Wood Chips instead of Manure

[BethParticipant]

Here in the U.S., I have been reading about nasty chemicals that can ruin the soil in your bed if manure is contaminated. Here is an article talking about picloram and several other chemicals as well. http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sfn/f09Herbicide

Apparently, picloram is tightly restricted so my local extension office said it wouldn’t be much of a concern. However, she wasn’t sure about the other chemicals listed and the chances they could be in my neighbor’s horse manure. I am talking to my neighbor about going chemical free. She said her vet told her to use a certain spray to rid her pasture of clover and also she uses a horse feed in addition to the grass they graze that contains oats and vitamins. Until I am sure the manure will be okay to dump on my beds, I don’t want to use it.

I am able to get wood chips delivered to my driveway and dumped for free from local tree and landscaping company. Can I use wood chips on top of beds instead of manure or would I still need to add compost in addition to this?

Thanks for any advice,
Beth
Idaho

[charlesModerator]

 Hi Beth,

Your description of poisons in manure sounds bad and I can’t believe anybody wants to rid their land of clover.

So it is a good question about woodchips. There is a grower in Britain, Iain Tolhurst at http://www.tolhurstorganic.co.uk who makes potting compost from wood chips, but he turns the pile regularly with a digger for several months. You don’t have a digger but giving the chips longer to rot down will see them turn to something more compost-like and suitable for gardening.

Tolly says there are just a few trees to avoid (I am unsure which ones) but most chips work well, so good luck. Green, fresh chips decompose much better than older, kiln-dried chips which are sometimes used as horse bedding – I have discovered this the hard way, they endure for a long time.

[BethParticipant]

That is nice to know that I may be able to just let the woodchips delivered free to my door sit for awhile and then use that as compost. Of course, I compost my food scraps along with garden stuff and leaves, but it never seems to be enough and done when I want to use it. It would be really nice if I didn’t need to turn the wood chips and let them sit…maybe a year?

I noticed the wood chips they delivered last summer had a lot of pine needles in them though and seemed to be mostly pine.

Thanks Charles!

[jardinseducatifsMember]

Hi, I’d be interested what people have to say about the approach I described on BRF/RCW which is popular in France and Quebec. They say it’s best to spread the green chips on the surface directly without composting.

Perhaps you could do a combination – thin layer of compost and woodchip mulch on top?

Or collect your neighbour’s green waste and cook up compost with the woodchips mixed in.

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