I am getting closer to planting my new lot in various citrus and other fruit trees. Everything except the citrus will be mulched. I understand that citrus likes bare ground but where I live that is a problem. We get lots of rain (close to six foot per year) to the point that uncovered soil will quckly wash away. What are my options?

If I used weedblock would that cause other problems such as overheating the soil?

I've used mountains of mulch in the last 10 years and have thriving trees, 25 in the ground. I like pine bark as it lowers the pH to counteract the 8.2 pH city water.

Clearly to mulch or not is a controversial topic and maybe that is why Mr. Texas is the only one that has replied.

From what I have read, your soil type has a lot to do with it. Where I live there is a six foot top layer of sand that has less than 5% organic matter. This is a preferred soil for Citrus due to the good drainage and high level of oxygen available to the roots. What I don't understand is how one is to stabilize this from blowing or washing away. I do think that I get more rainfall than the citrus belt and it falls in less days which increases the chance of erosion. The bare ground absorbs the radiant energy from the sun easier than a mulched soil and releases it back to the tree more readily in winter. I know the dark weedblock will increase the heat gathering compared to just bare soil. I'm not sure if it would hinder the release or not. I realize that by not mulching it will increase the need for water and possibly the need for fertilizer. This is acceptable if it increases the health, production and longivity of the trees.

Thanks Mr. Texas for your reply. If I were to guess your soil is completely different from mine. Am I right?

OK Can't we get a great argument going here OR can someone dispute what I have said OR agree with me.

I have winter squash planted amongst my citrus which will I hope protect them this coming summer. Last winter I sewed cut and come again greens.
If I leave nothing there I end up with a groundcover of chickweed.

While my trees are small I will take advantage of the excess space and grow other plants too but I will keep the root zone free of any competition.

I mulch with pine needles but leave about 2 foot radius bare around the trunk. My soil is very good though....rich sand/clay mix with pretty good drainage (and I plant in a high mound).

I use black plastic and ground cover in my old GH 35x96 the only problem that I have is fertilizing. Applying lime would also be impossible but I have very little weed problems. The trees are about 12 years old. In my new GH I am using limb chips from under power lines, mostly pine and oak. I have been using it for years in flower beds and it has made great mulch.

The problem is that I have such a large area covered I have had to cut some slits in it to fertilize. If I had only put down ground cover I could fertilize over the top of it and it would go through because it is a woven material however with ground cover weed seed will still germinate and grow on top of it,so I put black plastic under the ground cover and this solves the weed problem but creates the other. It also keeps the potted trees that I am grafting from growing roots through the pot and rooting into the ground.

I suppose a liquid injection system using the irrigation could solve some of the problem. That sounds espensive though.

Using black weedblock would over heat the soil?

I have weedblock under my citrus and pomegranite trees, and I have placed red wood chips I bought from home depot. The pomegranite is a bush and provides shade so I don't believe it absorbs heat from the sun. For my citrus, I don't think it caused any over heating. Possibly because the black weedblocks are well covered with the red woodchips, I don't think it's causing any damage. I did see black wood chips for sale, but did not get those because I worried that it might cause overheating.

In my experience, using combination of weedblock and woochips as mulch is more effective than using just one of the two.