Turning free wood chips into amazing compost.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ค. 2019
- Free would chips from a tree service can be used as a very coarse mulch or composted into rich compost that can be used all around your yard or garden.
- แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Thanks Mike! Great video! You have such a great voice for explaining things.
I use mushrooms to speed up the decomposition i fell in love with winecap mushrooms and using the logs as garden boarders and framework with mushrooms growing like crazy
The pile on the right is black gold, looks fantastic!
This is the REAL "black gold" :
th-cam.com/video/vUAEa4ORAkY/w-d-xo.html
I plant in free mixed saw dust/wood chips that I screen through a 1/2 inch screening plant. Age about 2 seasons and good to go. Drains really well and have no yellowing issues common with nitrogen fixation.
Just answered everything I needed to know. Thanks
Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this Mike. I will be trying this this year. God bless
Woooow i should try that reipe,thank you for explaining how
Free wood mulch is a great resource. I get them when I can
gosh man, if i had that type of compost you have, i would've ate it :P it's sooo beautiful, i felt when you touched it :D :D
Wood chips will even compost faster when you wet it and put a big tarp over the chips causing it to be a very consistently moist
I'm going to use my woodchipper to "double" or "triple shred" chips to make it a much finer blend. Speeding up the composting process. When I bought the machine it was initially just to get tree work done. But using it to make compost might be another use for it. Amazing!
I would suggest looking into humus composting. The future of farming.
Sounds like a whole lot of expensive work.
@@djsloburnbeats7426 Any recommended reads?
3 years later, how did rechipping go for you? I'm considering the same. Suggestions?
Great stuff! I just got a pile of wood chips from a tree dumped in my yard! I am very interested in seeing how you mix the compost using a tiller - I did not see the video linked here (or missed it). Thank you for explaining the process so well!
Yes please! I'd love to see the tiller method too but there's nothing linked
Sooooo...
Do tell -
How long did it take the chips to turn into soil?
Did you leave it as a large pile?
Or spread it out?
And where do you live, or more to the point, how wet is it per year where you are, and how warm?
Did you have to add moisture to the pile?
Just want to know all the factors!
You will want to make layers of each ingredient and water each layer as you go. Then repeat, layer by layer of each ingredient. So a layer of each of wood chips, leaves, horse, sheep, cow, chicken or rabbit manure, kitchen scraps, untreated grass clippings thinly sprinkled, coffee grounds (go to a coffee shop and ask for used grounds), crushed egg shells, weeds that have no seeds, etc. These are some ideas. You want at least five varieties of things. Mix them all together with a shovel or compost fork. Add water for each layer so it is wet. Wood chips take longer to break down, so the smaller the size, the better. You don't have to use a cultivator, but if you do, just run it over the pile to mix it together. You will have to put it back into a pile so it can heat up. So about 3-4 feet tall and wide to get maximim heat. I bought a compost thermometer to check the heat in my compost pile. Put it about in the middle. Amazon sells them. The hotter the better, almost. You don't want it to catch on fire. Look up the hot compost method or the Berkeley method of composting. It's a faster way of getting finished compost. You do need to remix your pile at first after five days. I think it is then every other day. Move the outside of the pile to a new spot, which can be right next to where you have it, and the outside is now the inside. The inside is the outside. The first five days it should get really hot. Each time it is rebuilt, the temperature goes down a bit as the nitrogen reacts with the carbon material. If a compost pile does not heat up, it will take longer for it to become usable compost. It is done when you are not able to tell what is in it. If there are still wood chips in it, you will want to get them out by screening them through a wire mesh. Or just put that compost on top of your soil. Wood chips mixed in the soil will pull nitrogen from the soil. Wood chips on top do not.
Thank you.
Thanks for the info Mike, but there's no link.
Can you use cedar mulch for veggie plants? I have a ton of that, that we put through the shredder.
This turns into great soil. Worked at a mill and had some long over due places that needs chips and fines removed from. I wish I could have taken it home cause it had turned into beautiful soil
I sometimes just get the heavy duty black construction bags and load those up and take them home. It helps when you don't have a pickup.
Wooww thats really really nice method
Can I use fine mulch as a top soil substitute to lay sod?
Can I spread it on my field that I just cleared to get good grass/hay to grow up?
Thank you! I just found,(and subscribed to), your channel. I don’t have more leaves to compost with my chicken poop, so going to use wood chips. That combo sound ok?
Any suggestions on how to grind up pine bark mulch? I don't have the machine that does it but I have some power tools like a drill and grinder.
Rent a grinder.
Thanks
Thanks for the upload. How would you amend mostly clay soil with shredded limbs, branches & leaves from the power company clearing their lines? Should I pile compost it first then till it in after a year or so OR can I just till it all in then wait a year or so?
If you till it in itll pull much of the nitrogen out of the soil to compost down. If you use it as a mulch on top, that isn't much of a problem as it'll release nitrogen at about the same rate that it pulls it out. Nutrients will leave the mulch as it gets wet so that'll help your soil fertility. Eventually itll break down enough that worms will bring the new compost into the soil for you, which will help your soil structure. You can till it in if you want, after its composted down first.
Would you be able to use old barn wood as compost ?
I am just getting started tearing down eastern cedar here in Missouri next I need a mulcher. If I’m not grinding up anything green how Soon can I use the mulch… Thank you very much I just subscribe to your channel
I miss your videos mike hope you doing good an still growing
Ive been augmenting my arborist chips with water, urea, lime, sugar, and wood ash. I get mushrooms in a couple weeks. Have you experimented with augments?
thank you for your video, I have a question, those wood chips heap attract carpenter ants or termites? if it does, how to get rid of carpenter ants, I tried sugar plus borax but it seemed not work. I do not want to use chemicals in my garden. I just cover a lot fresh wood chip on my garden, I am so worried.
in the search for how to grind up my compost pile he says he uses a mantis tiller. Ding that's my solution. Many thanks for the ideas!
It breaks down in 2 years for me with wine caps :D
Run leaves, wood and greens through the chipper and let it rot for a few months then use that as a mulch in your garden
I put mines straight into the pot. I use it just as potting soil.
Mike, we can use the compost to do so mulch! Let’s grow our midwestern steak 🥩 back into what mama nature intended! You got keep teaching em Brother.
I compost to make my gardening efforts more wholesome. But you my friend are sitting on a gold mine. Go get em Mike!
In my area they want $200 a load for woodchips. They found out there are people wanting them.
You should use that to make humus compost.. yields are higher. Reduces soil oxidation for healthier plant life
Mike, Where are those Links?
No link in the description 😅😉
What about tree barks?
Can you regrade your land over time with the compost? like slowly spreading it over years? I want to change the grade over a large area by a couple inches in the next 5 years.
I have a ton of mulch on my land as it was a loading area for a big logging operation :/ it's really soft, and I think it's like 2 or 3 years old. My truck got beached every time I've driven on it
@@snider519 you take the psi of the tires down? I just moved 5 yards of dirt to the main area I was thinking. But in 2 weeks or so 40 yards of chips is going to the secondary area to see if it makes dirt over time.
I have aired the tires down but I think i need a lighter 4x4 truck with bigger tires to make it back thru. The spot where the chips are isnt suitable for building on at all
@@snider519 I understand. I really appreciate your reply. This makes sense completely. It sounds like wood chips stay spongy for a while and don't compact well like clay or other dirt mixtures. I had planned to plant trees in the area hopefully on this newly created wood chip berm. I was also hoping spraying the berm with amonia weekly would speed up a breakdown of the carbon and perhaps create some type of soil faster. It looks like I may have to extend my time scale significantly if using wood chips. Dang.
I’m currently filling a 50x50 6 foot deep depression in my yard with free chips in hopes that it will break down and I can seed it for grass by next fall for a nice yard by spring 2022.
So after 2 to 3 years of composting, can you amend clay soil with it?
Yes.
Yes, you can amend clay soil with woodchip compost. To really loosen the clay, add gypsum, it will break up the clay and allow it to drain better. Sheetrock, paper and all left in the weather then broken up with a tiller works great and it adds calcium to the soil ( prevents blossom end rot on tomatoes ).
@@Tom-qx5nl Thanks Tom, I'll have to give that gypsum a whirl and see how it goes. Good tip on amending calcium to the soil!
How much can I expect wood chips to break down? I have a 6 ft deep 50x50 area on my property that was filled with briar thorns and poison ivy when I bought the property. I cleared out all the bad stuff and underneath was rotten log segments from 3 downed trees. I’ve currently got local arborists dropping wood chips into the low spot to fill it in and cover the rotten logs and the briar roots I couldn’t clear out. I’m putting them about 8ft deep and am curious how much I can expect them to break down, my uneducated guess is 50%.
WOW! 8 ft deep of wood chips? I don't have experience w/wood chips that deep. Progress report? Where you live / rain levels could be a factor as to how fast they decompose.
@@JWHealing It has cooked down about a foot, now the worms are in it and ive spread nitrogen fixing cover crops over it. in another year or two itll be ready for grass.
@@christopherhughes7970 Sounds amazing, but you lost me at grass. :-) Maybe at least clover or wildflowers or berry bushes or fruit trees?
Of my 90,000 square feet the majority is woods, creek and garden. Currently we have about 6,000 square feet of lawn and this will turn the awkward shape to that into a nice square 10,000 square feet of grass for our kids and dogs to play in. The other 80,000 feet has plenty of other wildlife including apples, pears, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, honeyberries and an annual garden.
@@christopherhughes7970 Oh nice. It's none of my business, but now I'm happy. :-) You're very kind to humor my nosiness. Congrats on all your abundance.
How long in your area does it take for the wood chips to decompose?
depends on what you need it for.... about a year ish.
Mix wood chips with lawn cuttings. One breaks up the other,, Give it a mix up every week and water, use a sift like a plastic fruit box with holes you'll have great compost in less than 2-3 months.
We have a big pile here from power line trimmers. Its been rotted up for years. It doesn't make a very good seed starter even if it was baked it grows mold somehow and causes damping off with seedlings. Tried to start some peach seeds in it mixed with a little dirt and they molded in the fridge. It's good for adding to the garden around established plants though or for tilling under. Just Had some kind of heat resistant spore in it or maybe i screwed up something. They also make decent mulch if you need mulch for no dig beds
Omooo
😊ii😊
Hey Mike, stop telling us to click on the link that doesn't exist.
ROFL
Made you look though...😂😂😂 "thanks for playing" 😂😂😂
Get the chickens out there to turn it!
what size pants do you wear I would like to offer you couple of them I'm not trying to bully you I'm serious
Pine chips take very long to be composted I suppose
Hi mike, let me share something with you about making compost. I learned this strictly by accident. I had a tree service working for my neighbors to take down some trees and mulch them up. I walked over and asked if I could have the mulch. and sure I could. he said he would come back when the truck was full, and he did, dumping them in my front yard. I used some of the mulch to put in my flower beds I used about 1/3 of what I had. this was in Charleston S.C. between me and my neighbors house I put down all the wood chips on a blue tarp. I covered the hole tarp with the wood chip about 2 feet thick. this was about 6 or 7 months before spring. I did nothing to the wood chips all winter. Come spring I went out to my wood chip pile witch looked normal. But when I moved the 1 layer of leafs. I was shocked, I had enough worms to start a worm farm. At the time I never heard of a worm farm. But the best compost you could get. I think the secret was the tarp I put down would hold moisture so the worms could get to moisture. Of course I was in a much warmer clement. I hope this helps
Hey GARY, IVE GOT WOODCHIPS. SO YOU PUT A TARP DOWN. PUT WOODCHIPS ON TARP. 6 MONTHS AFTER WINTER, STUFF HAD LOADS OF WORMS. IM CERTAINLY OK WITH EVERYTHONG YOU SAY.
1. DID WORMS COME THRU TARP?
2. DID WORMS COME FROM WOODCHIPS?
3. DID WORMS CRAWL OUT OF GROUND , CRAWL ONTO CHIPS. THEN REPRODUCE.
4. JUST TRYING TO GLEAN OUT WHAT IS HAPPENING. I JAVE 40 LOADS I WANT TO USE AS COMPOST IN CONTAINERS. I WANT TO ADD MIX UP CLAY WITH IT. I THANK YOU SIR FOR YOUR ORIGINAL INTEREST IN WOOD CHIPS. NORMAN 65 SOUTHEST TEXAS
technically wood mulch, but cool.
A lot of those tree service chips come with 💩 already added also! Lmao
No links.
Gary from the Rusted Garden planted tomatoes in a bed of wood chips this spring. Plants are doing fantastic. Just saying.
atariforever2002 two different things. You do not plant in wood chips! You can put wood chips on top
Gary from the Rusted Garden mut have added nitrogen to the wood chips. Otherwise, when they decompose, they suck nitrogen right out of the soil.
i would never. the amount of pesticides and herbicides is really high and would make any organic farmer fail on testing . the best way is to add 100 gallons of worm casting on a pile like that and letting it sit for 3 years with a tarp in winter times.
74
can rotting veg&fruit and wood chips compost yes no maybe
Yes