There are quite a few advantages to adding a mulch of wood chips to the garden if you can find a convenient (or especially free!) local supply. I have heard a few concerns raised about their use, and I wanted to quickly outline them here:
00:00 Intro
00:31 Pests
01:12 Nitrogen Lock Up
02:34 Soil Acidity/pH
03:28 Delay of Soil Warming
04:17 Fungal Growth
Some of these can be overcome with some by adjusting which plants you apply it to or the manner of use. In my situation, I’m confident the advantages far outweigh any concerns!
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Photo credit:
Field of blueberries by University of Delaware Carvel REC CC BY 2.0
Hey again it’s Jason from Fraser Valley Rose farm and I a big fan of putting a thick mulch of wood chips in the garden the primary reason of course is to suppress weeds but I also get the great benefits of maintaining a consistent soil temperature moisture even without additional watering and improving the
Condition of the soil with organic matter and nutrients over time but there are some circumstances and reasons why you might consider not using wood chips or at least using them in a different way so let me talk about those concerns that people have with using wood chips
In their Garden in this video gardeners aren’t the only ones who love wood chips think of the insects that eat wood chips directly things like carpenter ants and termites but even because of the condition that they create the ground that cool moist layer allows for shelter for such things as snails and slugs
Other small insects or soft bodies insects like earwigs and sa bugs uh or even things like snakes so you got to be a little cautious about the fact that you’re creating an a favorable environment in that area and certainly the most important of these are those first ones the wood eating insects if
You’re an area that has uh termite damage or carbon tant damage you will want to place your wood chips suitably far away from out buildings or your house so that you don’t attract that activity right up to the foundations of your house the second disadvantage I’ll
Talk about and it’s the one I hear most frequently is the idea that mulch like this when it’s exposed to the very top layer of your soil it will borrow nitrogen as it begins to break down which is a true thing but I’m not sure whether to call it an advantage or a
Disadvantage and hear me out on this one because often times I’m placing this down as a weed control layer as a weed control layer I don’t want those uh surface weed annuals to get the upper hand or to grow any faster than I want to I’m putting down the mulch to
Suppress their germination I’m also putting it down so that it can rob that nitrogen from the top layer of soil or borrow it rather and uh and keep those annual weeds from getting large fast so it actually suppresses weeds in a couple of different ways as for my perennials
My shrubs anything deeper rooted it doesn’t seem to have that problem and it’s just something you have to keep in mind certainly I would not use this to mulch my annual lettuce patch very shallow rooted um unless I intended to add nitrogen at the same time nitrogen
Is one of these things that is widely uh deficient in soil or or low in soil so it’s always a limiting factor so you’re always in of a mind do I add some nitrogen to boost the the plant growth if you’re adding wood ships at the same
Time you may have to add a little bit more to counteract it um or you skip it in those areas where you have shallow rooted annual plants let’s discuss a third concern which is the acidification of soil and somewhere in the washed out background of this scene you’re going to
See Fields full of blueberries and traditionally they do use wood chips or sawdust more often to as a mulch around the base of their blueberries to acidify the soil or help keep the conditions the way that the blueberries which are fairly shallow rooted enjoy it one thing
I will say about this because we are in a acid soil soil area is that I don’t concern myself with it too much because much like the nitrogen thing it acidifies uh short term in the top layers and then it tends to neutralize as it breaks down into the soil so
Unless I’m really really worried about the acid levels of the plants that have shallow roots I don’t tend to think about the acidification there are things you can do to counteract acidification including uh lime and other calcium applications uh but in general it’s not something I worry too much about let’s
Talk about that temperature moderating effect of having a thick mulch of wood on your soil it keeps the soil temperature and moisture more consistent well if you’re dealing with cold temperatures at winter or you’re dealing with hot temperatures in summer I would generally say that moderating that soil
Temperature is a good thing but if you’re talking about just at the end of winter coming into spring the soil is cool and what you want is warm soil in general to Kickstart your shrubs and perennials and annuals so having that moderating effect on top of a cooled
Soil actually will slow things down so I would advise you just be aware of that and it might make sense at that point to pull the mulch away for some time and uh and run with bare soil until it warms up and then you can of course replace the
Mulch as you get further into the summer season and while we’re talking about mulch in the winter let me also just say this although it may go without saying is that if you build a volcano up against the trunk of your uh trees or your shrubs and push a whole bunch of
Mulch against it it can trap moisture against the uh against the wood and help it to rot and of course I mentioned about rodents and that crawling in and finding shelter in there so in general I like to leave the crown of my plant without mulch pile piled right up
Against it one final concern that I hear sometimes but I don’t think there’s a ton of validity to is the idea that it brings mold or milde or rot organisms down to that layer of the garden sometimes hear this from the rose people in Europe who say don’t mulch your roses
Um actually I think people have come around to the idea that having fungally dominated compost or having fungus in the garden I mean it’s just another Decay organism May sometimes look a little unattractive but it really does not correlate to plant pathogens in any serious way again unless you’re mounding
Up the mulch against the stems of your trees or shrubs so I don’t think it’s a major concern I think in fact it’s a net benefit and all of that I will say is um overall if you’re in an area where you can get inexpensive wood mulch like mine
And I get that for free from Chip drop uh in the fall and winter here is an easy time for me to get it and to lay it down uh so I think overall the pros far out away the cons it’s just you have to know those few issues all right if you
Want to leave any questions down in the comments below the video I’ll see what I can do to help and thanks so much for watching
42 Comments
There's one thing I'd like to add, because it happened to my client this summer, and that was that after planting espellier fruit trees (and I don't know if it had anything with attracting them) is that we ended up with a vole problem. The voles would eat the roots of the trees and kill them. I dug down to install and bury hardware cloth a distance from the roots, but this didn't get rid of the problem in other areas. The client had an exterminator service, which came out a few times, with traps. And, he also saw a new neighborhood cat catching the voles. Luckily, we've not lost any roses.
Great video. I haven't sern you lately and this was a plesure to watch with my morning coffee. Mulch volcamoes are my number one irritation. It seems thatt everyone, including "professional" landscaping companies, makes this mistake.
A local garden geek in zone 6 in Eastern US recommends adding 3 tbsp of Miracle Gro per gallon of water to marginally hardy perennials. 1 gallon per plant. The theory, on warm days the plants begin to grow but the roots under the mulch say no way it's to cold to grow. The plant is using nutrients and runs out of energy before the ground warms up. The miracle grow provides readily available nutrients. In springs here we can have warm days and cold nights then a return of cold weather for weeks. This gets done 1st week in April in central Pennsylvania.
Great to see your video's again Jason ❤. I had the city dump chips recently while they trimmed trees around powerlines lots of it . I'm going to use sparingly until it breaks down more . Not turning in my soil . I find many uses for it better than going in a landfill. Been staying off social and network media lately cause I can't stand to look at d trump . Sicking😢
Fantastic video as always, thank you.
I use a good layer of wood chips on my garden (not my veg garden) and even though we are in (I just learned) Canada's rat capital, it hasn't attracted them to the garden. The chips keep the weeds down to almost zero! And I've never gone to the work of removing mulch in the spring, and my plants all come out of dormancy on schedule. The only warning I would give is that open piles of extra chips will serve as an invitation to them to nest. I now compost extra chips in rat proof bins.
One time my father put a free straw bale in his garden as path cover. The bale had roundup in it and it killed his tomatoes.
I think you hit a key point in what kinds of problems you could have depending on your location. The termites, rodents, bugs could have a lot to do with location. We are really dry because of drought and sandy so I rarely see slugs only if it’s a wet area, which is hard to find😅.
We finally have been blessed with piles of arborist chips and I can’t lay it down fast enough.
This late winter was the first time in my life I’ve ever seen a vole and I don’t believe it was because of wood chips as I have been using them for years. They were soon evicted after I saw all the spring bulbs they ate. Hope we got them all.
I use blood/bone meal mainly for amendments and don’t mix chips in. What I did notice is the broken down chips looked Much better than some bagged potting soil.
We now are seeing worms so I know all is well.
Hey Jason, an excellent video. But, I would add these points. Wood chips break down over time and this year's chips are next year's compost. Chips build quality soil. Add a little 10-10-10 as a suppliment, as needed. These old time "experts" always want to find something to bellyache about and they always land on nitrogen depletion and I don't buy into that drivle. Nitrogen depletion is a red herring compared to the benefits of chips to the soil. I also add chips for walk areas between plant rows. Thank you for this exceptional video.
I put chipper wood on the paths around my trees and shrubs but not close to the plants as one would with mulch. They grew odd little what resembled mushrooms but look like itty bitty hard brown ones. I was told the chips make this as they breakdown. Is that your opinion too? Are they basically harmless and maybe a good thing? The chip’s definitely help keep those weeds down and I love that of course. Thank you Jason for another excellent video ❤
I have been using wood chip and mulch in all my beds for years including my vegetable. I have done some experiments with wood chips robbing enough nitrogen from plants to hurt them . The only time so far I have found a problem was when the wood chips got mixed in the soil the plants did very poorly.
Nice overview. Thanks Jason.
I'm in the southern interior of BC, so the summers can be hot and dry, and only limited watering is allowed. I have noticed that once the soil under the wood chips dries out (and it will dry out eventually) the overhead sprinkler does not penetrate much past the layer of wood chips. I still like to use them, but lay them down in the fall, so they can break down a bit.
So to sum up the title; nothing.
Hey Jason, Started using chips about four years ago. The soil went from hard no dig clay to really nice black dirt. Plants love it. I turned lots of it into the ground with a backhoe( at least 4 ft deep) Green giant arborvitae are growing great in it. The benefit of roots having an easier time than in hard clay,far outway concern over losing nitrogen
Got so many chips this year( again) took four months to put in place. Lastly,my advice would be to get them in summer,more leaves ,that give break down a huge boost. We add coffee grounds,egg shells ect all the time too.
Hi Jason. Your videos are always so pertinent and full of great information. As always, thank you.
Hi Jason, Good video. We use 40-60 yards of chips a year on our paths, trails, areas to suppress weeds and even stockpile some to let it rot down. Great and free stuff if used correctly.
It takes oxygen from the sutface layer of dirt not the roots. Keep the mulch away from trunks and main stems. Feed vegetables with compost tea a few days before mulching and a few days layer. Veggies and annuals like bacteria dominated compost. Shrubs, old growth and perennials like fungal dominated compost. No old growrh forrest needs fertalizer or mulch….
My backyard is small and right up the house so i avoid wood chips as termites is major concern. I tried coconut fibre but it failed to suppresed weeds. In fact it makes it hard to pull out weeds as their root clings to the fibre. I wanted to try pine needles but finding them is a bit of a chore as they are not easily available in my area. I do know termites attracted to pine woods, not sure about needles. I need to do a small experiment first
Do wood chips help stop suckers too?
So many benefits to wood chips and other ground covers. The number 1 key always is to know the conditions in your area. Many places here in Hawaii, wood chips would the absolute worst thing to do because termites are an enormous problem; however, other places likeup here, that same ground cover is necessary to hold moisture.
In hot arid climates I have made rings of sand or gravel around plants to accommodate watering and cover the rest of the beds with chips and woody mulch. It all depends on the types of plants and season I'm preparing for.
On my roses I keep the mulch about 6 inches or fingertips to wrist away all around the base and taper the mulch up making dishing or bowl shape to allow whatever moisture an avenue to reach the soil.
Of course in my area the moisture is quite erratic, so planning for the lack and complete inundation can be a bit of fun to anticipate.😂
I completely agree with the fungal development as the decomposition process takes place, not only is it the most natural process it benefits the entire ecosystem of your growing space by providing shelter, insulation both warm and cold, nutrition, food for bio-organisms, insects, birds, and other small creatures.
Many times we focus on the immediate need or situation of the moment, but as we step back a little bit, most of the time there is so much more to see.
For example:
People who live in areas where termites are a problem, a mound of wood chips as far away from structures and places you definitely do not want them can be a good diversion, especially if they are unavoidable.
In all, the healthier your whole ecosystem is, the better your favorite plants will be.😉🤙
What's wrong with the US?… helping disgusting Israeli Jews…
I live basically in a pretty moist forest and anywhere i dig has nice rich dark soil and you can literally see the mycelium filaments running through the soil and debris. I put down wood chips and within a short time it is inoculated with fungus. If you're putting down wood chips with a lot of fungus growing in it, it will have a better chance of outcompeting pathogen fungi.
Yeh this nitrogen stuff is nonsense. Wood chips are awesome and free
Good video
Thank you Jason. 🎅🏻🤶🏻🎄💚🙃
Hello there! Out here in Howe Sound we use our wood chipper non stop! I picked a ton of fallen maple branches this fall and all the roses got a nice dose of maple….the mycelium is amazing, the roses are still popping out a few new flowers! Our hot mountain top out in the wild would be really barren without wood chips. Btw, i did your recommended horticultural oil last January…it was amazing, i love your videos!
On termites – here in the Pacific Northwest we don’t have drywood termite, which are the type that typically invade sound wood. We only have the damp wood termites, so despite people freaking when they see termites on their nuptial flights; they’re no threat to our homes unless the wood is already rotten. And if the wood in your home is already rotten, termites are the least of your concern! 🙂
We get our wood chips for free from guys who cut trees. The only thing limiting how much I use it is how many cartloads I can move in a day… Love my woodchips… Thanks Jason!
If wood chips attract nitrogen where are the actual studies ? All I find is theory. When using wood chips I always let them heat for at least several weeks prior to use. This allows the native fungus in you area to start working. Chips that drop on the grass always show dramatic growth of the grass where they land. This only takes a couple of days, is this something that would happen if they steal nitrogen. Our gardens use a minimum of 6" of chips each year. That is over 6 feet of chips in the life of the gardens. Unless you are fortunate to have high organic levels in you gardens you want to use chips.
Carpenter ants do not eat wood. They build nests in wood. Termites do both.
If I could fine some wood chips I might use some
In my area, I’ve seen swarms of termites, in the spring, rise up from the wood chips at a school playground. I’m having to grab other folk’s bags of leaves from the curb to use in my garden in place of wood chips.
Hi Jason,
What is your opinion on mixing wood ash into the chips! You should get a higher ph and thus faster decomposition. It should also mean faster release of nitrogen. I live in southern Sweden where we have excellent soils, so wood chips are primarily used as weed control. Thanks for your very informative videos, so much knowledge!
Our blueberries have gotten a ton healthier after using cedar chips. I only garden with native plants and almost all of them in the PNW prefer acidic soils anyway so I dont worry about it. We also got HUGE morels growing in it, probably at least $50 worth! So im a fan of the fungal benefits
Always such good information…thank you
Really well rounded video about how mulch works and how to properly use it. Thank you!
I have a question about mulch: Are there certain sources you want to be careful about getting mulch from because it could be contaminated or possibly sprayed with chemicals?
Thanks for all the great videos!
I actually asked for a load of wood chips for Christmas this year. Its been a few years since ive gotten any and mine are getting pretty thin now. Earwigs and voles are a problem but i had them before woodchips.
"Avoid putting wood chips on shallow root plants." Thank you for explaining this! With your help and the book Soil Science I am becoming a much more sensible gardener. 🙂
The issues are definitely specific to geography. I’m in Colorado and bc so dry and cold, we don’t get slugs, termites or have many ant issues in my areas. Rodents would be an issue but my huskies and cat have kept pests away so the only pest I struggle with is grasshoppers. My county gives out free mulch which is awesome. I’m having an issue with bindweed now and have tried everything to kill it and am not winning so going to use thick sheet of heavy plastic and cover with big layer of chips, put some raised beds on top and raise my white flag of surrender. I am hoping after a few years I can test pulling it up and garden one area, but my neighbors have warned me it has returned even after five years. It’s the devil, lol.
Thanks, lovely review for perennial plants.
Re pests… I'm in central Ohio (very moist, Zone 6) and we have lots of carpenter ants but I've only ever seen them nest in logs, never wood chips -hey seem to like moist wood but dry nesting space.
We do have a lot of yellow jackets here, and they will nest in mulch piles, and around heavily mulched garden beds. Especially important to keep an eye out for dogs and young children.
4:17 – Trichoderma (viride or harzianum) is extremely good at controlling fungal pathogens in mulch or compost. Besides it can be used to treat foliar deseases…