EnviroColor CB0032 Cocoa Brown Mulch Dye, 2400 Square Feet

Impressed. Looks good and even though it rained the next day, it didnt wash off.

Easy to apply, looks nice and dark like the original color of the mulch I purchased from Lowe’s last year. Yep, that faded in a year. And instead of buying more, for half the price of a bag of mulch, I make the entire thing look new in less than 5 minutes. This little bottle will keep me from have to lay down new mulch for a couple years. Great investment. Perfect color match. Very satisfied.

Everyone complains about how fast mulch fades after it’s applied. So I stumbled upon this product and thought I’d give it a try. I bought a new gallon sprayer because I figured it’d probably mess up the one I use for gardening products. So here’s what I experienced.I removed the filter screen at the end of the hose that draws the fluid from inside the sprayer. In the sprayer tank I mixed 4oz of cocoa brown into 1gal of water. I wore latex gloves. First thing I noticed was how highly concentrated the dye is. It’s essentially oderless but it is dark and syrupy. You do not want this stuff splashing or getting on clothes, shoes, garage floor, etc. So be careful.First, I sprayed a bed that is bordered by grass so I could get the hang of this before spraying near the foundation or driveway. It worked just like in the description. Watching the transformation from dry, gray, craggily ugliness back to dark, rich brown was fun and kind of amazing. When you stand back and look at your mulch it looks exactly like you re-mulched your beds. Sweet!Now for the caveat. Despite that the dye is water soluble it will stain. Wear gloves, old shoes and clothes you don’t care about. Keep it off all concrete and garden decorations such as rocks, bird baths, gnomes, or anything else you don’t want it to contact. Mix it in an area where if it drips you won’t care.The instructions indicate rinsing overspray with plain water. This helps a lot but will not remove it entirely. Better to use a sheet of cardboard as edging while you spray. If you can get a helper to hold and move the cardboard as you spray you’ll finish much faster.Lastly, fill your regular garden sprayer with plain water (or have your garden hose nearby) and use it to quickly rinse off any overspray you might inadvertently cause.This mulch dye is great but no matter how careful you are it is messy. We put down enough to cover 8 yards of mulch and felt using this dye was definitly worth the effort. But you have to approach it like you’re “spray painting” and be mindful of overspray.

Each year I spread over 30 yards of mulch and it is just too much work, not to mention expensive. I read the reviews for mulch dye and the Enviro Color dye had the best reviews so I thought I'd give it a try. Several reviews mentioned problems with clogged sprayers so I invested in a good quality battery powered sprayer (which I love!!) and used the fan shaped spray nozzle. I had no problems with clogging. I used about 1/3 of the bottle for 4 gallons of water which left me with a nice deep, even color. Any less than that and it will be too light and diluted. Spray each area twice, slowly once and back, and it should come out pretty even. Touch ups are easy. I tried it on a smaller bed first and we had an unexpected heavy rain storm that night - the color held up well and didn't run, though I did touch it up a little because I didn't use enough dye the first time. By the time I got to the next bed, I had my spray rate down and had figured out that you really need to use a lot more of the dye than they tell you to. So buy extra. One draw back is that only the top of the mulch is dyed so if you or your dog walk in the bed and mess up the mulch, you will have lighter spots. That wasn't a big deal for me, I have a number of very large beds and even with doing the occasional touch ups, it is SO much easier than spreading new mulch. As for cleaning up, its pretty easy. Just be sure to do it on the grass away from anything you care about, take a hose and fill the sprayer and then just spray out the water to clean out your wand and rinse out the sprayer a few times. I did have some over spray on my concrete drive way but a little bleach and it came out. Wear old shoes, gloves and old clothes. Overall, I am very pleased with this product.

I read many of the reviews prior to my purchase. First, it does exactly what I wanted it to do...color some gray mulch to match some new dark brown mulch. I had a choice of buying approximately 40 bags of mulch (Cost of $80-$150 depending on sale/brand) or give this product a try. Well I am extremely satisfied with how this EnviroColor looks and also matches the surrounding new dark brown mulch. Based on other reviews, I expect it to fade at a similar rate to the new mulch. My only issue is that my 1 gallon pump sprayer repeatedly clogged. I have a RoundUp sprayer, which is not high-end, but not cheap either. I sprayed my first 100 sq ft with no issue but then got clogged every 25-50 sq ft until I finished my approx 1000 sq ft. I found that removing the nozzle and spraying it vigorously with water from the hose was effective. I also found that using no more than 3 oz of colorant per gallon was adequate and prevented more frequent clogging. Coverage was as anticipated. Keeping pressure high in your sprayer and frequently shaking/agitating the mixture was key. To emphasize, other reviews: This colorant does indeed stain everything (wear old clothes/gloves). Took some time due to the frequent clogging but very happy with end result and cash savings.Check out my photos. The entire area around the tree is Envirocolor. The area around the shrubs/bushes is new mulch. Relatively difficult to notice where the new mulch ends and EnviroColore begins, in my opinion.