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Re: Newspaper Mulch



> 
> I  have been using longitudinally shredded office paper (all  kinds,
mixed)
> in the garden for five years.  It works well as a moisture-retention
mulch,
> as a weed-control mulch, and as a keep-the-fruit-off-the-soil mulch.  
> 
> However, nesting birds, particularly robins, love it, and you will find
> shredded paper in bird nest's around your neighborhood.  It's not
> especially attractive, and your neighbors may complain. 

Oh my goodness! If you have the kind of neighbours that complain to you
about the contents of BIRD'S NESTS!!!! in the area, then there's no hope
for them and you may as well just cultivate a thick skin and ignore the
bast---s!
 
> 
> Are there bad things in the paper that is shredded?  I do not think so.  

Thinking so does not MAKE it so. I would simply like to point out that
there is a BIG difference between animals lying on paper products and those
same paper products with their attendant ink, coatings and printer/copier
toners decomposing and being absorbed by the vegetables I eat! 
I
> manage a laboratory that conducted the analytical work for a university
> study that looked at what happened when you use shredded mixed newsprint
> (including the colored Sunday sections) as animal bedding.  We examined
the
> paper, the waste, the animal products (milk, meat), and samples of the
> living animal's blood.  This was a study which compared paper-bedded
> animals vs standard (hay, straw) bedded animals.  There was no difference
> between the two, for any of the parameters measured.  And we looked for
> anything and everything.  This was 5 to 8 years ago, when the use of
> shredded paper as animal bedding in the Northeast was increasing
> dramatically.
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