Which mulch is better?

Hi,

I need to mulch a number of flower beds that I prepared last week, these are with clay soil mixed with compost and are on a slight slope (no plants in these yet). I am sure I need to get about 30 bags atleast, but cannot decide on which kind of mulch to get. I saw these following at a local home depot this morning

1) shredded Cypress mulch (bag says that it will not float)
2) shredded Cedar mulch (more expensive)
3) shredded Pine bark mulch
4) Pine bark nuggets

my priority is to keep the soil from being washed away during rains because of the slope. Which of the above is better? All these choices just tend to confuse me.
Appreciate any information on why one is better than the other.

thanks,
xman

i vote shredded pine; may stick tgether better than nuggets and less expensive than cedar or cypress, I think. However I idid use cedar on a bed near my house to resis termites and it lasted a long time before rotting.

I like nature's way cotton burr compost. I suppose it to be more nutritious as cotton steals a lot of nutrients from the soil.

This isn't really answering your question, but I would really think about going to a local landscaping company and asking if you can get bulk compost/ mulch - buying it in bags from Home Depot will triple your price and you lose the advantage of local materials.

Pc- bags are 2 or 3 cubic feet usually? 27 cu ft to a yard? so compare nine or fourteeen bags to one yard, am i right? and add delivery if needed. if i'm doin this right, in my area the cost is comparable as i have to have bulk delivered. please let me know if i'm off cuz i sure would like to not triple my price...

I like Hard wood mulch which you didn't include in your list. It dosen't tend to float away as much as the Pine Bark mulch. The Cypress mulch seems to take for ever to break down.

LOL, sally - without knowing the exact costs in your area, that would be kind of hard to figure out. If you live in a large urban area, it might be tougher or more expensive to get a hold of. But when I did the comparison in Tucson, it was approximately one-third of the cost. The city had a contractor who would compost all of the landscape cuttings, recycled X-mas trees, etc. and sell it as mulch and compost.

As for delivery, I've always owned a truck or had friends with one, so that hasn't been an issue for me either, might be more so for others.

Regardless of whether the cost is less, equal, or perhaps even a little more, some advantages are a) local materials, b) supporting local businesses instead of the megabox stores and c) no or decreased plastic packaging to once again add to the landfills.

Thank you all for your replies. In my area buying bulk actually works out a little more expensive than buying bags because of the steep delivery charge. I like the convenience of bags, so based on the above suggestions I will narrow it down to shredded Cypress or hard wood mulch.

thanks,
xman

thanks, P---I do agree with the side benefits of local bulk, like you listed.

I would go with the cheapest non nugget mulch. I am not a fan of nuggets because of a couple of reason:

1. They don't break down and enrich the soil as easily. I belive that mulch should also help to enrich the soil, otherwise I would use shredded tires.
2. They provide more places for creatures to hide. This doesn't mean that it will not happen with shredded mulch, but it doesn't seem to happen as often.
3. Personally, I think shredded mulch just looks better.

In the end, you need to get what you can afford, and what works in your particular area. I did pine straw in Georgia, cypress in Connecticut, and hardwood in Virginia. I think that they all worked.