I suspect so - not a chemist here.

And we use wood chips to cover bare ground so as not to walk on mud
or dust.

Texas gets hot also.

The 1-2" thickness of wood chips - chipped by myself - seems to
hold moisture by themselves and allow grass and weed to start.
They take hold or the mud does so we can run the tractor mower over
them without pulling them up. There are a few thin spots now and
the whole area needs more. But it seems like the tale of robbing
might be a bit over stated. stuff that comes up is green not yellow.

So give it a try but keep watch and add as needed.

And good luck down under with the massive fires.

Martin

YMC wrote:
"Martin H. Eastburn" wrote in message
...
I'd steer away from wood-chips - they rob Nitrogen. Which might not be
all that bad if you use that in the lawn.

I have to resort to wood chips because that's the only affordable mulch I
can afford here in Melbourne Australia. It gets very hot here in Summer - as
you may be aware from the news reports. We are also under water restrictions
thanks to the Govt here not deciding to build extra water dams and the
terrible drought.

I place a layer of old newspaper under the mulch and they all keep the
moisture inside.

But to ameliorate the effects of the nitorogen robbing wood chips - can I
put extra blood and bone to counter the effect??