wood chips and when not to use them

I am developing a 3 care tract of land which was formerly a commercially farmed field. I have very compact clay soil with sand beneath and a high water table. I want to add wood chips as organic matter to improve the soil as I have access to free wood chips. Are there any plants that should not be grown in former hardwood wood chips soil?

Elanor Gardner wrote: former hardwood wood chips soil?

Do you mean soil where the wood chips have already decomposed?

Wood chips can do a lot of good for the soil, but it has a few nuances that might not jive with your gardening style. I'm unaware of plants that may not grow well in hardwood chip BUT your style of growing may need to change.

Growing plants from seed direct in the ground may require you to pull back woodchips to encourage germination. If you pre-start your plants, you may be able to avoid this and just be able to plant into the chipped space outright.

It’s pretty hard for me to find a time not to use wood chips.  But here goes:

Maybe not right by the house.  Termites will love it and then try your house for the main meal.

In the garden, maybe wait to apply until after the plants germinate and get growing a bit.  This is especially true for those finer seeds.  A pumpkin seed probably doesn’t care, but a radish seed might have difficulty getting through the chip layer.  But after they get a few inches tall, you can start pulling the chips back in gently.


Don’t mix the chips with the soil.  Leave them on top.  Let the nor fungi and soil biota do their thing.  Some of the fungi from the soil will want to infect and break down the wood.  The soil and wood layers will merge.



Aside from these qualifications, I can’t really see a reason to not use untreated, totally natural chips that you preferably chipped up yourself or at least can verify that they have no nasty chem’s in them (dyes—Yuck!).



Eric

You might like to find the "Back to Eden" video on youtube. It's a long one of a guy who uses woodchips and has good results.

In my climate it was problematic - it ended up being a slug paradise. In a drier climate it would likely be less problematic. Avoid turning them into the soil.

In the "Back to Eden" video he says repeatedly that "it's all just wood chips"... but at the same time he actually pre-composts a large amount of chips in his extensive chicken run. The chickens scratch them up and add nutrients before he uses them.

If I put wood chips around the seedlings in spring when it's already dry, earwigs develop in them and destroy young plants. Now I put them around vegetables when it's getting hotter.

I don’t use woodchips around plants prone to vole damage, ie apples, hostas, Jerusalem artichokes, etc.  The voles love the lose soft soil the chips create.

Michael Cox wrote:You might like to find the "Back to Eden" video on youtube. It's a long one of a guy who uses woodchips and has good results.

In my climate it was problematic - it ended up being a slug paradise. In a drier climate it would likely be less problematic. Avoid turning them into the soil.

In the "Back to Eden" video he says repeatedly that "it's all just wood chips"... but at the same time he actually pre-composts a large amount of chips in his extensive chicken run. The chickens scratch them up and add nutrients before he uses them.

IF the climate is too dry they are a problem.  They simply sit on top of the earth and don't decompose as there is not enough moisture to sustain the microbes needed...  If you were watering every day like they were a garden it may help but just dumping them on a large area and waiting is problematic.

Dorothy Pohorelow wrote:IF the climate is too dry they are a problem.  They simply sit on top of the earth and don't decompose as there is not enough moisture to sustain the microbes needed...  If you were watering every day like they were a garden it may help but just dumping them on a large area and waiting is problematic.

That has been my experience as well. In drought conditions, breaking down wood chips can be as much work as composting. Still useful as a moisture retaining top-mulch around trees/shrubs though.