I just recently heard about this service. I signed up but haven't put in a request yet. They say you get anywhere between 4 and 20 yards of wood chips per drop FOR FREE.
by NowWeAllSmell
I just recently heard about this service. I signed up but haven't put in a request yet. They say you get anywhere between 4 and 20 yards of wood chips per drop FOR FREE.
by NowWeAllSmell
47 Comments
generally you get whatever the arborist company took off the last job. sometimes good, sometimes not good.
in some areas it can take forever because the arborists sell it on facebook marketplace. but i find you can always call around as well.
https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/search?q=%22chip+drop%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all
We used it recently. They delivered a pretty big pile of chips to our yard and it didn’t cost a thing. My father in law has also used them successfully.
I love it, but I’m easy to please. I always select that I will accept a few big chunks, because those can be useful here in the desert, creating little micro climates. Like one had some really dead bushes with their rootballs attached, and when I saw them I was giddy — I think most people would be like, “well what am I going to do with *that?!”*. And I have always offered to pay their fee. One time I contacted a tree trim company directly, and that time I didn’t have to pay.
The only downside for some of us, me included now, is I rarely have a convenient place to dump the load, even temporarily. Before I just had them dump it on the lawn I was replacing, but my landscape is more mature now. I wish the chipdrop website did better about letting people who get drops invite neighbors to come get buckets or however much of their own to take home.
When we signed up, we got someone who dropped off loads of mulch the next day. We’ve done it multiple times and the quality is always variable. There have always been bits of trash and animal pieces mixed in. It’s definitely you pay for what you get (free is free), but it’s also hard to beat free. We just sorted through it and made sure the lower quality bits were placed is less prominent locations each time.
Luckily my neighbor owns a tree cutting business. I tell them, drop chips anytime you want. I live in a northern state so a lot of times it’s pine. Say what you will propel, but it smells amazing and I’m in the middle of a “no lawn” conversion of almost two acres. I’ll take whatever I can get for free.
I’m using chip drop to cover my front yard currently, have had 3 drops. First two were great woth clean chips and not many sticks. The last one I got was the exact opposite, including trash (burger wrappers and cups), tons of sticks, and larger pieces chucked in when I selected the options to not have any included. It’s a dice roll but definitely worth it in my book if you have a large area to cover. Just be ready to sort out some pieces you don’t like.
My tip would be if you work from home get the number of the company that drops off the chips. If you like them reach out to them for more in the future.
Yes, I’ve used it. First time I got nothing for months and months, eventually cancelled the request. The second time I got a massive amount of chips within weeks.
Do take them seriously on the quantity you can get and the reality of no notice and no scheduling. My spouse and I were out there early in the morning, lunch break (we WFH), and evening for a few days in a row until we’d moved it all.
Similar experience here. I put in an order last year, and it went two months without being fulfilled. Renewed the request and got an email ten minutes later saying it was on the way. It was a shitload of mulch, just like they say. We also allowed for larger bits which had to be pulled out, but no real problem.
We have a pretty sizable driveway so it was OK that it sat there for a month while we worked through it. Have a wheelbarrow and a pitchfork, it really is a LOT of mulch.
We used it last year. I offered $40 and said we would take some logs too. We waited maybe a month. It was a lot, and took us a couple weeks to get it all moved. Two neighbors took some of it.
https://preview.redd.it/iz3ig3xlj48f1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbcdf597972c969ed6a0602185112b4e73b20901
If you sign up, make sure you wear a really good mask. Lots of stories about people shoveling that stuff to put in places they want it, and they end up with a respiratory issue due to the various things in the mulch and the breakdown of it being in a big pile composting.
My MiL had a bad experience where she signed up only for the chips, but the arborist instead dropped logs on her lawn. And they were hundred+ pound logs that she was unable to move.
Chip drop told her there was nothing they could do and that it was up to her to dispose of them.
Used it. Liked it. Got a repetitive stress injury moving it all. Waited about 8 months?
Love it! Used it many times. No bad experiences.
I just got a drop recently. A lot of people in my area seemed to be waiting weeks so I took the advice that I saw elsewhere: Tip and put your request in during bad weather when trees are likely to come down. Sure enough I had a drop two days later.
Definitely a full truck load but I had the space and need. Overall a great experience.
I got 6 huge truck loads. My lawn is gone but I now have a large backyard full of bindweed (look it up it’s the devil). I am assuming it was in the wood chips as it was no where to be found on my property or in my neighborhood prior to the chips arriving.
I tipped them and requested they give me good mulch, and they sure did. Smells like a nice old fruit tree and it was just next day. I live in Flint Michigan too
We’ve done one every year. It’s a great fall/winter project for building a good soil base over years. I don’t think I will do one this fall as we plan to be moving in 12-16 months. I did one in the late winter/early spring and the quality was lower with lots of bamboo.
With that said ..
The first year we moved into this house, one tree was in the property with the rest being grass. I dropped the wood chips in some places 8inches thick and now have wild flowers and and other plants growing in good soil
I’ve used it. It’s usually a full truck load. It takes me a few days to move it to my yard.
Its ok. You get a lot of wood chips, mine were pretty ok quality but included some garbage & lots of branches & leaves. I would not use it for anything meant to look nice but works great for making beds, mulching etc.
I’ve had maybe 6 drops. I do usually pay the $20 fee that the arborist would pay to get the delivery a little faster, but still dirt cheap for what you get. Be warned, though, that if you agree to take a few logs, those can be cross sections of big tree trunks that you’d need heavy equipment to move. The quality and size of the chips varies greatly but it worked great for sheet-mulching and killing my lawn over recent year.
I usually only wait a couple weeks. Sometimes I pay the fee if I have the money, other times I don’t. I got 20 yards of mulch last time. I was looking at bagged mulch from Lowes and it was like $700 for the bare minimum that I would need.
Was on the list and kept renewing monthly for a year and never got a single wood chip 😭
I moved about 60 cubic yards of mulch around my property last year. Chip drop is absolutely worth it. There’s 0 reason to pay for mulch if you can get your hands on a chip drop.
I plan to make a 4x4x4 welded fencing wire enclosure and on my next chip drop I’m gonna fill it up and just keep it for when I need it. Bonus is that if I don’t use it, it’ll eventually break down into wood chip compost which is just incredible stuff.
can also contact directly to local tree companies
I’ve used it the last few years and it’s been great. Believe every single warning on their site. It will show up without much warning. I get the email and almost simultaneously look in my yard to find a massive pile of wood chips has arrived. You get what you get. You might get a half load or a full truck load mountain of wood chips. I was sheet mulching a large front yard so for me it was ideal as it would have cost a fortune otherwise. Its fantastic. Totally free. I usually wait about 2 weeks in my area but I’m sure it differs where you are. Highly recommend.
If you have any large trees that require pruning, you can ask the tree service to leave all the chipped wood behind for you to use. That way you’re getting wood from your own trees, and not mystery trees that can spread diseases like oak wilt or emerald ash borer.
We love it. We get one almost every year. I post on local buy nothing groups to share the love. I’ll use about 15 yards of the 20
Me
I was going to do a chip drop but I rent so I was concerned about where they would leave it. I called a local tree service company and they were thrilled to drop off a load of wood chips. They stopped by first to figure out where to put the chips and make sure the truck would fit. Great experience!
In my area, you get a full drop which is huge. Also, you get whatever they trimmed that day.
I used it, and the chips were contaminated with an invasive weed. So now my yard is too.
It really depends where you live. I have friends in nearby areas who get their orders filled all the time. I’ve tried many times and only ever had one request filled (2 months after I put it in).
I have gotten 3 drops. Great for landscaping.
I’ve been signed up for 2 years and have yet to receive anything. I think it’s better if you live closer to a metro area. I do not.
It depends on how busy the arborists are in your area, but I’ve heard people say they got their request in a day or they’ve been waiting months. I got mine a week or so after. I used what I needed and gave the rest away. It’s a great service but now I hate how the red and black mulches look. I like my pine chips better. Speaking of I need a bit more…
I used to be an arborist. We were the chip droppers. The people that want chips saved me so much work 😅
I have gotten 2 drops now. Both were fantastic and we love that it’s free.
I’ve used it. I put in that I’d pay the $20 and I got 8cf of chips like two days later.
After that I needed an arborist to prune our maple tree, so now I just call that arborist and they drop off chips. I always tip the driver $20.
My friend just did it and got half of an unmulched tree included in the mulch. It was huge sections of trunk, 5ft long and over 30 inch diameter. They just dumped all this nonsense on her suburban front lawn and dipped
She’s not mad about it but I sure would be lol
I’ve used it, but then I just got the arborist’s phone no and dealt with him directly.
I go to my local transfer station/dump. The town chips all brush, etc., so they have a giant pile of free chips that they’ll load into my truck for free. I go anytime I need some.
Chip drop is great, but you’re waiting for it and it comes randomly and you don’t know how much you’re going to get.
Recommend putting it on driveway (or somewhere without great grass) because it may be there awhile and kill anything under it. Also, put a tarp down. My load was fresh branch trimmings so lots of green. Let it sit for a couple of wks, really heated up. Can be a little rough when you first put it out but settles in soon—now looks great in my pollinator garden, and really saves water, can work out there without getting muddy even after a rain. No problem getting rid of extra on Buy Nothing or Marketplace.
It’s nice. To actually kill grass you gotta have a really thick layer, like 12″ to be safe.
It’s a bunch of shoveling.
I’ll probably need like 5 more drops to actually cover my area and expect to need one or two per year for maintenance as it degrades but I’m only on year one of it.
Don’t do it. You could also get really screwed. Check r/gardening one fellow got 40 yards. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Foeohidvk28i61.jpg What sort of trees do you have in your yard? You can not control how disease free the chips may be. You could innoculate your yard with at least a dozen tree diseases/pests.
I just got my first chip drop and I’m almost certain I got an entire load of beautiful cedar chips. I am so pleased! I did pay $20 to get my chips faster, they came within a few days.
I had signed up a few years ago and kept renewing but never got a delivery. I’m so happy to see it more popular in my area now.
I’ve had two drops so far. The first was perfect. The second came with a yellow jacket infestation(!!!) and I had to get my pest service out twice to treat it.