Building Soil with Composted Wood Chips

We have found so many benefits by using composted wood chips on our farm. There are a lot of people using wood chips, but we've found that it's best to compost them for about a year before putting them around any trees or plants. Once the proper soil food web is established, we can top dress around trees with more fresh chips because the fungi network is in place.
zoefarms.com/

[@marcellemay7721]

Yeah....i geek out about building soil and wood chips too! Right now the utility guys are working in the area. I've had my name on chip drop for over a year with no drops. I went where the tree guys park their trucks and asked them if they would dump wood chips over at my place... they were more than happy to oblige. So far I've received 4 10yd loads, about 1 load per week. They have lots of leaf matter in them too and they're chock full of mold. The piles are cooking. I turn them with my backhoe about every 2 weeks and the steam that comes off of them when i flip the piles is a joy to behold...lol.

[@travismakoto]

I recently received a huge truckload of wood chips dumped in my yard from a tree company working with my neighbor. I got about 20 cubic yards, but they dumped it in my driveway, blocking my dads car. I worked on moving the mountain of a pile to a different part of my property. On the third day, the pile was steaming, and I saw some fungal growth, which made me excited. The wood chips are now in a pile elsewhere on my property decomposing. I hope that it will all turn into black gold in a mater of a couple years. I will be using this mulch to mulch my fruit trees soon. Happy gardening!

[@billastell3753]

I arranged for a tree company to drop off a pile of wood chips at my home. The neighbour complained to the township. The township called and asked about the wood chips and I said they were for mulch around my fruit trees and the township was satisfied. Next thing I see the neighbour putting coloured woodchips on his flower garden. He'd bought them at the landscape company at $5 a bag. What a goon. He could have asked me for some and I would have been given him all he wanted for free. You can't cure stupid. Leaves are the same. People rake em in the fall and send them off to the dump. I beat the garbage truck to the bags piled out on the street and haul them home to compost them. That makes me happier than a pig in $%^&. Most people have no idea what is valuable. I guess that's good for the few of us who do. Most are busy creating deserts while a few of us build Eden gardens.

[@travelinthru9519]

Just make sure you're not getting any that's got pine trees in it

[@awesomedave8484]

@@travelinthru9519 Pine is fine

[@sandramcshane1747]

@@awesomedave8484 You can grow Indian Oyster mushrooms in pine woodchips. U can buy the spawn online.

[@svetlanikolova7673]

Exactly Bill. And most are slaves in their garden while others are kicking back and relaxing with a cup.of joe

[@svetlanikolova7673]

@@travelinthru9519 Pine is only acidic on the tree. Do more research.You can also mix the pine with fresh grass clippings and compost it for a few weeks in high heat. You get everything you can for free and just use it when its composted. Use your brain!

[@louisbrentnell2551]

Thanks for sharing. I admit it, I’m a chipaholic. You would think I’m lying if I shared how many chips I have received in the last two years. Building rich black fluffy soil is rewarding.

[@PetalsonthePavingSlabs]

Genius idea with the woodchip sign!

[@user-jr5gs5bs9f]

I wish I smell it right now , I love the smell of rich soil :)

[@danab4337]

Just learning about woodchips. Total newbie here. Thanks

[@kennethwoolard5910]

Great to have passion for the soil!

[@callmeMsT]

I LOVE how your voice changed when you saw the worms... Have listened so many times.

[@tonysilver6016]

Wow!! Once I get land, I will do that.

[@Mityob67]

Really cool. Thanks for uploading.

[@MidwestGardener]

I found this useful. I will be using woodchips in the coming years.

[@ZOEFarms]

+Midwest Gardener Thank you. We've experienced great success, but only after allowing them to break down for a full year off the garden. The science of the process is something not really covered in a lot of the online videos. What's happening is actually quite simple in biological terms. We are establishing a more fungal dominated soil food web. Higher succession plants prefer a more fungal dominated soil. Once the higher ratio of fungi to bacteria is established, the plants pretty much take care of themselves via the biologic soil food web.

[@bayramtetik6287]

Scientific article link please.

[@billastell3753]

I love this guy. He's as crazy as a fox. Thumbs up!

[@dustman96]

Love it!

[@TheVictoryHomestead]

this is like soil porn! I love your enthusiasm and we're going to be doing the same thing! thank you!

[@ZOEFarms]

+Karen Berry thanks for your kindness. If you're in the Ohio area, we will be doing seminars in May. That said, the wood chips route is great, yes... but it can also be a bad thing if rushed. That's why I allow them to break down for a year before I put them on. I've rushed it before, and like my grandpa always said... "don't rush the monkey, you'll spoil the act!"

[@urbansodbuster175]

ZOE Farms. Gramps, Don't rush the monkey you'll spoil the act. Laffs.

[@davidschmidt270]

I gave ya a thumbs up brother because I feel the same way.....I hear it put brilliantly by Shamus O'Leary...."we don't feed nutrients to the trees plants.....we give nutrients to the soil, that intern feeds the trees and plants"

[@lincwayne3435]

Laughin' & learnin' here - thank you!!

[@UniCarCycles]

Woodchips is life! ❤️

[@nourishingmomma]

Cute geeking out!

[@JanisTreijs]

Awesome 😃👍

[@tinkertanner165]

Owen Wilson!!!

[@deppurple700]

good guy !!!!

[@teresathomley3703]

Good video

[@vannom8485]

For me good as gold. Awesome

[@troymeredith9936]

Big mulch piles ,be good to have a loader or excavator to be able to give it a turn over every now and then to speed up the process.

[@shadyman6346]

Don’t feel bad, there are other soil geeks, too! I dream about my gardens...

[@peterinbrat]

I wet my wood chips with yard sprayer on a timer. 5 minutes four times a day. It gets broken down by fungus then earthworms.

[@johnparmenter1122]

Thanks for the advice. We have piles of wood chips at our community garden in Ventura, CA waiting to be used. I'll be looking for a pile that's been "aged" a bit and use it around my vegetables.

[@ZOEFarms]

you can expedite the process by watering your pile every now and again. Because of our scale, and fairly high precipitation - we just give them six months - but that's only for putting around trees. For our garden vegetables we fully compost before top dressing

[@georgeblumer1496]

John Parmenter I put chips around my young trees one summer and most died. We think it’s because we flood irritated and had a temperature spike that boiled the roots. Much better results when put between trees in winter or early spring. Love the process but timing is critical.

[@billastell3753]

Young trees need to be watered every few weeks deeply for at least the first year. Chips aren't the problem. Thirst is.

[@fozzyozzy1030]

@@billastell3753 chips make it so the water stays in the soil and doesn't evaporate from the surface.

[@TV-yj9mh]

Good shit bro

[@Ojb_1959]

Thanks for the upload. Two months ago I received 5 free truck loads of fresh wood chips & green leaves from the power company clearing the lines. I’m not able to turn it so I’m guessing it’ll still compost but probably just take longer. 🌱

[@pakistaniraveasylum1396]

An easy way to turn is to use a petrol auger

[@dcwshoreline5416]

Dude! I love your videos. Your also close to me. Im in Ontario 🇨🇦. Do you mix the chips with manure to create that organic soil or no mixing other than stirring pile?

[@Pacjam123123]

Awesome man. Kookie grows trees for free!

[@raymondaten2179]

I would cover the whole orchard in the wood chips and you can plant may shade hardy veggies in it.

[@sojourner_truth]

I'm pretty sure that the type of wood chips/mulch/compost that Paul Gauchi purchases is already composted to a fine level by a company that processes it, before he buys it. People forget that details in the Back To Eden Garden Doc. So yes, it is good to take measures to compost your chips with other organic matter to make it more bio-available to plants to expect good results.

[@dailylife6432]

If everybody will notice the grass and or weeds at the outside edge of the wood chips it is very thick and a very vibrant green compared to the other growth in the surrounding area. Prove that it works.!!!

[@DIYSolarandWind]

I just found your channel

[@franksmith7419]

KOOKEY IS GREAT... IM LAUGHING WITH YOU.

[@elliottspence7929]

Well I guess I 'm crazy too because I saw the Back to Eden Garden videos 3 or 4 years ago and I have been having wood chips delivered ever since. Have you found a good way short of heavy equipment to grind the wood chips to dirt stage any faster?

[@solaimanali2891]

Top

[@Mrvanna-fo8hc]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@kobewade8709]

Could you turn the wood chips with a manure spreader.

[@losclaveles]

No, I was thinking "where did he get all those wood chips"

[@veronicabe7902]

what stage of wood do y put on your soil? newly cut, or aged? should i put aged wood chip first, then new wood chips on top layer? thks

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

Veronica Be does not matter whatever you can get your hands on works well

[@1voluntaryist]

"These are my trees here." Yea, that we can see. What are they? How old? Want to speed up that chip-post? Make room at the top for lots of raw manure. Wet it frequently. The "juice" runs down into the pile speeding up decomposition. Want to go faster? Add leaves/green material? Even faster still? Buy or rent a shredder/chipper and reduce the size as much as possible. Do this first plus all the rest and you can start spreading/building soil in a fifth the time or less depending on temp & your experience. A jump start on the soil building is best for the trees as soil conditioning always comes first. Maintenance is much easier. Don't be afraid to go deep/wide with the mulch as much as you have material. If you can, do every inch of the orchard. Consider planting at least a dozen different species for a mixed orchard, using companion growing. It confuses the pests, a little of which you need to let alone if they are not too bad. Whatever you do, don't use harmful commercial chemicals. And don't till to reduce weeds, just cut them down & let lay.

[@BusterABrown]

One year to be safe, but not over 160 degrees. Add water = Good video.

[@ZOEFarms]

We actually run a farm-scale composting operation according to Ingham methodologies. The wood chips work great around trees. We don't use wood chips in our annual veggie production system... only finished compost.

[@BusterABrown]

I haven't heard of the Ingham methodologies. Thanks for the info.

[@BusterABrown]

I remember Dr. Ingham now. I'm 70 yrs old and don't have her resources or energy. But she is definitely the leading authority on the subject.

[@josephsaid6922]

My wife says I am crazy every time I get a load of wood chips

[@Crina-LudmilaCristeaAuthor]

💛

[@svartbackenstradgard461]

Do you get problems with voles or other rodents?

[@walkingmonument]

I like you

[@svend9392]

Do you do this every year for the trees? could you around the tree plant comfrey that you would chop and drop instead of wood chips?

[@ZOEFarms]

+Meditationis Musica we manage different trees differently. Our silvo pasture hardwoods receive just wood chips. All of our orchards are planted in polyculture. Although comfrey is a great mulch, it's important to not allow it to go anaerobic (meaning, just stacking it up thick). Furthermore, the breakdown of that much green matter alone leads to a bacterial dominated soil. Trees/Shrubs do best in a fungal dominated soil, so we add the wood chips for the high carbon content to balance out all the comfrey. This keeps it aerobic and fungal dominated.

[@olatutuakinyelure9680]

What about prebagged mulch

[@adriangarcia5611]

U should put wood chip over that entire area not just the trees

[@poolahpot]

How do I make sure ticks are not brought in with the delivered/picked up wood chips?

[@alanowens3]

When the pile heats up it kill everything. It needs to get over 160 degrees f

[@john-cv6nk]

Does this method work for all types of crops? Where is the best place for me to learn more about this?

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

john yes works well that is how a Forest grows nobody goes to till or do anything annually the leaves fall and rot down

[@citic101]

just passed a company selling compost and was surprissd to see wood chips and now i know why ( the company has a huge " brushing machine" to break it all down ( i guess )

[@TOMMYSURIA]

Wouldn't be better to mulch the whole planting area?

[@MistressOP]

You should be spreading winecaps in that mulch.

[@svetlanikolova7673]

get chickens to poo in those chips for a year. I wish I can get truck loads but I live in the Balkans and here we dont have that service in the mountains. I have to settle for grass clippings , leaves twigs and pine cones / needles

[@likeshareandsubscribe2866]

why do you wait for it to compost? couldnt you just spread it and let it break compost inplace?

[@walkingmonument]

like,share and subscribe this is based on the faulty notion that noncomposted wood chips will tie up nitrogen in the soil. But thats been proven false. As long as you don't till mulch into the soil, it will be ok.

[@billastell3753]

Composted chips are better because the decomposed chips are easier for worms and other creatures to eat and poop out the good fertilizer. If you drop it on fresh it will be OK as a soil protector and moisture holding mulch but until it begins to rot, some of the benefit just aren't there yet.

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

Compost is a different beast

[@247btlggr]

FYI people don't use fresh wood chips. they need to sit ad least a year. they will hurt the plant as they will draw Nitrogen from the living plant. that's why they age fresh wood chips into mulch or long term into soil

[@harrycraft5100]

TURN UP UR VOLUME BROHAM

[@jeremiahshine]

I've been at it for 11 years. The State showed up and dozed me flat last week. I insisted on seeing their "order" and they refused.

[@hobohacker258]

I think I remember reading that wood ships have a strong tendency to pull nitrogen from the soil.

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

Unless it’s been dug into the soil it’s fine

[@wiktorpoliszczuk1372]

how do you compost wood chips?

[@carbonado2432]

a LOT of nitrogen, from manure or cut up green plants mixed into the pile. Then add water

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

If it’s arborists Chips it will have greens and browns just pile them at least a metre cube it will break

[@wiktorpoliszczuk1372]

@@carbonado2432 thank you

[@carbonado2432]

@@wiktorpoliszczuk1372 the bacteria and fungus that composts requires oxygen AND water. That means it shouldnt be TOO wet, or TOO compacted. you can also speed up the process by covering it with a black tarp after you water the compost.

[@wiktorpoliszczuk1372]

@@carbonado2432 thank you

[@CONCERTMANchicago]

*So one Arboricultural rule, is to never raise soil grade over existing roots. Or never apply added soil directly on top of trees B&B rootball.* _And with great majority of new trees arriving from Nursery (with root flare) already too deep in rootball. Rather than responsibly digging down to root flare level first, before excavating from field. No longer can trees be installed with top of rootball level with surrounding grade!_ Otherwise, adventitious matted fibrous root growth. Is produced after original rootsystem had become suffocated, by slowly accumulating soil that results in raising altered grade. Caused when nurseries keeping field weeds in check. Along with root pruning equipped plow making regular runs down field rows. Which ends up making up some 1/3rd of field excavated rootball. Either topped off with inches of rootless accumulated soil, or adventitious roots which just like drowning swimmers. Become disorientated, and no longer grow radially outward away from trunk, similar to spokes on a wheel. While all these new surrounding feeder roots produced in close proximity to trunk will greatly assist survival rate once permanently installed on site. Rather than severing natural feeder root systems which grow remotely away from trunk. Over time those adventitious vegetative feeder roots become woody, while increasing in girth. And when commonly persisting instead of dying off. Result is trunk SGR's, or stem girdlization. So now from my observations, after completing over 500 root flare excavations and grade corrections surrounding young trees. After Tree owners or lawn mower jockeys regularly re-apply new layers of colored wood chip mulch every few years. Inevitably if some amount of old mulch is not harvested before laying down new mulch, old mulch continues breaking down into new layers of rich soil. And/or puffing up, inflating added mix of soil and wood chips. Thus continuing to raise grade. Then when level of mulch is pulled back to see if someone had overmulched. Its growing mound is mostly built of dirt, and indeed only few inches of mulch covers that. In conclusion, I regularly witness woody bushes and perennial plants surviving heightening grade just fine. After continually regrowing new roots to get oxygen closer to rising surface. And, just like stated benefits of adding organic material over grounds "O" layer. Indeed conditions become more than optimal for lush root growth elongating through mats of mycelium. Except when roots grow throughout raised bed, they are more prone to heat of summer and freezing through winter. Resulting in these feeder roots dying off and themselves benefiting decomposing organic layer. But to an Arborist like myself, its sad witnessing trees eat themselves! PS: Today with all the American Ash trees being sacrificed to Emerald Ash Borers, then ground up into free wood chips. And mountains of stuff dropped off by municipalities in front of residences properties. All that stuff has very little time to cook, and begin decomposition during time required composting processes. Any viewpoints on this common practice?

[@billastell3753]

Thank you CONCERTMANchicago Although a long post it was well worth the time I used to read it. With regards to the possibility of wood chips containing Emerald Ash Borers, I expect they often do. Wood chips often contain other pathogens and tree species that are not the best for putting on a garden. For example white cedar and walnut wood chips. For me the bottom line is... the benefits of wood chips out weigh the possible downside.

[@CONCERTMANchicago]

Bill, Can't believe I wrote all that. This old house video will explain why a trees "Primary trunk root flare" needs to be *"Visible"*. And not suffocated by soil or mulch.....ENJOY! kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHqUY4uEg9afmqM PS: Mounding in video is excessive, but just 3 inches causes same fatal damage.

[@UtilemUnus]

I didn't see any fungus. Is that just me or are you missing something? Don't the fungus need roots to attach to? Maybe some low cover plants growing around your trees would help build more fungus

[@elenab177]

I used to get all excited about mycelium untill my garden got infested by armillaria mellea and lost 4 walnut trees and countless rose bushes.

[@robreiken]

Bottomline , all those woodchips eventually turns to fertilizer, makes perfect sense.