Site Map
Contact Us
image

How to color mulch

If you're wondering how to color mulch and considering getting into the business of mulch production, you need to understand the most common steps involved in producing colored mulch. Then you can begin to understand the advantages of Amerimulch.

The basics: Colored mulch is made from waste wood streams. That's everything from pallets to saw mill waste to land-clearing debris.

Step 1

Grind the wood into appropriate size chips.
Grinders are the most expensive part of a mulch operation. Some mulch producers buy pre-ground wood fiber to avoid the expense and hassle of operating a grinder. Amerimulch does not manufacture grinders, nor do we recommend any one manufacturer of grinders. While every grinding need is unique, there are several quality grinding companies you can choose from. Just be sure to find the product that best fits your specific need.

Step 2

Size the wood fiber. (optional, but recommended)
Here's a popular saying in the mulch industry: You don't grind to size, you screen to size. Screens move the ground fiber over an apparatus that sorts out and returns oversize wood chips for re-grinding, and removes small "fines" so that they don't soak up color from the better pieces. Amerimulch manufactures the AMERI-SCREEN, a simple one-pass screener for removing oversize chips. Our screener is not designed to remove fines, but it is less than half the cost of dual-purpose screeners.

Step 3

The wood fiber goes into the colorizer, where it is mixed with the proper amount of colorant and water.
For small producers just starting out, any mixer will do, even a concrete mixer. Larger producers will appreciate the power and efficiency of a high-energy, continuous-feed mixing system such as our ColorTrom 250. In the mixer, colorant is dispersed in water and is applied to the wood fiber. Improved mixing action reduces water rates and improves the final product.

Step 4

Inventory the finished product.
Finished goods inventorying varies based on the end markets you will service -- bag or bulk. Designing a cost-effective system at this point depends on selecting the correct conveying and stacking equipment as well as site design.

From there, the mulch can be bagged, trucked in bulk to retail locations, or loaded with an Express Blower system.