Opinions on best type of tree for wood chip mulch?
californian
12 years ago
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joepyeweed
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Making mulch or trim wood - best approach?
Comments (3)The issue is the emerald ash borer. The ash wood is quarentined and must stay in my county which sverely limits the people who might have a need for it. I had a guy up at the house who makes his own lumber for furnitire and resale. He had zero interest in the ash - it is simply no good to him other than for firewood which he has has no need for. He told me to either let it rot, cut it up for firewood, or just dig a big hole and burn it. I appreciate the comment on the ash as not good for trim wood. I had a feeling this was the case. I have seen it used on flooring and wasn't thrilled with the look of the grain. The only options for me are that that the ash logs will either be turned into firewood - which I already have enough to last me for many years - or it is going to get chipped into mulch which I have a need for. The question I asked is what is the best way to do it. Cutting the wood into logs and splitting it may take a while but I could hire some people to do this. Once the wood is split, it can then be thrown into a chipper. In the end I get a nice pile of wood chips which I will use in my landscaping and at the same time remove the log pile which will more than likely rot on my land. To me this is a good use of trees that will otherwise just rot away. I understand that mulch is typically a byproduct of tree limbs etc. But dead wood is dead wood and a chipper knows no difference....See MoreWood chips for mulch question
Comments (4)Thank you both! Dawn, I have no doubt it probably is honey locust. I can't say for sure because we did a lot of cutting in the fall/winter on a visit from Maryland, then again in the spring before the trees got their leaves so all I ever really had to go on was the trunk and limbs. Ours didn't have compound thorns, just single thorns an inch long coming out on near opposite sides of the tree so that when layed on the ground you were almost guaranteed to get one through the shoe if you weren't looking. The biggest one we cut down was smaller than my wrist, so maybe they get the compound ones once they get bigger? I suspect the previous owners were cutting as they found them too. Either way, thorny trees are out! I haven't seen poison ivy here, but we wear gloves/boots/long pants anyway, just too much nature that fights back. I noticed a huge improvement to the soil once we mulched, the plants and earthworms are much happier. It only has about an inch of mulch so far, but we have a field full of brush to chip and put that down too. We didn't mulch last year, and even with almost daily water pulled our tomato plants out at the end of July (I didn't know then about how important mulch was, or about fall tomatoes). I spent about 3 months in late winter/early spring reading posts on here and our garden this year has already been much more productive. Everyone here has been a big help, thanks!...See MoreAre Kerosene-d Wood Chips Safe to Use as Mulch?
Comments (14)BIOREMEDIATE your soil! Paul Stamets - Bioremediation with Fungi "In 1975, a military jet fuel leaked over 80,000 gallons of kerosene based jet-fuel into a lake in the suburbs of Charleston, SC. Many people tried to manage the oil spill but it was to no avail. It was almost impossible to stop all of the fuel from being soaked up by the very permeable sandy soil and reaching the ground water. Soon all of the ground water became contaminated and had many toxic chemicals in it. The ground water then began to reach all of the residential area and everyone in the surrounding area knew they were faced with a serious environmental hazard. It was almost impossible to remove all of the contaminated soil and ground water so the only other option was to introduce microorganisms and fungi that could consume all of the toxic chemicals and turn them into harmless carbon dioxide. Because of this introduction of the microorganisms it allowed for any further contamination to come to a complete halt. It even helped to remove 75% of the pollutants that harmed the soil and ground water. This introduction of microorganisms and fungi to an ecosystem or specific area is known as Bioremediation. What is Bioremediation? Bioremediation is a process in which indigenous or inoculated micro-organisms (e.g., fungi, bacteria, and other microbes) degrade (metabolize) organic contaminants found in soil and/or ground water, converting them to harmless end products. Nutrients, oxygen, or other amendments may be used to enhance bioremediation and contaminant desorption from subsurface materials. Bioremediation also allows polluted drinking water to become safe enough for humans and animals to drink. It allows for us [humans] to have a safer drinking source and not be too terribly concerned with the toxins that could be potentially be harmful. Bioremediation is usually classified under 2 types of conditions. Those being aerobic and anaerobic..."...See MoreWood chips as mulch for fruit trees...good or bad?
Comments (3)I'm no expert, but I did come across this, which sounds promising: "Soil Carbon Pools, Nitrogen Supply, and Tree Performance under Several Groundcovers and Compost Rates in a Newly Planted Apple Orchard. Source: HortScience . Dec2011, Vol. 46 Issue 12, p1687-1694. 8p. Abstract: This study evaluated the effects of in-row groundcovers (bare ground, brassica seed meal, cultivation, wood chip mulch , legume cover crop, and non-legume cover crop) and three compost rates (48, 101, and 152 kg available nitrogen(N)/ha/year) on soil carbon (C) pools, biological activity, N supply, fruit yield, and tree growth in a newly planted apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) orchard. We used nonlinear regression analysis of C mineralization curves to differentiate C into active and slow soil C pools. Bare ground and cultivation had large active soil C pools, 1.07 and 0.89 g C/kg soil, respectively, but showed little stabilization of C into the slow soil C pool. The use of brassica seed meal resulted in increased soil N supply, the slow soil C pool, and earthworm activity but not total soil C and N, fruit yield, or tree growth. Legume and non-legume cover crops had increased microbial biomass and the slow soil C pool but had lower fruit yield and tree growth than all other groundcovers regardless of compost rate. Soils under wood chip mulch had elevated earthworm activity, total soil C and N, and the slow soil C pool. Wood chip mulch also had the greatest cumulative C mineralization and a high C:N ratio, which resulted in slight N immobilization. Nevertheless, trees in the two wood chip treatments ranked in the top four of the 13 treatments in both fruit yield and tree growth. Wood chip mulch offered the best balance of tree performance and soil quality of all treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]" I've also read some studies which say the opposite, for example, https://books.google.ca/books?id=uMIXAAAAYAAJ&ots=627Q7jWJwL&dq=wood%20mulch%20nitrogen&lr&pg=PA17#v=onepage&q=wood%20mulch%20nitrogen&f=false, which says the decomposition of the mulch and tie up the mobility of nitrogen. On YouTube there are many gardeners supporting the benefits of wood chip mulch. I use cedar mulch myself around perennials and they seem fine. I do pull the cedar mulch slightly away from the base of plants to as not directly touch them as I've heard cedar can burn plants.......See MoreUser
12 years agojenn
12 years agofranktank232
12 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years agojenn
12 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years agoiowa50126
12 years agoUser
12 years ago
doublemrose
6 years ago
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver)
6 years agotoxcrusadr
6 years ago
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
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