Though Boily Ben had good luck with grass clippings, his record stood for less than 6 weeks I think.

Here's the rules for fungal disease developement:

Susceptible Host - Causal Pathogen - Environment for developement

That's it.

Steve

4/21/2003 9:31:43 PM

Sequim, WA

Neem oil works great on whitefly and aphids. Seems to help with powdery mildew as well. Watch your time of day for spraying, avoid heat. I've used it for several years on a variety of crops with decent results. The stuff stinks though and can burn the plants if used on a hot sunny day.

4/22/2003 1:34:08 AM

Long Island, NY

Another thing about fresh grass clippings as opposed to a composted mulch is that the clippings will produce a great deal of heat as they beegin to decompose. This can actually damage sensitive spouts and green stems.

I do use grass in my garden but don't let it touch my plants. I have not introduced any diseases so far. I mostly uses to keep weeds down between rows. I like adding alot of organic matter to the garden and this just adds a bit more to the mix. That said I have used the clipping in the pumpkin patch.

Also don't use grass clippings if you have recently treated your lawn with any weed killers, etc.

Hope this helps

Steve

4/25/2003 2:10:03 PM