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Thread: What do you do with your wood chips?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    southeast Michigan
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    676

    What do you do with your wood chips?

    Years ago I just added my chips to the compost pile or tilled them in the ground when we had a garden. No more garden or composting so in the last 6 years after I moved I found an organic farmer that used them for his chickens. Now they moved and I'm searching again.

    I live in a rural area and quite a few folks have horses. There is one place that has an outside area that I see has wood shavings once in a while. So I stopped and talked to the fellow and he asked what kind of wood shavings I had. I know that walnut is toxic for horses and I rarely use it. At this time I had all hard maple and cherry. He said he couldn't take it because of the cherry. So any ideas what to do with the two 55 gallon bags I have now?

  2. #2
    Have a fire sale?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    North Dana, Masachusetts
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    486
    Look for people selling organic slaughtered animals. They advertise locally.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Millstone, NJ
    Posts
    1,590
    Quote Originally Posted by William Hodge View Post
    Look for people selling organic slaughtered animals. They advertise locally.

    And after dinner?

    I take mine into the woods and dump it. My first one I emptied straight into the garbage bin. The truck came down the street and used the arm to dump it there was dust everywhere. Then I bagged and tossed the next few. After that I figured the woods wouldn't mind

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2005
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    Highland MI
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    Out to the curb for the trash man in a 3 mil contractor trash bag.
    NOW you tell me...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,688
    At our old property, I just piled them up in a more remote area. Sometimes a barrel got added to the compost pile if it was walnut-free, but there was little need for that kind of material in the pile. Here at the new place, on-property disposal is pretty much not going to happen and I've had to go to bagging and disposal in the trash. There's little volume right now with the temporary shop, small SDD based system and most of my time devoted to home/property improvement. Time will tell once I have a shop building up and can get back to whatever becomes "normal" at that point.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Kansas City
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    2,652
    Anybody know if there's a valid reason to reject cherry?
    < insert spurious quote here >

  8. #8
    At my old place I disposed of shavings in paper leaf bags, seemed a little more environmentally friendly than using plastic trash bags.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Waterford, PA
    Posts
    1,225
    Yes, cherry, walnut and most exotic hardwoods need to be excluded from bedding for horses. For some reason, horses find those species very palatable, and they are toxic.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Western PA
    Posts
    1,242
    I wish there was a better solution. In the fall and winter, i dump the sawdust in my garden beds to then be tilled or mulched over in the spring/summer. However, i dont like doing that after things are mulched, because the sawdust looks less appealing. In that timeframe, i dump it straight into my 50-60 gallon toter can, wet it a bit, and then the waste management truck dumps it into the hopper with the automated arm. Like one of the guys above, i felt pretty guilty the first time they switched to the automated arm, because it just throws 50 gallons of dry sawdust all over the place. I always make sure to tip my waste management crew around the holidays to stay on their good side, i hope. If I had the land, it would be best and easiest to dump it in a giant pile and let it compost over the years. Unfortunately, i think 'greens' are more important to a proper compost mix, and 'browns' are used in lower quantities.

    I use a lot of walnut and i havent noticed a negative affect of having it compost in garden beds. Things grow just fine the next season. We have had numerous walnut sawdust discussions over the years, and more intelligent guys than myself link articles etc. The juglone in the walnut is very limited in dried heartwood, and the little that remains in sawdust quickly degrades when exposed to the elements. Maybe it would have an effect if you dumped it fresh onto a growing plant, but my dust always sits for 3+ months before the next crop germinates and grows.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Central MN
    Posts
    42
    i enjoy a nice Campfire.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Western, NY
    Posts
    69
    I give them to the local FFA so the kids can use in their display stalls at fairs. They look fancy and the pigs love it. All wood shavings are welcome with pigs.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    291
    I dump mine in the woods behind the house.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    southeast Michigan
    Posts
    676
    Thank you all for your input. I'm fortunate to have a couple of areas on my property where I can dump the shavings so that is what I will do. They'll probably decompose even faster there than in a landfill.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Madison, Wisconsin
    Posts
    489
    I dump mine directly in the trash bin to avoid the plastic bag....makes quite a cloud of dust when the truck dumps it overhead, but no complaints from my trash hauler

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