Wood Chips and the Hidden Benefit of Thrift

I was reading the latest issue of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardener and enjoyed the article on ramial wood chips. Celine Caron discussed the differences between traditional bagged wood chips used by many people as landscape mulch and ramial wood chips (derived from the branches of deciduous hardwood trees). While ramial wood chips are considered “wood chips”, these might be called “ramial wood prunings”, since they are commonly the byproduct of landscape or forest maintenance.

Celine’s article references her other writings on the benefits of using ramial wood, and briefly mentions their many advantages over traditional wood chips. These benefits include a better C:N ratio, higher nutrient levels, and preferential breakdown by Basidiomycetes. Basidiomycetes support soil organisms that lead to humic and fulvic acids (you need these in your soil fauna for healthy plants).

If you have concerns about these products robbing nitrogen during breakdown from your soil & therefore your plants, you can add nitrogen periodically (some advocate for dilute urine) to balance this or put down a nice thick layer of compost under your wood chips.

The other unmentioned benefit of using ramial wood for you is that this product can be obtained for free. So rather than paying a few hundred dollars (or more if you are buying bagged) for 4 cubic yards of chips, you can get these for free. The only downsides are timing and the potential for invasive or noxious weeds.

I will address weeds first. Like your farmer and compost providers, you should get to know your local arborist. This is more than networking with service providers who are important to your life and lifestyle. Arborists often pay to dump (or pay to haul) waste wood prunings. If they are working in your area they may be happy to give you what they have with a phone call. However, you should speak to the arborist to discuss what you’re doing and why. Part of this conversation should include a discussion that you do not want chips if they are from a yard with invasive species (bittersweet) and noxious weeds (poison ivy). A conversation is all that is needed.

That brings me to the issue of timing. Your arborist may not be in your area when you need or want wood chips. I tell my arborist that I will take whatever he has and set extra wood chips aside in a pile near the compost pile to be used as needed in the future. Also, even if he is in your area, he won’t know until he is onsite whether there are invasive or noxious weeds. For this reason, you may have to wait a few weeks (or months) before chips are available.

I don’t mind waiting a few weeks or months for a great product that is free. In fact, like most good things, I think it is worth the wait.

Cheers,

Mark

Thoughts on Weeds

What are weeds? A weed is a plant that is growing where you don't want it. I don't know how first coined that, but it works for me.

Most people think of noxious weeds when they here weeds. Noxious weeds would include poison ivy, thistle and other things that can hurt. I would also consider invasive plants, like purple loosestrife, noxious. I include noxious weeds in this discussion. Poison ivy or thistle growing away from where people contact it is no bother.

In general, weeds can be used to tell you something about soil conditions in the area they are growing. For example, plantain in your lawn is an indicator of acidic and compacted soil. Catchweed and chickweed are indicators of healthy soil with high organic matter (e.g., in a vegetable garden, cold frame or greenhouse). This should also tell you that just changing soil conditions to be optimal for what you want to grow will NOT prevent all weeds. Nevertheless, you can use the weeds in your yard as a soil indicator and, in some instances, change the soil to be more favorable to what you want to grow and less favorable to what you do not want to grow. To understand what your weeds are telling you, I suggest a reference book. I use "Weeds of the Northeast" as my source of information. This book has great photos of the lifespan of the plant (helpful for identification) and plenty of information on habitat. I supplement this information with my frequent yard reference: "Rodale's Chemical-Free Yard & Garden: The Ultimate Authority on Successful Organic Gardening".

Ask any organic gardener and you will hear that the key to weed prevention is understanding the weed biology (see above) and controlling weed seeds. Preventing weeds begin with controlling the seeds. If you notice a weed, I suggest that you first remove any flowers or seed heads, then identify what it is and what it is telling you and remove the plant. If it propagates by rhizomes as well as seeds (e.g., red sorrel), be sure to carefully remove those also.

Controlling weed seeds begins in your yard, but also extends beyond your property to upwind areas (wind-borne seeds), animal habitat (viz. seeds transported by birds) and your source of new plants or soil (are you bringing weeds home from the garden center or spreading them with your compost?). Also, realize that seeds can remain dormant in soil for years. Cultivating a new patch of ground can expose seeds that were buried there years ago. All of these other sources of weeds should be kept in mind when you're in your yard.

When you are removing weeds from your yard, remember that some weeds can be eaten. For example spring dandelions make great addition to mixed green salads and you can make wine from the flowers. Eliminating weeds by eating them is good for you (assuming you are not spraying them with something nasty) and feels like justice! There are several excellent references for identifying plants in your area that can be eaten:  Stalking the Wild Asparagus and Foraging New England: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods and Medicinal Plants from Maine to Connecticut.  Many of the plants in these texts include weeds. One word of caution, be sure you KNOW what you are eating (positive identification) and that it was not sprayed with weed killer (I doubt that is an issue if you are reading my blog!).

The goal of organic gardening is not complete domination and the absence of weeds, rather your goal is to stay ahead of the weeds and do what you can to eliminate the noxious weeds and reduce the seed bank of the others. Over time, you will minimize the seed bank of weeds in your yard, optimize conditions for the plants you want to grow, and achieve balance in your yard.

Cheers,

Mark