A homeowner was recently forced to turn to Reddit for advice after hiring professional landscapers and becoming confused about his choices.

“Do I need to flatten this mulch pile?” the poster asked the members of r/Arborists subreddit. “Newbie here. I’ve seen the mulch volcano posts and doubt the landscapers planted these now. Any advice?”

The choice of landscape in question is a dreaded one mulch volcano — The popular but inappropriate method of packing a pile of compost tightly against the base of a tree so that it resembles a volcano.

While in theory mulch volcanoes are intended to protect the tree, in practice they are do anything but. Compost packed tightly against the trunk often confuses the tree into growing its roots up into the compost instead of down into the dirt, where all the nutrients are. This can result in the roots wrapping around the tree, essentially suffocating it.

Mulch volcanoes can also causing the covered part of the stem to rot and expose it to disease and deadly fungi.

“I know this volcano compost thing is almost like a meme in this sub, but I’m just wondering why landscapers don’t know better? Like, don’t you have to train at least a little to do that job?” wondered a commentator.

As this commenter pointed out, it seems to be common knowledge on the internet that mulch volcanoes are terrible for trees, and it is somewhat confusing that this information has somehow not made its way to so many of the people who get paid to do landscaping. work.

Until more landscapers, and the public at large, finally wise up to covering volcanoes, it’s up to all of us to help remove them when they appear.

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Trees are not just beautiful decorations – they help clean the air, protect the entire ecosystem and improve human life. There is no reason to waste a whole lot of effort and compost (which costs money) on something that will ultimately do the opposite of protecting them.

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