In this video, I show you how to mulch container plants. Whether you’re growing fruit trees, a vegetable garden or flowers, mulching container garden plants is important for maintaining their health in most cases. We discuss WHY, WHEN and HOW to mulch container garden plants, and what’s the best mulch to use.
In this video, I mulch fig trees in containers, citrus in containers and coffee trees in containers as examples, but these rules holds true for mulching potted plants of almost any kind where the top of the soil is exposed to the evaporation effects of the sun.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 3 Reasons WHY You Should Use Mulch In Your Garden
1:25 Why Mulching Container Plants Differs From In Ground Plants
2:54 WHEN To Mulch Container Garden
5:21 WHAT Container Mulch To Use
6:37 HOW To Mulch Fruit Trees In Containers First Year
7:50 HOW To Mulch Older Containers And Refresh Them
9:42 Final Thoughts And Summary
10:38 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about how to mulch container plants in your garden, want to know about the things I am growing in my garden, are looking for any gardening tips and tricks, or have questions about gardening and organic gardening in general, please ask in the Comments below!
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33 Comments
Nailed it!
"containers tend to dry out quickly" oh, boy do they. esprcially out in direct sunlight
Why figs in pots? You can raise banana plants, and they're a lot more sensitive than figs. Mulch, definitely. But, when it gets too hot, will you put something reflective around the pots?
Mulching is a must for every plant – in-ground or container. I use straw and horse bedding as mulch, and it's water & money saver. I only water on a weekly or so basis; I use moisture & pH probe so I can dig in & check the water moisture deeply. Another thing to be mindful is if you use those fabric growing bags/pots; they dry-up fast. For my fruit trees, I use cardboard I get from order I receive, then i put the leaves and other pruning underneath the cardboard. Again, another money saving materials, as well as, picking up the free natural woodchips/mulch from our village park; free pick-up & use for the town residents. So, another thing to check in your village or town. It beats spending money & buying things that otherwise available to you for free.
I put mulch around 2 weeks ago because we had a heat wave lasting for a week with over 100F
Good information. When I bought my citrus trees, they had rice hulls as mulch, which I had never seen or heard of. I was told it’s good for citrus plants because it takes a while to break down and if/when it mixes in the soil, it aerates.
You don’t even suggest taking last years mulch off before apply this years?
Dale is far smarter than the average dog, and a lot of humans I know! Once again, concise, easy to understand instructions on a vital function for great gardening. Thanks!
Hi Millennial Gardener,
My Peach tree broke at the trunk. Someone just mentioned that I may have had borers. The tree had so much fruit on it! I guess that I can take clippings and start new trees?
What fig tree is shown while you're speaking at 4:00? Beautiful healthy tree and nicely pruned for a container!
Can you please let me know how you keep Dale from peeing on your plants?! Neighbors dog is super sweet and cute but he pees all over my garden.. I dont want to use anything that could hurt him.
Do you put holes in the bottom of your buckets for drainage? I assume you do.
What size containers (black) did you use?
By the way your a great speaker!
How do you handle fertilizing once you've added all the mulch? Do you have to push it out of the way to get it directly on the soil?
March 29th. You waited a while to post this video lol.
It's getting over 100 degrees here and our vegetable plants and fruit trees need some mulch to help keep them cool. I have a few bags of cedar mulch, a little bit of bark and wood chips from the firewood pile, some fallen leaves/needles from some kind of huge juniper type tree, and a few dry leaves from a deciduous tree. The only thing I can buy in my area is hay or straw from a local feed store. Which one of these for mulch would you recommend for my raised bed and fabric container vegetables (eggplant, cucumbers, okra, peppers, pole beans, and tomatoes) and in-ground fruit trees (apple, apricot, jujube, peach, plum, and pomegranate). By the way, I gave away my figs but looking at your trees makes me want to find a different and give it another try. Cheers!
Great video! Question: I get sooooooo many pillbugs after I started using mulch. Is that bad? What should I do about the pillbugs? Kill them or ignore them? Thank you!
Thanks for the video!
Great video! Explained well and something I will be looking to do with our new columnar apple trees! 😊 thank you!
And thanks Dale! 🐾
From one of your original subscribers (I think you were under 25k when I signed on), congrats on hitting 100k+!! Very well deserved; I've learned stuff from you that no one else even discusses. Your knowledge level and communication skills are outstanding.
And Dale…well, he's the star of the show (no offense…)!! Jim in FL
Poor Dale !!! Thank you for the laugh !! Awesome video again 👍🌿
i found a 2-4mm gravel that works well as a mulch. doesnt allow bugs to set up shop and keeps moisture in. it can be dug into mix without problems. lasts for years.
Very informative as usual. Love to see your videos. I have been doing a lot of things to my fig that you have suggested. I am in Central Florida. It is humid and hot as you may know. Thanks again for all the information.
Question, please answer: in one of the videos you mention slow release fertilizing every two weeks. My question is how do you give slow release fertilizer when you have mulch on top of container?
How do you fertilize with the mulch? Right over the mulch or move away the mulch.
Would a plant container wrap help protect 3 baby fig trees from frost damage during the coming winter? I already have a few rolls of insulated pipe wrap, but I wonder if it might be detrimental to the root system of the fig. Another great video.
I love your channel! Thank you so much. One thing I've been wondering is if you have plans to transplant your figs into the ground at some point? BTW, I am in western NC and am moving onto a property with .7 acres in the next month and am going to start growing stuff. I'm excited, but I wanna do it right, so I am using your channel as one of my main research sources.
Where do you get your containers?
pine needles ?
He’s a cutie thank you very helpful
Excellent video on how to mulch.
What do you do with all your various types of produce….do you sell produce as well as cuttings…..
Me growing trees in containers and the 90 deg summer almost annihilated my Japanese red maple. While I am not growing fruit trees this was Beautifully explained. The best on mulch I have searched for so far. 🙏🏽 wish I knew about mulch before the summer😢