Are cocoa hulls good for mulching?
A. I used to use bagged mulches, including cocoa hulls, many years ago. I have since switched to local materials I can have delivered in bulk, minus the plastic bags. There is no cocoa-processing plant nearby and hence no local source of this recycled product. Cocoa hulls can be very high in potassium, which can be a problem for some plants in some soils, and they may be toxic to pets (particularly dogs) if they are swallowed. So those factors added to the “buy local” environmental argument put them on my “no” list today. Additionally, cocoa hulls are hard to spread and either blow away or clump together if the bag got wet (sometimes they can be moldy in damp weather, too). However, they have many of the qualities I want in a mulch: They are dark in color and fine textured and look good on the beds.
