Too Much Mulch!

Spring is finally here. The days are longer and warmer, daffodils are popping up, and the mulch volcanoes are erupting.

The mulch volcanoes? You know, those piles of bark mulch mounded up beneath many landscape trees. I don't know where or why this practice started, but too much mulch under a tree or shrub actually does more harm than good, and is a waste of mulch and money.

Mulch serves several purposes besides dressing up your landscape. It helps retain soil moisture, important because most "feeder" roots (the roots that obtain water, air and nutrients for the tree) grow in the top 12 inches of the soil.

Mulch that's deeper than three inches can smother feeder roots and compromise the tree's health. Roots may actually grow up through a too-thick mulch past the base of the tree and encircle the trunk, a condition called girdling. As the tree grows, these roots could choke the tree and cause a slow death.

Mulch should never touch the trunk of the tree. Because it holds moisture, mulch will keep the trunk damp, encouraging bark rot and disease. Also, insects and rodents may find homes in the mulch volcano and feed on the bark of the tree.

Marine Debris-to-Energy Project Launches

Project will locate and collect marine debris, convert to electricity

The star attraction at a ceremony held at the Yankee Fishermen's Cooperative in Seabrook April 18 was a dumpster. But this dumpster had a special assignment--collecting marine debris, abandoned fishing gear and other items that can harm the marine ecosystem.

When it's full, the dumpster will be hauled to a waste-to-energy plant, where the debris will be burned to make electricity.

The ceremony launched The NH Marine Debris-to-Energy Project. Funded by a grant from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, the project aims to:

• Better characterize the sources and distribution patterns of ocean-based debris, especially "derelict fishing gear" (DFG)--nets, lines, pots, and other fishing equipment that has been lost, abandoned, or discarded in the marine environment. DFG is an extremely dangerous form of marine debris.
• Develop protocols for undertaking a unique underwater cleanup program to identify and remove DFG and other debris.
• Continue to investigate the sources of land-based debris.
• Mitigate the problem through education and outreach

Click here for a slide show of the event. Click here to view Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter's remarks.

Full story...

Tick alert: Lyme disease up 43 percent in 2007

A new report from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NHDHHS) notes that cases of Lyme disease in the Granite State rose 43 percent last year, from 619 in 2006 to 892 in 2007.

The highest rates of disease occurred in Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough, Merrimack, and Carroll Counties.

The culprit: blacklegged tick
"The state monitoring program found that half the adult blacklegged ticks collected in Strafford, Rockingham and Hillsborough Counties, and 20 percent to 50 percent in Merrimack County carried the Lyme disease bacterium," says UNH Cooperative Extension entomologist Alan Eaton.

Eaton adds, "New Hampshire is home to 15 species of ticks, but the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis, also called the "deer tick") is the one that transmits Lyme disease."

"The blacklegged tick itself becomes infected with Lyme disease-causing bacteria by feeding on an infected 'reservoir host,' an organism that carries high levels of the bacteria in its bloodstream," says Eaton. "In New Hampshire, the primary reservoir host for Lyme disease is the white-footed mouse."

Full story...