"Harry Ziman" wrote in message ...
We have a truly mammoth pile of chippings from six stumps that we have
ground out. Are they any use for soil conditioner? Some are from newly
felled trees, others form long-dead stumps.

Any views

This has come up before, and there was quite sharp disagreement. I
took the conservative side, suggesting that the material should be
left to rot for a long time, preferably composted with high-nitrogen
stuff like chicken droppings or urea, before being used as a mulch,
while the radicals said "Nah, just go ahead and spread it on now". My
idea is that it can rob the soil of nitrogen, and that pests can
shelter in it; judging from the experiences of the other camp, I
suspect that in ordinary garden conditions it probably doesn't make
much difference.

Mike.