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View Full Version : Do maple and pine wood chips make good fertilizer?



Pete Lamberty
05-02-2006, 2:32 PM
I have been making a lot of wood chips with my jointer and planer. Recently everything has been either hard maple or chips from 2 by 8's. Could I use these chips in the garden or would they be bad for the plants. I think that I have read something about this here on the creek but I couldn't find it useing the search window. Thanks. Pete

tod evans
05-02-2006, 2:35 PM
pete, everybody i know composts shavings for a couple years before introducing `em to the garden...02 tod

Steve Clardy
05-02-2006, 2:49 PM
Mine all gets piled in the garden for a year.
Then spread and till it in.

Joe Pelonio
05-02-2006, 3:54 PM
Our local master gardener recommends wood chips highly, as mulch. Every spring you work it into the soil and put new, it breaks down during that time, and chips allow water and air to penetrate much better than "beauty bark."

Jim Becker
05-02-2006, 4:47 PM
You must compost the chips first before using them as garden mulch...in the raw they will generally draw nitrogen out of the soil, exactly the opposite of what you want. Mixing the chips with other materials, greens and browns as well as kitchen waste (non meat!), will get you some incredibly rich compost. Our whole raised bed garden for veggies is built on this! You don't need a fancy bin to make compost...piles work just as well. Just be sure you have access to water and you cannot always depend upon nature to keep the pile moist.

Pete Lamberty
05-03-2006, 3:33 PM
Thanks guys for all of the advice. I'll try the compost first way of doing it.