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Shredded branches as mulch?
Esspee
Posts: 274
A neighbour has a huge pile of chipped up branches which have been piled up for over six months. He has said I am welcome to use them as a mulch but I am in two minds about it. I know in the long term it would add organic matter to the soil but suspect that in the short term it might deplete the nitrogen in the soil and affect established plants. Advice would be welcomed. Thanks.k
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I use it all the time, especially around shrubs. I feel moisture retention and weed suppression outweighs any loss of nutrients which can be replaced.
Not so good around tiny plants, the blackbirds sling it around and smother them.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Thank you for taking the time to advise me. Verdun, would gromore be OK when the weather gets warmer and if so what amount should I use per sq.metre? Nutcutlet you have made me wonder how the squirrels will react to having their carefully buried nuts further hidden by the mulch. If they go into a digging frenzy my front of the border plants may well be buried. Well I suppose it will give me a good reason to do regular tours of inspection throughout the winter. I was rewarded yesterday with a handful of alpine strawberries with more to come!
We have been using shredded branches as mulch, both fresh and composted for the last 20 years and I cannot say that I have noticed any Nitrogen deficiency problems caused by them. The fields around us have suffered because of the amount of rain over the last few years, but a crop of Field beans seems to have solved the problem for the moment.
If it does worry folks then sprinkle a tablespoon or so per square yard of Bonemeal before mulching.
wow berghill, you've more patience than I have. You've composted for the past 20 years, I only give it about 6 months.
I add shredded chippings ( which I get from a local tree surgeon ) with grass clippings and store it in those metre cube builders' dumpy sacks. I find it ready to use after a couple of months in summer, a little longer when it's colder.
Great patience is needed at times. The non-compost heap is now 6 years old and I might just get round to using it this Spring.
Non-compost is the stuff you are not supposed to put on the heap, things like dock and dandelion roots etc. Heaped and covered and forgotten about, they eventually rot away.
I have successfully used relatively fresh wood chippings (abt 3 mths old) as a mulch around plants. I find they rot down much faster than the more usual bark chippings - so may be less suitable for use on paths etc unless you are happy to top up regularly.
I would certainly go ahead and use it as plant mulch provided the chippings are not from a diseased tree / shrub. (You wouldn't want to risk introducing any nasties in to your garden!)
Ooooh, how do you raise the subject of whether or not a neighbour's woodchip pile hosts diseased material?
Topbird you have given me a problem I hadn't considered!
Esspee
Sorry! - didn't mean to give you a dilemma. I guess it depends how friendly you are with your neighbour as to how you handle it!
In your original posting you talked of shredded branches - so does this mean the original tree or shrub is still there & heavily pruned or has it been removed altogether?
Perhaps you could have a general chat with your neighbour during which you 'just happen to ask' what the tree is / was, why he had it pruned / lopped / felled etc. With a bit of luck it was just cutting out light / too big for the site - nothing more sinister than that.
Just to raise another point - if it was a walnut tree I would be wary of spreading those chippings as well. Walnuts release a toxin into the soil to kill competing plants. It might not be a problem with matured chippings - but worth some research