Two years ago we did a test in our garden where we mulched half the garden with wood chips and started using a no-till method. We did an update last year on how it was going, but this year we wanted to take it one step further with some soil tests.
I can’t wait for you to see the results, I think you might be as surprised as I was!
Be sure to check out the full blog post for more information here: https://melissaknorris.com/wood-chips-for-garden-mulch-beneficial-or-not
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Links Mentioned & Related Links:
– Simply Soil Testing: http://www.simplysoiltesting.com/
– How to Test Soil pH & Amend Acidic or Alkaline Soil: https://melissaknorris.com/podcast/how-to-test-soil-ph/
– 6 Natural Fertilizers to Improve Garden Soil: https://melissaknorris.com/podcast/natural-fertilizers-improve-garden-soil/
– Sheet Mulching: the Easy Way to Build Soil & Compost in Layers: https://melissaknorris.com/podcast/sheet-mulching-easy-way-to-compost-in-layers/
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#gardening #mulching #notill #soiltest
20 Comments
All could be alleviated by sowing live-mulched nitrogen-fixing clover for a green-mulch in the wood-chips. I used to do that when I had land, and simply turned the entire pre-winter into the soil and started the process again
In spring.
The key to using wood chips properly as regards to improving one's soil structure is using as high of a percentage of ramial wood chips as it is possible to obtain.
Ramial wood chips are those that are chipped from branches, which are technically less than 3" in diameter, which are freshly cut, and which have all ALL of their green leaves attached to their respective branches/twigs. The green leaves provide a source of nitrogen, as well as various sugars that speed up the process of decomposition by a significant margin. In an ideal world, such as on Will Bonsall's farm in Maine, the ramial wood chips will be created from branches no more than 1.5" in diameter.
I personally used the wood chips from the tree trimming contractors in Baltimore City, mostly as a very thick mulch around my 24" tall raised beds. A layer measuring 10"-12" thick will quickly heat up, just as quickly start cooling down, and in 3-4 months be only 3-4 " thick. By the time winter is over in spring, those chips will be no more than 2" thick, will contain enormous quantities of very thick strands of white mycorrhizal fungi, and have broken down into a very respectable humus.
Needles and leaves !!!! you're using sawdust, sawdust gives no life to the soil you have to have a mixture of leaves needles or living matter like chopped up wood chips from tree services that's what gives all of your soil all the nutrients it needs sawdust Really doesn't do anything so this IS not a back to eden garden!
For the tiny amount people that think that Yahweh is intelligent regarding farming and rest instructions ( book of Leviticus), there's a 'no till' instruction every 7th year and in years 49&50, the only 2 year sequence. which I am experiencing now. I'll be confident to load up a layer of wood chips or wood shavings every 7th year when letting my soil rest again and go ahead and work them in during years 1 to 6 after watching this report.
Sawdust chips are way different than mulch chips with the whole tree in it. It seems like there would be very little nutrients in just sawdust chips, other than everything in it chips from tree guys or a shredding place/
People are way too opinionated. You do what you want to do and I’ll do what I want to do or you could do à la cart pick and choose people need to stop being so dogmatic OMG let other people live to your opinion is not the only one in the world people great video thank you for sharing.
just so everyone knows sawdust is not equivalent to arborist wood chips, arborist wood chips being far superior because of the leaves being on the living branches still as they are chipped. Sawdust is not a great option as its one size a fine material and tends to clog up water retention, it doesn't have green in its dry dead state.
I really wondered what kind of wood chips. Have been reading that pine mulch is best.
Living in a very Hot area like its been 100 to 115 for 20 days I have to use wood trelis and twine the heat makes steal wire cook the vine plants and I water the ground and wetting leaves drys very quickly 😊
Hurry up get to the results
@4:12 RESULTS
I think the cardboard defeats the purpouse of the wood chips. They should go directly on the soil in my experience.
Putting the cardboard down, probably suppressed biological activity that would have broken down the wood chips and increased nutrients in your soil. I have raised beds, and when I added some beds a couple years ago, I filled them half way with wood chips, and put compost over that. All the wood chips are gone. They’ve all rotted away and increased my nutrients in my beds. I’m pretty sure it was being in contact with the compost that did the trick. I still amend my beds with fertilizer, lime and compost but my soil is rich and crumbly.
My wife lost one of the diamonds in her engagement ring. The prongs do tend to loosen and a trip to a jeweler every couple of years and the jeweler can snug 'em up. She won't wear it in the garden any longer.
I live in England and up until the1980s the local farmers traditionally practiced crop rotation – planting clover every third year, most of which would be plowed back in to raise the nitrogen levels. I suppose you could dig in some red clover seed?
Turns out it's not just what's with the cardboard that is detrimental to the soil but also the fact that it suffocates the microbes in the soil that really hurts the most.
Same goes for the sawdust.
Yeah, Back to Eden guy was adding good amounts of poultry manure. I have walkways covered with arborist chips that doesn't get amended, running into beds that do get amended. Non-amended sections stay pretty barren and what weeds do poke thru or are at the edges, pretty much grow like unfertilized weeds. The amended sections though do very well and the manure ends up building up a pretty thick layer of humus. More importantly though is it keeps that bio zone where the mulch meets soil moist enough for the worms and microbes to flourish where there is a lot more oxygen without it being too dry for them to exist there. After about 5 years, the humus layer is around 2" thick and doesn't get leached away like it would if I added it as tilled in compost to our sandy soil.
Conclusion: never use wood chips for mulching.
What was your ph level
Love all these details!! Thank you for including all of it! We use arborist chips with all the green bits (truckloads) and it's great.