50150 Cocoa Bean Shell Mulch, 2 Cubic Feet

Had used pecan mulch for our flower planters last year, but the squirrels kept digging in them. Tried this coco mulch & they don’t seem to be as excited about it. Smell is strong when first added. We don’t have dogs so no worry about them eating it. Doesn’t blow away too easily & keeps soil moist.

Perfect and smells like chocolate

Many years ago I used to find this at the local big box stores with no problems. However, apparently because careless people let their dogs run around and eat it out of other peoples yards, it is now harder to find. That said, even though I am paying triple of what I used to pay, I don't regret it a bit. I have a very small planting area in the front of my house, which is a covered courtyard. Like I said, it's pretty small. However, after putting the mulch down - I use it more as a cushion for container plants rather than planting directly in the horrible Las Vegas soil – I love it. It looks beautiful and it smells even better. We are currently going through a heat wave and every time I open my front door I get a blast of heat and chocolate. Mmmm! I have ordered bags of cocoa hull mulch from various online vendors, and have received everything from super dried out to damp and moldy. Most had little or no scent, which is one of the attractions of this mulch. This is the first bag that I received that is exactly the way that I remembered. Despite the cost, I highly recommend this mulch. Since we live in such disparate climates throughout the country, naturally, your results may be different from mine. However, since I have used this type of product before, I know what to expect. For my needs, it is absolutely perfect! And no, the chocolate fragrance does not last forever, but it is so worth enjoying while it is there!

I was disappointed that the bag indicated that the cocoa mulch should not be used amidst flowers, but that information was not available when I bought the mulch. The mulch is very lightweight and some of it blows away in the wind within the first few days of application. But after it was watered by our irrigation system, then the cocoa hulls stuck together like a blanket of mulch. It smells great the first week.

Boy has this stuff gotten EXPENSIVE but, it's worth it to me for my valuable rose bushes and blueberry bushes

Now that we no longer have a dog I have switched back to using cocoa hull mulch for my raised herb gardens. The plants do really well and the chocolate aroma is wonderful especially when wet.

I am elderly, and this comes in huge plastic wrapped rectangles, so I have trouble pulling out what I need for the season. It used to be available in smaller bags in my state, because Lindt Chocolate was making its own choclate here, but they closed their grinding operation. Shredded cocoa bean shells are the best possible long-lasting soil amendment when you're trying to nurse a patch of heavy rock-laden soil patch into a garden. I was advised by my garden center to stop adding yearly after 5-6 years because there is such a thing as too rich. So I just cover it every second or third year now. But as an example - my bed was a construction site, a mess of dying plants. There is a mown but unmaintained lawn next to it with a bunch of tiny strawberry plants that never flower. As an experiment, I let these weeds grow as ground cover last year. They are now huge, the leaves and flowers almost as big as the commercial ones, and I am looking forward to my own crop. Everything I or the wind plants in my bed grows, and produces heavily if I let it.

I started using this type of mulch years ago.....when it was much cheaper. Now it is an outrageous price, but I'm still buying it if that indicates anything. This mulch smells like chocolate (since it comes from a cocoa bean shell), and holds moisture better than any other mulch I've ever used. Sometimes a coating of harmless mold can appear (in humid conditions) but it's beneficial to the plants, and doesn't last long. Last time I purchased this from another source for cheaper, but the shipping price was crazy. So this year i got it from Amazon for about the same price in reverse.....shipping was free, but the mulch was expensive...I guess if you want it, you're going to pay for it one way or the other.