TL;DR
A mulch volcano is the harmful practice of piling mulch in a cone against a tree's trunk, which traps moisture on the bark, invites decay, girdling roots, rodents, and disease, and can slowly kill the tree. Correct mulching keeps material 2 to 4 inches deep in a wide, flat ring pulled several inches back from the root flare, like a donut rather than a cone.
What it means
A mulch volcano is the harmful practice of piling mulch in a cone against a tree's trunk, which traps moisture on the bark, invites decay, girdling roots, rodents, and disease, and can slowly kill the tree. Correct mulching keeps material 2 to 4 inches deep in a wide, flat ring pulled several inches back from the root flare, like a donut rather than a cone. Its presence in a yard is a quick test of whether a landscape crew knows trees.
Where it sits in the glossary
Mulch volcano is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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