Truck load of wood chips how to

old · Jan 16, 2014

So I got a truck load of fresh wood chips from the guy doing the power line right of way. So now how do I treat them to help them break down so I can use them for garden mulch>> I am thinking maybe wood ash and lime but not for sure.
Thanks

atlarge54 · Jan 16, 2014

Hope you're not in a big hurry. You might want to do a search on Carbon/Nitrogen ratio. Grass clippings is what they use in the composting yards around here.

Billy NY · Jan 16, 2014

Thats a good one, I don't actually know. I mix up a few things around the place here, lot of it is from processing firewood, I don't even waste the sawdust, have a pan that catches that. I use it for my pets bedding actually, then that goes to the pile, I try to add dried blood for nitrogen, to break down the carbon part of it, takes awhile, lots of aeration comes to mind, keeping the internal temperature is important with this, but first you have to get that composting action going. Maybe you can go with anaerobic composting which I thought was the opposite of aerating. I know where ever I pile any of this, the bottom is always the good stuff, black compost, but the top is never broken down like the bottom. I used to make huge piles of compost from the horse manure using aeration, well the bucket loader. My father took some wood chips from the county, piled for a few years and its got a ways to go, nothing has been done with it though.

OliverGuy · Jan 16, 2014

We usually put some kind of nitrogen with them to get them breaking down quicker. Could be green grass clippings, bag or two of urea with some water, etc. Could you see what kind of wood it is? Around here walnut is a big no no for garden mulch. You probably already know this but the chips need to be breaking down already or they might pull nitrogen from your soil to help break down. At least that's what the university says.

David G · Jan 16, 2014

They will steal all the nitrogen from your garden if you do not break them down first.

old · Jan 16, 2014

Ya I did mean to fill in the blank as to what trees they where. They are a mix. Walnut , elm, oak, sycamore etc. Pretty much any tree that would grow here in Missouri in the wild. Locust also thorny type.

Wheat Farmer · Jan 16, 2014

As stated below better find out what type of wood. We use oak chips to STOP growth.

VADAVE · Jan 16, 2014

Just dump them in a pile and in 3 or 4 years they'll have urned to dirt. Then you can spread and turn in.
We had some trimings like you describe here and that is exactly what happened.
I do agree that you'll need to check the ph.

wilamayb · Jan 16, 2014

As the others stated, you'll need to apply a nitrogen source a little at a time and turn the pile every few weeks if you want it to decompose as quickly as possible. Wood Chips take much longer than sawdust to decompose. After decomposition you can toss it out on the garden with the litter spreader or with a shovel. It takes a huge amount of compost to make much difference on a big scale. The good news is that the totally decomposed wood will release a large amount of nutrients to your crop as well as loosening the soil.

My dad put out a little over 200 cubic yards of mostly decomposed sawdust on an acre last fall. He put out 70 units of N and that still doesnt appear to have been enough. The wheat is a little yellow.

Traditional Farmer · Jan 16, 2014

I have about an unlimited supply of wood chips if I want them and I use them for mulch, like for them to be at least a year old.To mulch I usually put down hay or grass clippings first then pile up the wood chips on top.If you burn firewood just spread the ashes where you had the mulch and it'll lime it enough or if its like my land you can't hardly put too much lime on anyway.
Best bunch of mulch off wood chips was when I had about 10 loads dumped in a field with my goats
they would spend the day when not grazing lying on those chips for about 2 years that was some good stuff to put on the garden.

paul · Jan 16, 2014

Nitrogen as others say. Actually it makes great bedding for this year, let it soak up the manure, pile it for another year after that to heat up and break down, and by year 3 it will work pretty good for fertilizer.

Walnut will be a bit of a problem, they and cedar and a few others have some extra stuff in thrm that likes to slow down seedlings, hope its not too much walnut.

Paul

RN · Jan 16, 2014

Put it in chicken house about 4 inches deep for the winter for bedding. 8 inches in a hog house for the fall farrow pigs, sows kept for spring farrow. Cow loafing shed- a foot deep. Come spring the chicken litter can be buried in garden as a bottom on French double dig in clay soil-'Huglekultur' in Bavaria. Hog and cow bedding will need a extra season in a pile turned once a month/6 weeks for something approaching Indore method composting. Or toss a scoop full in wood stove once a day during winter.

Geo-TH,In · Jan 16, 2014

I use the good looking wood chips for flower beds. They may last 4-5 years. The ugly wood chips I may put leafs and grass clippings on them, them cover with dirt. Let mother nature work on them.

JayinNY · Jan 16, 2014

I'm misunderstanding you old, mulch would be the wood chips put around trees, plant beds ect, but your saying you want them to break down, so I'm thinking u want compost. Well the wood chips are carbon so you need to add alot of nitrogen, such as grass clippings, cityiots around here fertilize there lawns every month, so plenty of nitrogen. Keep mixing the pile and keep it moist if you can, and it will all break down.

showcrop · Jan 16, 2014

Just treat them with time. About five years, just keep them piled up high so that the middle will heat up, and turn the pile twice a year. My neighbors used them to bed dairy cattle sometimes. I was pumping out their lagoon once and the spray outlet on the spreader got blocked. I shut it off and went back to check. I checked around then tried pushing up on the spring tensioned deflector and it suddenly unplugged, a bunch of chips and plenty of slurry.

old · Jan 16, 2014

35% or better are likely to be Walnut so I know I can not use them right away on a garden unless I do not want things to grow well.

ShadetreeRet · Jan 16, 2014

While I have seen products advertised that "they say" will speed the process, I have never tried any. A few years ago they were trimming the power line right of way, and I told them to dump a couple loads at the end of my garden. I just let them lay there, probably for five or six years, then started using them. By that time it was mostly just black rotted almost dirt. I spread it pretty heavy over a portion of my garden with a loader, and it sure did make stuff grow!
Got some pretty stout blackberries growing on that spot now.

2x4 · Jan 17, 2014

Yup, blackberries took over our chip pile also.

Bret4207 · Jan 17, 2014

(quoted from post at 17:58:10 01/16/14) I'm misunderstanding you old, mulch would be the wood chips put around trees, plant beds ect, but your saying you want them to break down, so I'm thinking u want compost. Well the wood chips are carbon so you need to add alot of nitrogen, such as grass clippings, cityiots around here fertilize there lawns every month, so plenty of nitrogen. Keep mixing the pile and keep it moist if you can, and it will all break down.

Bingo. Mulch isn't compost. Mulch is there to prevent the sun from hitting the ground and to keep things cool and moist. Compost can be used as short term mulch but it's going to end up having green growing through it in a week or 2.

I got several loads of chips a few years back. Be advised you'll probably find every soda or Gatorade bottle, every oil can, every sandwich wrapper and empty cigarette pack that the cutters used in that pile some place.

Dean Olson · Jan 17, 2014

I get several loads a year. I put my garden in then put about 4" in through out the garden. This helps retain the moisture, slow down the weeds and make for nice pathways after a rain. I also dump grass clippings, leaves and anything else organic in the garden year around.

At the end of the season I shred everything then mold board plow it. Sure makes for some fertile soil.

I don't have the time or patience for a compost pile. Too much work. I seem to have enough bugs in the soil to break everything down pretty fast.

old · Jan 17, 2014

I do big compost piles with hay and horse manure but I just pile it up with the loader and turn it once in a while and let nature do the rest. I have grown some good stuff that way and when you have hot pepper plants over 6 foot tall I guess you can say what I do works

Truck load of wood chips how to

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