I have recently had a tree tradegy in my yard. All of my beautiful
Loblolly pines were infested with the dreaded pine bark beetle and were
removed. I now have the largest pile of pine wood chips you can
imagine. I intend to spread them across the bare ground and let them
decompose over time, but would like to use some as a mulch. I know they
will rob the surrounding earth of nitrogen, but what type of plants
will this affect and by how much?

I will now set to planting at least as many trees as were removed. My
back already hurts ;-)

Len

Actually unless you till them into the soil the amount of nitrogen they
tie up is unimportant.

"Lenny" wrote in message
oups.com
I have recently had a tree tradegy in my yard. All of my
beautiful
Loblolly pines were infested with the dreaded pine bark beetle
and
were removed. I now have the largest pile of pine wood chips
you can
imagine. I intend to spread them across the bare ground and let
them
decompose over time, but would like to use some as a mulch. I
know
they will rob the surrounding earth of nitrogen, but what type
of
plants will this affect and by how much?

I will now set to planting at least as many trees as were
removed.
My back already hurts ;-)

Len

I believe they will only use the nitrogen in the top couple of
inches.

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5

Easily overcome should you see signs of nitrogen deficiency with a bit
of fertilizer.

Thanks all! I was literally attacked by a friends mother on the phone
for "killing all my azaleas" by mulching. They all still look great and
should be flowering soon ( April ).

Len
7A, north of Atlanta