Larry G. Steward, Assistant Professor of Horticultural Industries Technologies, Agricultural Technical Institute, The Ohio State University, Wooster, Ohio; T.Davis Sydnor, Professor of Urban Forestry, School of Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; and Bert Bishop, Senior Statistician, Computing and Statistical Services, Ohio Agricultural and Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster, Ohio.
Match Tests
Some mulches were also ignited by matches, but the match ignition test was not repeated. So few replicates of the various types of mulch ignited this way that statistical differences were not significant.
The match test was done after the mulches had been in place for six months. Although not statistically significant, some replicates of pine straw, oat straw, and the decorative ground rubber sometimes ignited using matches (data not shown).
Once ignited, the ground rubber was extremely difficult to extinguish.