Wood chips in the garden

[Tania]

We started this topic while discussing no-till in another thread (http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=33607), so here it is.

I think it would be valuable to discuss merits of using wood chips in veggie garden and orchards.

We use wood chips in our veggie garden and love it so far. We have 1 arce with tree trees, medicinal herbs, and vegetables growing everywhere where we get at least 5 hrs of direct sun. All the other areas are shade ornamentals.

The best thing that I love about wood chips is that it is a very sustainable option for our area. There are many tree services in the city that are charged for recycling their 'by-products' (chipped wood), and they are usually happy to deliver a load of fresh wood chips to you for free or a little charge to cover the fuel cost.

We got about 85 cu.yd. of wood chips since this spring to refresh our mulch in the garden and cover the new orchard area, the new garden area, and new herbs beds. And I am very happy I have some leftovers to experiment with composting and hot beds using wood chips!

I will start saying that the main benefits of wood chips in our garden are

- watering is greatly reduced
- weeding is very easy
- no more mud in the garden, even after heavy rains
- no soil erosion over winter
- worms love it
- ramial wood chips store so many nutrients and while they are slowly decomposing on top of the soil, they release the nutrients and help to feed your plants.
- sustainability! The waste (wood chips) is converted to treasure, and water usage is greatly reduced.

The cons:
- wood chips mulch needs to be moved away from the beds in spring, otherwise it will keep the soil cool longer. Gardeners in cooler areas may not need that! The good thing is that it is easy to do, and you'd need to move mulch back over the plants are in the ground.
- it will take several years for the wood chips mulch to break down. It is a great thing for mulch, but may not be a good thing if you are looking for a quick build up of organic matter in your garden.

Wood chips should never be incorporated / tilled into the soil - if you do that, they'll tie up all the nitrogen (micro-organisms will use nitrogen while they are breaking down the chips). They should stay on top of the soil and used as mulch.


Tatiana

[Tania]

Great discussion in posts #15-29 in this thread (http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...t=33607&page=2)

We can continue from there, if there is an interest.

[drew51]

I would add my friend with the peach tree orchard was using hard wood. He could obtain it free. Pine is a different beast. Also all gardening is local. But his results were of interest as the results are not biased. He had nothing to gain or lose, and the tests were all done by the same lab in Kansas. His end results were a slight increase in organic matter after 7 years. As fruit tree growers we were concerned about too many nutrients being released. This concern is that stone fruit tastes best when under stress. Perfect conditions result in bland fruit. Water stress is used to increase sugar content of fruit too. So the mulch keeping in moisture is not a trait we want with fruit trees. This can be controlled by thickness of mulch. A happy medium can be reached where the mulch prevents weeds, but doesn't hold too much water. In wet areas with stone fruit, no mulch would be a better idea.

I myself use hard wood bark I harvest from my wood pile. I don't have a huge garden, so huge amounts are not needed. I also use pine straw as I can get it for free. I like it a lot. I never move it as it's not the nitrogen drainer wood is. So it makes it way throughout the soil with time. I add compost on top of it, and put a new layer down.

[Tania]

drew, thank you! This is a great information about orchards and wood chips.

So far I do not have too much info to share about our tree trees, as they were just planted in June 2014 and heavily mulched with fresh wood chips. The only thing I can report if that we never watered the young trees since we put them in, and there is not much rain here in summer (no rain since July 20). The soil moisture is remarkable under the mulch, and the trees have been putting up growth.

[Tania]

Here is a good article by Linda Chalker- Scott, Ph.D., Extension Horticulturist and Associate Professor, Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Washington State University

http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Cha...ips%202007.pdf

about bark mulch and sawdust
http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20cha...rk%20mulch.pdf

She is a bit shy about wood chips in veggie gardens, but as someone else mentioned in another thread, the 'Back to Eden' method clearly shows that it works. (However, the Back to Eden methods also assumes the use of chicken manure as a soil amendment).

[Tania]

Another good link:

http://aswcd.org/Woodchips.pdf

[Tania]

If you have not had a chance to watch Back to Eden film, it may be worth it.

http://vimeo.com/28055108

[COMPOSTER]

Originally Posted by Tania

If you have not had a chance to watch Back to Eden film, it may be worth it.

http://vimeo.com/28055108

Tania,

Durgan turned me on to the Back to Eden film last year. I've watched it 4 or 5 times. Although I was slightly sceptical I was immediately inspired to try the Ramial wood chip mulch. Being fortunate to have a good amount of land and a dozen or so beds I decided to mulch 4 existing beds, start 4 new ones and heavily mulch my 1/2 whisky barrel planters. I mulched these beds last September/ October. I did use some organic fertilizer and compost on top of the soil before covering with the Ramial wood chip mulch. 2 of the beds were not planted in at all. 1 bed was allready established with Blueberry bushes and the others were planted with tomatoes and peppers. The results so far have been mixed but very encouraging. I expect the results to be better next year after the mulch starts breaking down and adding fertility to the soil.

Glenn

[Tania]

Another good link:

Redefining Soil Fertility by Céline Caron (The Maine Organic Farmer and Garden website)
http://www.mofga.org/Default.aspx?tabid=700

[COMPOSTER]

The one thing about the film Back to Eden that is easy to miss is the need for a nitrogen source at the beginning of the bed making and then the addition of manure based compost every once in a while. It's easy to focus on the wood chips and lose focus of the parts regarding the horse manure compost and the chicken manure compost. I think for most of us incorporating that compost is going to be critical to having the success we desire. Also, Paul has an area to store a large quantity of chips that are in a constant state of decomposition so it is my guess that after the initial quantities of fresh wood chip mulch was used he adds partially decomposed mulch to the beds only and not fresh chips.

Glenn

[drew51]

Originally Posted by COMPOSTER

The one thing about the film Back to Eden that is easy to miss is the need for a nitrogen source at the beginning of the bed making and then the addition of manure based compost every once in a while. It's easy to focus on the wood chips and lose focus of the parts regarding the horse manure compost and the chicken manure compost. I think for most of us incorporating that compost is going to be critical to having the success we desire. Also, Paul has an area to store a large quantity of chips that are in a constant state of decomposition so it is my guess that after the initial quantities of fresh wood chip mulch was used he adds partially decomposed mulch to the beds only and not fresh chips.

Glenn

I agree, excellent point. I was only able to obtain wood chips once. I use what I can. Pine straw, and leaves. I need leaves to protect my blackberries. I'm growing many that are barely hardy here. With protection they are fine. I refuse to give up my Marion and boysenberries. And tayberries, wyeberries, and my white blackberries either!
Anyway I think we do need to recycle and use all we can to effectively use natural resources.

[Tania]

Glenn, thank you, this is an excellent point. Nitrogen is essential for feeding plants and breaking down the chips.

We use alfalfa meals and coffee grinds for nitrogen. Both are slower release. I also have a 50 lbs bag of blood meal sitting in the garage, just in case, if we even need a quick nitrogen boost for the garden. Have not used it yet.

Thinking about getting chickens also, but this is a longer term project, as Stan needs to build a chicken fortress first (too many predators in our area).

Drew, I am also very big on recycling, and I very agree with your statement.

Cheers,
Tatiana

[drew51]

I use everything I can, it's tough in a suburban setting. Sources of nitrogen are store bought organics. Not a feed store in sight. I need to find cheaper sources of nitrogen.
In a few years I'm moving to a rural setting. I really can't wait. As it will take years to start my fruit trees over, and I'm running out of years! At least finding local sources of nitrogen will be easier.

[Tania]

Drew,

We are in rural area. But... our village in a 7 min drive to the city, but it is all residential, no farms. We get all our free resources from the city. (There are no coffee shops in the village). Actually, there is nothing much in the village, except the folks here are happy to bring the pots for us to recycle. The bylaws changed, and horses are not allowed here anymore on smaller (<2 acre) lots.

We are lucky to get all the coffee grinds from the city Starbucks, and wood chips from the city tree services.

Tatiana

[COMPOSTER]

Originally Posted by drew51

I use everything I can, it's tough in a suburban setting. Sources of nitrogen are store bought organics. Not a feed store in sight. I need to find cheaper sources of nitrogen.
In a few years I'm moving to a rural setting. I really can't wait. As it will take years to start my fruit trees over, and I'm running out of years! At least finding local sources of nitrogen will be easier.

I'm very lucky to have found a local source of sheep manure and discovered a couple that work in the same facility as I do that have horses and chickens. They were so nice about allowing me to come pick up the manure any time I wanted to that I have helped them with thier gardening, gave them seeds and grew 8 heirloom tomato seedlings for them. They even knew thier hay supplier and asked him if he used herbacide on the hay. He did not. Lucky me!

In regards to the recycling I couldn't agree more. It amazes me that most folks that raise animals have trouble gettig rid of the manure. Talk about an underutilized resource! It amazes me that arborist (I read the articles Tatiana) wood chip mulch is considered a waste product. I have used bark mulch for years in a part sun perrenial border and have seen mimimal signs of soil improvement. I Put arborist wood chip mulch in the same area last october and I was easily able to dectect an improvement in the soil this spring and it continues to improve along with the plants. More worms, more retained moisture and more flowers. Very impressed.

I do have a little trouble getting the wood chips for free. I called a tree service and they said they would drop a load if they were in my area but I would be put on a waiting list. However, for $75 they would deliver me 15 yds. I didn't want to wait so I ordered a truck load. I think that is an extremely fair price so that is how I got my first load. Ordering more this month.