Add to the question above: Does the wood smell any thing like the leaves? I'd hate to wait for that smell to dissapate .

Most any compounds found in wood degrade rapidly in a pile of chips. Even juglone, the chemical excreted by black walnut trees which can inhibit the growth of a great many other plant species degrades quickly within such a pile. IT's cool to be aware of this, but I seriously doubt there's an issue. Things cook pretty fast in a pile, and when laid down on the ground, numerous soil microbes get to work immediately, breaking things down.

+oM

I would not put fresh wood chips/saw dust around anything. Especially when it contains a lot of finer sawdust. It creates an oxygen barrier and the soil underneath it can sour.

You could use it on forest walkways though.

Right, GG. And the supposed "nitrogen drag"....that is, the notion that finely textured wood materials "rob" nitrogen from the soil is one of those ideas that just sound too good to put down. Yet, so far as I'm aware, it has not once been demonstrated to actually happen. Now, let's say you have a large tree taken down, plant a new tree right over the spot where the old stump was ground out....sure, you might see a little chlorosis. But this is trifflingly easy to manage via a handful of N fertilizer, as to not really qualify as a problem in my scheme of things.

And yes, fresh materials can be used as mulch. Remember, mulch, by definition, is something being spread atop the soil, not mixed into it. And over time-and sometimes not that much of it-even fresh materials are rapidly degraded.

+oM

all chips should go in a pile for a season .. and used the next year ...

just pile it up.. and use it next spring...

i refuse to take grindings... even to compost ... as per such above ...

ken

I agree with GG and Tom about the use of fresh wood chips. I've used them fresh from the chipper for many years on commercial projects and at my own home.

Shep, just be sure to to use no more than a two or three inch layer of chips spread in a wide ring around your tree....and never piled up against the trunk.

When watering your new tree, remember that you'll have to water longer each time in order for the water to get through the mulch to the soil below.

I use all types of woodchips with all sorts of different ages. I till it in, use it as a mulch, top dressing, and for paths. I even make potting soil out of it and don't use fertilizer. I mix the old with the new to get the right porosity. I average about 25 cubic yards a month. My wheelbarrow has more miles on it than my truck. ;-)

Sawdust is a whole 'nother ballgame, and as +om says, not much of a problem to fix with a little nitrogen. I rarely use it.

Mike

According to a number of university references, there probably is a risk in using fresh wood chips in certain cases, e.g. using chips from walnut trees around juglone sensitive plants, or using chips from verticillium infected trees around verticillium susceptible plants. It's certainly plausible that fresh chips from tree of heaven could be problematic for certain sensitive plants. When in doubt, I'd err on the side of composting the chips first.

Great discussions. Well I've got 6 persimmon trees (3 years old - transplanted this spring). I'm going to use fresh TOH chips on 3 of them and chips from a mixture of other nearby trees on the other 3. I'll come back to this thread and update with results.

And btw Marie, yes the TOH chips were smelly as I used twigs and leaves too. :-)

I chipped and used fresh TOH chips for weed control between rows in my garden not realizing that they were toxic and everywhere my plants touched the chips they died. Now they’re starting to decompose and they’re full of a white fungus. I’m wondering if I till them under if I can add lime and manure compost and plant in it so I don’t have to try to remove all the mulch?

Also word of warning the fresh chips caused new starts from the tree of heaven and they grow like dandelions!

Pictured here is TOH seed near the pennies. Female trees make abundant seed production and this seed is not damaged when passed through a shredder.

My county has a great compost center. Imagine countless windrows of mulch & compost all releasing lots of steam. They get so hot that disease pathogens & weed seed are killed.

While I have seen uncomposted mulch used around playgrounds, swingsets, etc, I surely wouldn't recommend uncomposted TOH mulch.

Well here's an interesting factoid I learned about the odor of ailanthus (tree of heaven). The perception of its smell is controlled by the same gene that controls that of cilantro and stink bugs! I myself adore the smell and taste of cilantro, and take great sensual pleasure in crushing stinking bugs and pulling up ailanthus seedlings, which smell to me like sweet peanut butter.

Now, would someone please elaborate further on why sawdust can not be considered wood chips hastened along in the process of decomposition? I use wood shavings (borderline sawdust) a lumber mill as bedding for my chickens, and often throw it in the kitchen scrap compost as a carbon. Is this wrong? On the other hand, would putting sawdust down on a path suppress weeds better than wood chips??