Learn about mulch types, costs and design considerations here.

Fresh wood chips are often available at municipal landfills, compost sites and following tree removals at residences. Before getting into some details, let’s be clear about our terminology. Mulch refers to a layer of some type of material on the surface of the soil. It is usually coarse in texture, and provides the benefits mentioned above.

In areas where drought is common

Aug 20, So, can you use fresh wood chips as mulch? In most cases, the answer is going to be no. This is because fresh wood chips, more so than aged ones, will pull a considerable amount of nitrogen from the soil, an imperative gas for proper plant growth.

This is even more important if you know your tree or garden prefers nitrogen-rich soil/5(68). They can't chip the whole tree - the trunks and some branches are too big. However, if he chips what is possible to chip, you can have a large pile of fresh wood chips to use as mulch, pile up and compost or whatever. If I had had the room, I would have had the tree removal guys leave me the chips from my neighbor's trees.

Feb 07, Another concern is how mulch may affect pH. Research on the pH of wood leachate indicates that leachate is quite acidic and could significantly lower soil pH depending on the volume used. Also, if fresh wood chips are applied in too thick of a layer, the heat generated as they begin to compost can also injure herbaceous treeclearing.barted Reading Time: 2 mins. Aug 04, phkat, you'll be fine. You applied the pine as a mulch and not incorporated it into your soil.

I love your description of your garden, with naturally occurring plants encouraged to grow around the pines.

As a mulch there will not be much of a nitrogen depletion; if you had mixed it into your soil you would see a temporary N depletion as it breaks down. I'm sure your daylillies and such will be fine.