In my experience, fresh wood chips mixed into the soil kill grass because the decay process sucks out the nitrogen. Using wood chips as mulch doesn't seem to have the same effect and is actually a good thing. If you have an area where you want trees but no grass, you can spread them out along the ground surface and plant your trees. They will be a great mulch. But they do not work with grass.

i would have had them remove it all ... ken

They wouldn't take it, not even for more money.

There are some things you can do with wood chips in permaculture.

http://www.agrowingculture.org/2013/04/hugelkultur-the-composting-raised-beds/

http://permaculture-alchemy.net/gardening-with-woodchips/

Wood chips are especially useful in drier climates.

I use woodchips AND stump grindings for mulch, and have for many years. Stump grindings can have some weed seeds and soil in it, but since it's being used for mulch it has very little impact. I top dress with the woodchips over a light coating of stump grindings when I have the time. It looks better. The chips can be used for paths as well as a mulch.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i283/Botann/Garden%20Pics%20one/IMG_3859.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i283/Botann/2417502820036511179-1.jpg

Mike

Yep - me too - have been known to approach random tree surgeons with offers of muffins in return for a woodchip dump at my allotment.

I am planting new trees and was advised to put some peat moss around the trunk. Can i use the wood chip as mulch and use this instead of the peat moss?

Every year I go to the city's woodchip pile and refresh our yard's beds. I'd say I have maybe 1500-1800sf of beds with chips. It would be much better if they were already at my yard so I could spread them.

Judysteven, do not amend the soil-at all-when planting trees and shrubs. The tiny little backfill area so affected is of little to no consequence in a plant which must spread its roots far and wide. Plus, drainage anomalies can result when two very dissimilar soil textures are adjacent to each other.

But do place organic materials atop the soil as mulch. Your wood chips are ideal for this purpose. The slow but steady breakdown of these materials mimics the situation in forests, where old leaves, sticks and logs are continually breaking down and enriching the soil. Plus, there are other benefits, like reduced drying of the soil, cooler root run, etc.

Oh I fully agree - there can be issues when wood chips are mixed into the soil (removal of nitrogen) but as a top dressing/mulch, they are truly worth their weight in gold. Just a thought, before putting a mulch down, do a really thorough, deep watering because rainfall seepage can be diminished with deep mulching but if there is a good moisture level beforehand, this is valuable. Of course, this may apply less to trees than perennials (still on a learning curve with woodies) but I do like to ensure I am keeping moisture in rather than locking it out.

All true-I've seen the water-repelling tendency of some mulches sometimes. Camp's suggestion to preset the soil is a good one.

I'd like to just quickly address one point here: folks often will say or write things that indicate that organic materials, in the process of being broken down by soil microbes, will "rob" that soil of nitrogen. In actuality, no such thing happens. What does happen is that these microbes will temporarily use or tie up that nitrogen in their processes of breaking stuff down. But then you know what these things do? They die, and all that N is re-released back into the soil matrix. So it's really more of a borrowing. Still important to know, but I just wanted to slightly readjust that paradigm. Soil microorganisms are the single most important factor in tree health, beyond such obvious factors as light and moisture. And those fungi that work with tree roots-mycorrhizae-are true workhorses in both our planted environments and in the large thing we call nature. Indispensable.

Is this wives tale ever going to disappear???wood chips might use nitrogen in decomposition but it goes right back into the soil once decomposed so there is no nitrogen theft. I use chips and saw dust as mulch with ZERO detriment.

Right^. Have seen right around 20568 such references, each with zero actual evidence. But that said, I have seen where a new tree gets planted right where a big old tree came out, the stump got ground out, but where lots of wood remained in the ground. so yes, in some cases, the nitrogen drag-that's what the big guys call this-did in fact occur. It's just that the way people talk about it is slightly askew.

Another similar example is when we've taken down a big old tree, ground out the stump, and then planted grass seed. Sometimes that new turfgrass is extremely chlorotic or yellowish looking. but heck, even new turf seed planted where no tree existed can be of poor color. After all, it has no roots.