Hugelkultur vs. Wood Chips
allen456
12 years ago
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gardenlen
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Pine wood chips vs.Home Depot Bark
Comments (13)Sounds good to me. As what you say I said, I did not, we certainly have a failure of communication. That's true Josh some Bonsai sold do include those items. I never advocated using wood, I think this is the third time I said that. For one it's a better mulch, it breaks down too quick, it appears to tie up nitrogen, I'm just not sure that really is much of a problem? As peat and bark are also organic material breaking down. Do they tie up nitrogen? My whole point was that is wood that big a problem in potting mixes? I would not use it, but I don't think I would go to the trouble of removing all sap wood, or should I say I would not go to any trouble, as it is of little concern. It was a rather small point that seems to have been blown out like I'm suggesting using wood, never did that, please don't say I do, or did. I just found it curious if such a problem, growing in decomposing straw, or the other methods I mention should be a problem too. They count on bacteria to break down the material. Are not those bacteria tying up nitrogen? I do find it confusing. Sorry but I see no difference from pine chip to dead roots, wood is wood and both are throughout the soil, no I do not understand how they could be different? Some roots are much finer than wood chips, and will break down faster. Is that what you mean? This post was edited by Drew51 on Sun, Apr 6, 14 at 15:12...See MoreWood Chips as mulch vs. Ants
Comments (4)Where an area is soaked often, ants believe its not a good place to stick around. Wood chips make the perfect place to hide though. Its shady, its rotting, its cool and mostly is left alone so it is a good place to set up home. This goes for ear wigs and other moist home lovers. I don't think ants would put up with it long. Try the boric acid solution. Two teaspoons boric acid, in a cup of boiling water that you add a cup of granulated sugar to. Let it cool some. Obtain a few small containers -- small margarine containers would be ideal--which you poke holes into at the sides near the bottom to let the ants come in. Into it, place as many cotton balls as will fit after you soak them in the boric acid solution. Put the lid on so that friendly insects are not harmed....bees, wasps and such. Place the containers in where you see the ants or on their trails. They go in....the sugar is the come on---the boric acid is the poison which they take back to queenie. she dies, the colony dies. Place as many as you believe necessary around the garden. An alternate thing to try. Sprinkle baking soda around the area. It wont harm plants but when ants walk through it, they take it into their tummies. Baking soda is just bicarbonate of soda---when moistened turns to carbon dioxide gas. Ants cant burp....See MoreHugelkultur Plans
Comments (2)I'll do my best to answer your Qs: Yes, smother existing vegetation with cardboard. Overlap the pieces & wet them down. Some people do remove the sod prior to hugelkultur, so they can save it to use in the upper layers of the beds to retain the top soil. It is a huge job to remove sod, so I understand your desire to skip. I am familiar with hugelkultur, but I've only buried wood in trenches and not layered up entirely. We have created many new garden beds by sheet mulching or lasagna gardening right on top of sod or weeds. Initially it is mounded quite high, but shrinks each season, so now some beds are just raised about 6" higher than the surrounding area though still higher in the middles as we built large berms for the beds to increase drainage. Wooden sides are going to be expensive at the height to cover the old wood you're putting in. Once plants are growing the sides of the mounds will be less noticeable. Height depends on your wood unless you plant to split it to fit inside the sides. Shrubbery will be similar to wood chips taking a bit of nitrogen to decompose, but balanced with manures or other greens it works fine. I've done it only in trenches or chipped as mulch in paths to later be raked onto beds after composted at least a year. Remember the height will shrink in volume considerably as it decomposes, so with sides you'll need a plan for adding additional material. Probably can't have too many leaves & the balance of greens to browns won't matter too much. If you start with brown & layer alternately & end with brown you're putting 2 browns for every green, which is the goal. Yes, manure is very useful for soil fertility and to balance out the browns. Craigslist might be a good place to find it free. You could stop by a farm close to you that would be convenient. Most around here happily give it away free if you haul and some even deliver. If you're already purchasing wood and making the sides your budget may be at max before you even get to the compost layer. If you're able to start a compost pile now you can then just spread that partially worked pile on top of the beds. Read previous posts about composting. If not, you can just add what compost ingredients you acquire by then. If you have surplus dirt from elsewhere that might be useful because it won't shrink as much as the organic matter. I don't think it's necessary, but the volume of organic matter needs to be at least a foot deep over the wood so that by spring you have something to plant in for roots to secure your crops. After the leaves fall it's too late to start any vegetables here, so might be the same for you in zone 5b. We plant garlic in October to harvest in mid summer of the next year or onions to harvest in spring as green onions. Everything else is planted in July, August & September to mature in fall for harvest over winter. Some of the later crops can be overwintered as seedlings to mature in early spring depending on protection provided and the severity of our winter weather. Cover crops are usually turned over to decompose though we've planted right through self sown arugula and kale. Mulch is useful to retain soil moisture, but usually only spread after soil warms in spring. When tulip petals fall is a good indicator of time to mulch....See MoreWood chips over sandy soil question
Comments (11)Oldryder...my opinion is generally the same as everyone else's. Don't decrease recommended nitrogen applications. Wood chips contribute little to soil in the way of N and this is particularly true on a sandy soil like you describe. IMO fireduck makes the best point here. Moisture retention may be the big issue. If you dump a bucket of water at the tree's base in normal summer weather conditions does the water quickly drain away with the top 2" drying quickly ? Is the soil moist under the tree when inserting your finger underneath the chips? One part of me wants to say "slam it with nitrate of soda" but if moisture retention is an issue it will just make matters even worse. BTW...I'm joking about the nitrate of soda....well...sorta. If you are not seeing any vigorous growth whatsoever in non-producing trees after 5 seasons there might be an issue. What is your state and zone oldryder? I'm trying to learn also and getting a read on the climate is paramount in doing so. What type of fruit trees are we talking about...what is the rootstock and what is the trunk caliper of these 6 year old trees? 6 year old fruit trees of most types should have a substantial trunk size at 6 years and peaches and pommes should have fruited before now on most rootstocks. A photo even if dormant would be spectacular oldryder....See Moredottyinduncan
12 years agojoeworm
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12 years agoemgardener
11 years agolisascenic Urban Gardener, Oakland CA
11 years agoSassySoil
11 years ago
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