Subject: 4 mo. old wood chips-safe?

From: [email-masked] (Kaycee Curr)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 17:48:51 +0500

Howdy all- I've got a question about 4 month old wood chips- (4 mos since
the fir tree was cut.) I heard that it was okay to use as-is around acid
loving plants like rhododendrons, azaleas and fatsias, but is it now okay
to use around normal (?) flowering plants in my garden to keep the weeds
down? I was planing to leave a fairly wide margin around the base till the
drip line. Would this be okay, or is the acid/resin (?) from the wood &
needles leak into my soil?

Thanks!
Kaycee

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From: Paula M Craft <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 20:57:39 -0600

All my beds are mulched with pine chips from local mills.  I have seen no 
bad problems even with deep mulch surrounding the plants.  I generally 
recommend them.

- Paula M. Craft

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From: "Sean A. O'Hara" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 95 11:44:59 PDT

> From: [email-masked] (Kaycee Curr)
> Newsgroups: rec.gardens
> Subject: 4 mo. old wood chips-safe?
> Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 17:48:51 +0500

Kaycee - 

It depends upon your soil.  I our area, acidity is rarely a problem as our 
soils tend to be alkaline and the water as well.  Perhaps you might need to
correct the PH with lime (or something equivalent) if you soil is already
on the acid side.

But one thing you need to think about whatever the PH of your soil - woody
material such a this will require nitrogen at the beginning of its
decomposition.  This may temporarily 'rob' nitrogen from your soil, so an
application of some sort of organic based nitrogen would be most benificial.
Later in the decompostion process, nitrogen will be returned to the soil, so
thi sis usually just a one-time thing, or at least it should be done when
you apply fresh woody mulch such as this.

I use wood-chip mulch in my own garden and recommend it for many clients,
with the above caveat.  It works very well for our gardens here.  Mixing in
some leaves and grass clippings provides some nitrogen as does manures, so
it might not be a problem depending on what other material you use.
 
 H O R T U L U S   A P T U S  ('gardens', 'suited to their purpose')
 Sean A. O'Hara
 710 Jean Street, Oakland, CA  94610-1459        [email-masked]
 (510) 987-0577

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From: Paula M Craft <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 20:57:39 -0600

- Paula M. Craft

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From: "Sean A. O'Hara" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 95 11:44:59 PDT

Kaycee -

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From: Paula M Craft <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 20:57:39 -0600

- Paula M. Craft

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From: "Sean A. O'Hara" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 95 11:44:59 PDT

Kaycee -

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From: [email-masked] (Arthur W. Kelley)
Date: Fri, 07 Apr 1995 15:50:41 -0400

>  710 Jean Street, Oakland, CA  94610-1459        [email-masked]

I'd guess there's a difference depending on whether you want to use them
as a mulch or as a soil amendment. Used as a mulch they don't break down
very fast (you don't want them to) and don't rob the soil of nitrogen. If
you incorporate them as a soil amendment they break down faster and can
rob the soil of nitrogen. (Actually, as I understand it, the microbes that
cause the decomposition rob the soil of nitrogen.)

Just what I was told once.

-- 
-Arthur W. Kelley
 North Carolina State University
 [email-masked]