If you like gardening or landscaping or if you work in farming, you must be familiar with at least one type of mulch. Mulch is very useful in all these areas. It helps pants grow better, and, in the case of farming, it increases productivity and makes the job of taking the care of the fields much easier.

Although mulch has different applications, there are mainly three of them. First of all, it regulates soil temperature. It does so by absorbing the heat of the sun during the day, keeping the soil cool, and by radiating the heat absorbed during the day at night, keeping the soil warm. It is also very good for blocking moisture that evaporates, resulting in less need for irrigation. Finally, it prevents unwanted weeds to grow and compete with your plants for resources. It does it by both denying them the sunlight they need to grow and by physically blocking the space they need to grow.

There are other applications, but these are the main ones. And because the needs of each gardener, planter, farmer and landscaper are different, manufacturers and producers have come up with several different types of mulch, each with different qualities. There are divided mainly in organic and non organic mulch.

As with most human things, there is a type of mulch that is somewhat controversial. I’m talking about cypress mulch.

Cypress mulch is an interesting type of mulch in the sense that it is both loved and hated.

Let’s start with the reasons why cypress mulch is loved. In addition to performing the three functions mentioned above, much like cypress wood, cypress mulch has a great natural look that is loved by many people. Thus it makes a great type of mulch when used for decoration as well as for gardening. In addition, cypress mulch enriches the soil and becomes part of it when it finally breaks down.

There is yet another application of cypress mulch that a lot of people are unaware of. It is used often as bedding for snakes. Yes, as in the reptiles that crawl. Cypress mulch is very comfortable for them and it doesn’t have any spines that hinder their movement or oils that they find repelling.

With all these qualities, why do some people hate cypress mulch? Well, because most of cypress mulch is made directly from cypress trees. It isn’t made of recycled cypress wood from used furniture. Because of this, some people believe that the production of cypress mulch is making cypress woods disappear. Fortunately, efforts are being made to create sustainable cypress wood forests from which cypress mulch can be produced without endangering the species.