We have been adding yearly mulch under our maple trees for years but now shade plants not growing. Help?

Do we have to remove the old mulch? Will this kill all of the ferns and other plants that seem stunted but still come up. Do we need to add fertilizer? We have some mold in the mulch at times.

We have been adding yearly mulch under our maple trees for years but now shade plants not growing. Help?
I suspect that you have buried the roots of the shade plants too deeply. Every year, you put down maybe 1.5" of mulch, and yearly about 1/2" breaks down into soil. If you are now seeing a mound around the tree, even if it is 4-5" high, it is too much. The shade plant roots are still at their original depth. Come Spring, the obstacle of 5" of mulch may be too much for the plants to handle.



Before mulching this Spring, remove a LOT of old mulch, and then apply new. With luck, the root systems are not dead.
Reply:it could be the tree has grown and its blocking the sunlight, takeing up all the water and nutrients so the plants are dieing or you have put too much mulch down
Reply:If the mulch your are using by chance is pine bark mulch or pine needles, you may have made the soil there too acidic..pine needles I use in mine..but you have to give the soil a break and rotatew plants if you use it..Buy a soil sample kit from home depot for about 5.00 and check the soil..I believe the ph has gone to the acidid side..if this finds true..then search the net and it will tell you how to ammend the soil according to what your test is showing..
Reply:The maples have probably grown enough that they're blocking the sun and using the moisture and fertilizer in the soil.



The Muse