</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have a little problem with both burying and creating huge pockets of ground mulch. Two problems really, settlement and insects. WOn't the ants and termites just go crazy in those piles? Won't those huge piles of mulch decay over time? I'm all for even mulching and reincorporating the mulch into the soil over the entire area but it seems concentrating the material would make pockets of rotting bug food.
I would love to have that grinder come out and make me a huge pile too. I would then distribute it over the land. )</font>
Those huge piles are only temporary. They piled it to keep it out of the way as much as possible, then spread the topsoil and backbladed it smooth enough for me to evenually mow with the rough-cut mower. It's now sowed in fescue and annual ryegrass (for fast germination & growth) for erosion control... The guys who ground it up also cautioned about using freshly-ground mulch full of green material, saying it was so acidic that it can kill the trees and shrubs that you put it around, if you put a thick layer down. Luckily, most of these trees were removed and piled last September, and have dried out pretty well, so they shouldn't be as acidic.
I'm planning for it to decay -- that's one of the reasons I didn't want to just bury everything (even the mulch) and then deal with constant settling as the stuff decayed below ground level. As far as ants and termites, I'll just have to wait and see. There's a lot of dirt mixed in with this mulch from grinding stumps, rootballs and all. Hopefully that will help reduce the chance of termites.
Beginning the end of this month, I'll start thinning the undergrowth around the edge of the clearing and spreading the mulch there. I had a thumb welded on my minihoe and I think I can just pull out most of the smaller stuff, roots and all -- leaving no little stumps to puncture tires nor sprout back into saplings. Then, I'll spread a 4" - 6" layer of mulch along the treeline and feather it back into the woods. This will give a defined edge for the grass to mow along, while helping prevent the germination of long-dormant seeds and sprouts now that the treeline will get sunshine for the first time in recent history...
I'll also use 4" - 6" layers of mulch to "landscape" around the few remaining stumps that I didn't have the trackhoe remove, so that I won't need to manually trim around those, nor worry about hitting them with the rough-cut mower. My goal is to eliminate as much "weed-whacking" as I can, since I'll only be visiting the property a few times a year -- it's 900 miles away!
I'll also leave a couple spots with a 1' - 2' layer just to decompose into rich, organic, acidic topsoil for a blueberry patch....
Those are the plans, at least. We'll see how they work out...
