Sowing wildflower seeds into wood chips

Hey all, another question I’m not sure where to file. I’m wondering if anyone has tried sowing wildflower seeds on top of wood chips. I’m working on covering my orchard with wood chips and I have a lot of wildflower seeds that I need to find a place to plant. I’m thinking about waiting until fall rains begin and then tossing wildflower seeds on the wood chips in the orchard. The wood chips are just a little bit broke down from being in a pile for a couple of months.

If you just have extra seeds lying around, no harm in trying. Maybe you get lucky with a few.

I doubt many seeds would germinate and then also grow on top of wood chips without soil mixed in.  It is really going to depend on the seed, though.  Very large seeds like sunflowers may have the stored resources to put a root all the way down through to soil. Smaller seeds, if they germinate, are less likely to survive in straight wood chips. There’s not much available nutrients at the top of wood chip pile.  Seeds that land on top of the chips may not be able to root, or may dry out completely on sunny days. Seeds that fall down under the top layer of chips may no have strong enough sprouts to push out from under the top wood chips.

If these are North American wildflowers, then many of them may take more than a year to establish, so possibly you could have some seeds putting down roots the first year, and getting established enough to push up through the chips the second year.

I agree with Mk, seeds need to have good soil contact in order to germinate.

I feel the wood chips will prevent this.

Do you have some way to run over the wood chips after putting the seeds out?  That was if any do reach the soil the pressure might help make the soil contact.

In the past, we have used a golf cart, a mule, or a tractor though we did not have wood chip in the mix.

A strategy that I see where wood chips lay, involves pulling the chips aside to plant seeds directly into the soil beneath the chips. The chips don't get replaced. During the growing season, they sluff down and refill the hole and the plant grows enough that it doesn't get buried.