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Decomposed Wood Chips?

DuskrayTroubador

DuskrayTroubador

Well-known member
Veteran
I have access to a large amount of completely (several years going) decomposed woodchips that I can use for amending soil.


My question is: I know that hugelkulture beds benefit from wood actively composting in the beds where plants grow. Is there any benefit from using already composted wood instead?


Is already composted wood a very nutritious/fertile amendment to mix in?
 
S

Sweetdog760

Member
Great stuff. Full of beneficial fungus. It'll make a greedy fungal tea too. And because it's already composted you don't have to worry about the high amounts of carbon robbing your soil of N.
 
h.h.

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
If they were completely decomposed, they shouldn't look anything like wood chips.
 
DuskrayTroubador

DuskrayTroubador

Well-known member
Veteran
Sweetdog760 said:
Great stuff. Full of beneficial fungus. It'll make a greedy fungal tea too. And because it's already composted you don't have to worry about the high amounts of carbon robbing your soil of N.
Click to expand...

h.h. said:
If they were completely decomposed, they shouldn't look anything like wood chips.
Click to expand...

What is at the bottom of these piles is completely decomposed, doesn't look anything like wood chips at all.

Does this stuff have any NPK value or is it just conducive to microbial life?
 
h.h.

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
Maybe some K value.
Low N.
Composted Carbon to nitrogen ratio around 40:1.
Fresh c/n ratio 150:1

Good soil conditioner.
Good fungal food.
I'd do a heavy mulch with it.
If you have it. Sprinkle a bit of manure around first.
A little manure over the top watered in.
 
W

wetdog

New member
DuskrayTroubador said:
I have access to a large amount of completely (several years going) decomposed woodchips that I can use for amending soil.


My question is: I know that hugelkulture beds benefit from wood actively composting in the beds where plants grow. Is there any benefit from using already composted wood instead?


Is already composted wood a very nutritious/fertile amendment to mix in?
Click to expand...


For those not lucky enough to have access to broken down woodchips but would still like the benefits of hugelkulture adding ~10% of pine bark mulch/fines is a great addition to your mix. Being bark and not 'wood' there is very little of the N robbing action of using wood, but the fungal activity is amazing.

It has been part of my mix for over 45 years, even before I got into organics.

Cheap too! Locally, it's ~$2.50 for a 2cf bag at either Lowes or HD. I also add it to my worm bedding with good results. It also gets used as a mulch besides being globally in the mix.

Something to consider.

Wet
 
Ibechillin

Ibechillin

Masochist Educator
Microbeman said:
True but aged partially decomposed is better than fresh nitrogen robbers.
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I mentioned something about wood chips robbing nitrogen in Dank.Franks thread kinda recently and I feel like he thought I was stupid for it lol. :lurk:

Ibechillin said:
The beneficial bacteria eat/decompose wood, i learned awhile ago they use nitrogen as a fuel source to do it and will compete with the plant for it if not enough for both.
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dank.frank said:
@Ibechillin - I've never seen nitrogen shortage as a result of bacteria though. Ever. Not even in compost piles where 30:1 C:N ratios existed. I think that is one of those "while technically correct" facts, that is taken out of contextual relevance and so grossly contorted as a means to undermine the microbial/fungal/organic/soil food web platform that it borders on hilarious. If there isn't enough nitrogen to fuel some bacteria, trust me, there is certainly not enough nitrogen to grow a few blades of grass let alone a cannabis plant. But yes, technically, correct information.

dank.Frank
Click to expand...

Ibechillin said:
My understanding is that it takes more nitrate to decompose wood than it provides after decomposition therefore being a process of lost nitrogen. It made me think twice about using wood chips etc in a soil mix, merely mentioned it to strike up conversation on the subject.
Click to expand...
 
h.h.

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
I agree with dank.
Especially if using them for mulch.
I use truckloads of fresh chips in the orchard.
I prefer compost, but fresh is what I get so that's what I use.


I'll even go out on a limb and suggest that any nitrogen robbed from the soil by using wood mulch, would have gassed off anyway.
The wood mulch is only capturing the escaping gas. Like charging a battery.
 
Microbeman

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Frank's statement seems out of context and does not sound applicable to mixing non-aged/composted wood chips into soil.
Mulching with fresh wood chips [as I've pointed out previously and is stressed in using Ramial bits] is completely different from mixing it in a soil mix or working it into your soil.
The soil microbial hierarchy is developed so that microbe [fungi, bacteria, archaea] close to the surface are evolved to use the oxygen, light and atmospheric nitrogen in huge abundance to degrade carbon [and nitrogen] sources. When one topdresses with fresh wood chips/bits [also manure] this is golden and is processed into bioavailable nutrients.
However if these raw matter materials are mixed into the soil, the microbes that are put to task breaking the wood chips down must grab the fuel available to them at the depth they are at. They often deplete the available nitrogen to carry this out. This is what nutrient/nitrogen lockout is.
This does not always happen, which is somewhat mysterious to me. Some growers get away with it once or twice [perhaps the type of wood or older than they thought] and call bullshit on me. Go ahead and roll the dice.
We had this happen over a 1/4 acre garden when we did not listen to our elder-farmers:biggrin:
 
Drewsif

Drewsif

Member
I remember one study that swayed me from wood chips, where they were found to be detrimental to the growth of some plants. Allopathic or by other means, Im not sure. Of course they also say Spanish moss will give you chiggers
 
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