When I first heard my boss talking about silver mulch, I assumed he was talking about the regular bark mulch that had just been dyed silver. Well, you all know what happens when you assume something. I soon discovered that it was not dyed mulch; on the contrary, it was polyethylene film that had a black side and silver side. It pretty much looked like pretty plastic wrapping paper. This silver mulch is used in many gardens and fields across the country to produce better crops and offers many advantages as well.

Plastic mulch has been around since the late 1950s to early 1960s. The particular type, silver mulch, was founded by Dr. Emery M. Emmert, a professor at the University of Kentucky. This silver mulch is double-sided, one side being black, one side being silver. The black side is placed down on top of the soil, meaning that the silver side is facing up towards the sky, which is a big deal. You must make sure you have it placed correctly, or else it is going to be completely and absolutely useless. The black side keeps the weeds from protruding through the plastic, while keeping in more moisture and cooling the soil by several degrees, compared to regular black plastic. The silver side reflects the sunlight onto the underside of the leaves, making them produce up to 20% higher crop yields, which brings up the list of advantages that silver mulch has to offer.

First off, the silver mulch is composed of polyethylene film, with a hybrid metallized side, making it 20% stronger than other regular films. Secondly, it controls weeds and insects. In fact, it has been proven to lower the number of cucumber beetles by 6 times less than any other mulch. It also disorients and keeps away thrips, aphids, flea beetles, white flies, and snails because of the bright reflexive silver light. Thirdly, silver mulch makes for earlier maturing, higher quality crops and increases the fruit color as well. It also allows a drip irrigation system to work better than if it was placed on some sort of alternative type of mulch.

Overall, this product is a must have, especially if you are an organic farmer who doesn’t like to spray pesticides. It has numerous advantages, the best one being the finished product of your crops, which I am sure you would be satisfied with. So if you want better and bigger crops, with the added advantage of not having to spray as many pesticides, I would recommend purchasing silver mulch for your growing needs.