River Rock Vs Mulch

Mulch is the cheapest of the three material options.

River rock vs mulch.

Benefits of rock mulch. The rock can help slow down water from eroding parts of the landscape. Harder to spring clean up beds. Landscaping rock commonly referred to as river rock decorative gravel stone mulch or landscaping rock.

Mulch which is better in flower beds and around trees. Since there is no replacement requirement river rock might cost more upfront but will not come with reoccurring annual costs. But while the upfront cost difference is apparent it s important to remember that even though mulch is much more affordable initially it will need to be freshened up regularly meaning you ll invest just as much over a few years. The cost of mulch versus river rock is significant river rock being up to 3x more expensive than mulch.

I had seen some river rock flower beds online and thought they looked nice. But remember it doesn t break down and disappear into the soil like bark mulch does. Lower cost over time rock mulch is a one time expense. Once it is positioned and placed it s perfectly situated for all of time.

I knew from experience in our past house that flower bed rocks would keep stay much better than mulch so we decided to go for it. Lesser prevention of weed germination. Pros and cons of organic mulch pros. Therefore it ends up a much cheaper option in the long run.

Rock is more expensive than bark mulch. It s the most sustainable of the three and is not likely not to be displaced by rain. Mulch can nearly double how fast trees and plants grow according to this study. Rock mulch is more expensive than wood mulch.

My step brother and i put in the landscaping with rocks instead of mulch last fall and it s been working well for us. So you may actually save money over time. One of the changes we made was to replace all the mulch around the patio with river rocks and possibly all the flower beds with rocks instead of mulch. The price of rock mulch varies depending on the type and size but generally costs two to three times more than an application of mulch.

You don t need to replace it every year. It sells for about 4 to 5 per bag at a big box store but keep in mind that bags of rock mulch only contain about 0 5 cubic feet of material four times less than a bag of wood mulch. Unlike mulch you never have to replace river rock. River rock is considerably more expensive than organic mulches such as shredded bark wood chips or compost.

Long lasting never needs replaced. At about three to six times the cost of organic mulches such as cypress pine bark or. Mulch also gets displaced easily by heavy rain and it isn t good on steep slopes. Any type of decorative gravel can be used as groundcover including lava rock quartz granite pea gravel and river rock.

Not ideal for really wet areas.