How to Mulch Around Plums
- 1). Remove the turf and weeds around the plum tree’s base. Extend the cleared area out to the tips of the outermost branches. Pull the weeds by hand or shallowly cultivate the ground with a tiller or hoe. Avoid deep cultivation, as it damages the tree’s surface roots.
- 2). Spread out the mulch on top the cleared soil. Lay the mulch to a depth of 3 inches. Use straw, wood chips or sawdust as the mulching material.
- 3). Pull the mulch back from the trunk. Leave a 2- to 3-inch space between the mulch and the tree’s trunk. Rodents and pests nesting in the mulch chew the bark of the plum if the mulch sets against the trunk.
- 4). Remove the mulch in the fall after the tree goes dormant. Replace it with fresh mulch in spring as new growth begins.
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