Every Spring we receive enquiries from new customers who would like to enhance their gardens using coloured mulch.
When first placed in your garden the colour looks great, however if we receive two or three days of rain the colour may not look as vibrant as it did before the rain.
In the industry we call this ‘Spring Wash’.
The reason for Spring Wash is that the heavy rain literally carries the colourant away from the surface of the pile. Some goes to the inside of the pile making the mulch under the surface wetter and a little more coloured. The Spring Wash can be fixed by simply turning the pile over once the rain stops or by covering the pile with a tarpaulin before heavy rain.
The problem does not occur once the coloured mulch is dry, because the colour becomes bound to the wood surface and is no longer affected by rain or water from sprinkler systems or hosing.
We also recommend:
- laying down a tarpaulin before we drop coloured mulch to avoid any discolouration of surfaces;
- not putting the dyed mulch next to light coloured surfaces until it is completely dry.
The colour does not bond until the mulch is dry.
Unfortunately due to a high demand of dyed mulch in Spring, all suppliers cannot guarantee that the mulch is dry when delivered to our yard.