In article , Mark
Anderson wrote:
For some reason, one of my neighbors rakes up all his decorative wood
chips every spring and replaces them. I don't know why he does it but he
does. Every year he throws them in the trash but this year I agreed to
take the old wood chips off his hands. I'm not sure exactly what kind of
wood they are other than they're decorative.
I just built a 3'x10'x18"(high) planter that I need to fill. This is a
lot of dirt. I hoped to line the bottom 3 to 6" of the planter with
those used wood chips which I would get for free. I plan to layer about
2" of composted leaves on top of that and then the rest would be my dirt
mixture (part sand, perlite with top soil).
Some discussions here in the past mention that wood depletes the soil of
nitrogen. Does anyone think there would be a problem if the wood chips
are deep into planter like this? Are there any weird chemicals on these
chips that I should be concerned about? The first year for this planter
will just have wildflowers whose roots don't go more than 12" but I hope
to plant bigger things like a bush or two in there next fall for next
spring.
when they were free, I've used uncomposted woodchips to heighten the
organic component of the topsoil. It's not as good as using compost
(incoluding composted woodchips) but it's still pretty good. As the chips
decay they do rob the soil of nitrogen & plants MIGHT require extra
fertilizer until the woodchips have finished breaking down, but I've never
worried much about it & not seen any nutritient deficiency in plants I've
grown in soil that included woodchips. evergreen shrubs & azaleas need
exceedingly little nitrogen, so wouldn't even notice the temporarily
lowered amount. Wood chips INCREASE the percentage of beneficial fungus in
the soil which makes all trees & shrubs do better, & even makes it
possible to grow certain types of shrubs & flowers that do not thrive with
only normal amounts of fungus in the soil (such as huckleberries or
bunchberries).
i'd mix the chips into soil that needed a higher organic component & mix
in a little nitrogen fertilizer which will hasten the break-down into
organic compost, then plant in it expecting great results.
-paghat the ratgirl
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