Freshly mulched/chipped branches question
Julia WV (6b)
14 years ago
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14 years agojeannie7
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Fresh wood chips as mulch?
Comments (10)Thank you everyone for posting. tracydr thank you for asking; most of my tomatoes are 3-4' tall with the exceptions of a couple plants I purchased. The bush beans are about half sprouted. I'm not to worried though because a few more pop up every day. The pole beans on the other hand are doing much better. I soaked the pole beans for 24hrs before planting. I did not soak the bush beans at all. I planted the pole beans more than a week after planting the bush beans and they have all germinated. For now on I will soak all of my beans before planting. glib Thank you for posting. I know we don't always agree but I do respect your opinion and breadth of knowledge and your post was very helpful in my decision making process. Dave I did a search in the Soil, Compost & Mulch forum before starting this thread. Most of what I read was about composting wood chips rather than using them fresh as mulch though I do plan on doing both. You are one of my favorite posters though like glib I don't always agree with you I often find your posts informative and helpful. If you knew my whole situation I think you would have given a different response. I do not till. I use a 38lb Bosch chipping gun with a spade/clay bit and double dig my beds to 18". The norm for us is to have 100+ degrees temps every day four months a year or longer. The primary need for this mulch is to keep the soil cool. Without it nothing will survive our summer heat. I'm on a fixed income and cannot afford to buy composted mulch. This is the first year I will be composting my own. I have a drip irrigation system that allows me to add fertilizer/Nitrogen to the water. The drip lines will be under the mulch so most of the mulch will not be getting wet. Our yard is professionally sprayed for anything that creeps or crawls every two months or sooner if needed. I am not an organic gardener and will be spraying my plants with Triazicide and Daconil as needed. In eleven years living in Arizona I have not seen a single slug. We had snails for three days after our lawn was installed eight plus years ago. We have not seen one since and the pest control guy who sprays our yard said he has never seen either a slug or snail in Arizona. On your advice I will keep the mulch from making contact with the plant stems as best I can and hope for the best. Thank you for posting....See MoreTree Removal: Chips or Mulch?
Comments (3)I can only speak from my experience here in Georgia, but here what they do is grind up what they can. Large trunks are hauled off intact as the portable equipment cannot handle such big pieces. What is produced is called "chips" but people do use it as mulch. Mulch sold in the store is usually a more attractive product than what is produced by on the spot tree companies. Yes, you can store it on the ground until you need it. Some people find this preferable as it allows the chips to "age" a bit. Stumps can be ground down (and out) for one of two reasons: the area is exposed to the general viewing area of your property and you want it to look more attractive than having big stumps there, or you want to plant another tree in the same spot. If neither reason exists, you don't have to pay extra to have them ground down....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 MoreFreshly chipped green tree branches for mulch?
Comments (9)Thanks for the advice all, I just put the chips around the plants. I had to wait a couple days before I had time to spread them, and when I removed the top layer off the load in the wheel barrow, the middle was warm and steaming already. The ground under the chips is free of sod and weeds already, even though it might look like they are planted straight in the turf. When I planted the row last year, I removed the sod, planted, and put cardboard rings around them, with composted stump grindings on top of the cardboard. I got them in the ground just before summer and the plants had a bit of trouble with the heat, some dry times, and the lawn guy mowing over one of them, but I am happy to see they all came back this year. I dug and weeded around them just now before spreading the chips and it looks like the cardboard broke down pretty nicely too....See Morealphonse
14 years agoJulia WV (6b)
14 years agobpgreen
14 years agoKimmsr
14 years agoJulia WV (6b)
14 years agobpgreen
14 years agorickd59
14 years ago
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