Wood chips and composting

[jaxs]

Theres over 19 different directions you can go with large quantities of wood chip. It would help if we knew if you are looking to just get rid of them without making a mess or want as much soil benifit as cam be had from them. What king of equipment you have and if time is a factor. Mixed with manure, kept moist and stired every 90 days will yield fine mulch withing a year. Good compost withing 2 years. Left 8" deep around trees and extending half way to edge of root zone will hugely benifit trees in dry areas.

 

[CalG]

Are you using a chipper or shredder to produce compost? If your using a chipper, which make and model.

I want to make compost but my Wallenstein 4" gravity chipper produces very large chips that will likely take years to break down enough to use as compost. It also produces a lot of small twigs and a lot of the small branches (with needles) get spit out whole. I have tried spreading the chipped material out and running over it with the brush hog and that certainly makes the chips a LOT smaller but it involves too much time and effort. I would prefer a once and done approach.

A few years back, the power company sent tree service contractors out to clear the lines in our area.

When they were nearby, I asked the foreman if the chips were available, and I could take some and so save his off loading time. Whey! That was a lot of rough chips to send through the shredder fork full after fork full, then move the tractor and repeat. But, It did produce a great amount of suitable garden mulch and chip compost... Question is, where did it all go?

 

[jaxs]

A few years back, the power company sent tree service contractors out to clear the lines in our area.

When they were nearby, I asked the foreman if the chips were available, and I could take some and so save his off loading time. Whey! That was a lot of rough chips to send through the shredder fork full after fork full, then move the tractor and repeat. But, It did produce a great amount of suitable garden mulch and chip compost... Question is, where did it all go?

It does make you wonder but it soon reduces to less than 10% original volume then eventually consumed by microbes in soil but it makes soil much better growing medium.

 

[RalphVa]

Are you using a chipper or shredder to produce compost? If your using a chipper, which make and model.

I want to make compost but my Wallenstein 4" gravity chipper produces very large chips that will likely take years to break down enough to use as compost. It also produces a lot of small twigs and a lot of the small branches (with needles) get spit out whole. I have tried spreading the chipped material out and running over it with the brush hog and that certainly makes the chips a LOT smaller but it involves too much time and effort. I would prefer a once and done approach.

I currently have a WM WC46 and run it at 450 PTO rpm and 5 speed on the hydraulic feed.

Before, for 16 years, I used a MacKissic TPH-122

 

[Hilbilly]

I currently have a WM WC46 and run it at 450 PTO rpm and 5 speed on the hydraulic feed.

Before, for 16 years, I used a MacKissic TPH-122

Does your WC46 produces compostable sized materials? I've watched all kinds of YT videos showing the Woodland Mills chippers in action but none of them show the chip sizes with any clarity.

Here are some pics of the stuff I chipped over the last few days with my Beco 4" gravity chipper. These pics don't show the wood chips, since they have been covered by the green branches and tree tops. As you can see these are not finely chopped. There are also a couple of pics showing the material I chipped about 3 years ago and then ran over it with the brush mower to chop it up. This material looks like decent composting materials but I'm a little concerned that nothing has started to grow on that pile.

The trees around here consist of Pine, Spruce, Cedar, Poplar, Birch, Alder and Cottonwood.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

Cut down some trees for firewood, and going to run the tops through the chipper. So I’ll have bucketloads.

Can this be used to compost?

If so what else should I add?

Can I just dump it in a pile or do I need to contain it?

TIA.

The microbes that digest wood need nitrogen and water to do their job. Put them in a pile and mix in some nitrogen fertilizer and keep it watered. I pile them into natural ravines that channel rainwater. Pine will take a year or two to turn into lovely compost. Hardwoods will take about four years. Cedar will last until the end of time.
The soil in the raised beds is 100% composted wood chips (with some hugelkultur going on at the bottom)

 

[Hilbilly]

I had to look up hugelkultur and it looks very interesting. Might give it a try and thanks for the info about using nitrogen fertilizer on the wood chips. I thought the green material in the compost pile was the nitrogen supply. Is that wrong? I like your second picture. That looks like very good compost.

As far as cedar taking forever to rot, my experience says otherwise. Years ago I made a compost box out of cedar, thinking it would last forever. However it only took a few years and it was rotten and had to be replaced. Maybe it was due to the wet dry cycles or just the way the cedar was exposed but whatever the reason' it did not last very long. With my luck it WILL last forever when I want it to decompose, lol.

 

[jyoutz]

anything that will go thru my 16" Vermeer and gets chipped goes in the dirt to rot. If you leave it on top it takes longer but will work.---spread it med. thickness, plow under 18" deep and good to go! Mixing green material and manures does wonders to speed up the process.
I add a lot of commercial fertilizers to it as well to offset the N lock that they claim happens with wood chips. I still dont believe it but i am no chemist! lol!

It’s actually a biological process. The nitrogen fixing bacteria go to work breaking down the wood chips and don’t do their normal job inoculating the soil with nitrogen. Therefore the soil is nutrient poor during the time it takes to break down the wood chips. Anytime chips are added to the soil, nitrogen needs to be added also.

 

[RalphVa]

Does your WC46 produces compostable sized materials? I've watched all kinds of YT videos showing the Woodland Mills chippers in action but none of them show the chip sizes with any clarity.

Here are some pics of the stuff I chipped over the last few days with my Beco 4" gravity chipper. These pics don't show the wood chips, since they have been covered by the green branches and tree tops. As you can see these are not finely chopped. There are also a couple of pics showing the material I chipped about 3 years ago and then ran over it with the brush mower to chop it up. This material looks like decent composting materials but I'm a little concerned that nothing has started to grow on that pile.

The trees around here consist of Pine, Spruce, Cedar, Poplar, Birch, Alder and Cottonwood.

View attachment 742434View attachment 742435View attachment 742436View attachment 742437View attachment 742438View attachment 742439

The WC46 at half speed on hydraulic and 450 rpm PTO makes bigger chips that shown.

 

[newbury]

The microbes that digest wood need nitrogen and water to do their job. Put them in a pile and mix in some nitrogen fertilizer and keep it watered. I pile them into natural ravines that channel rainwater. Pine will take a year or two to turn into lovely compost. Hardwoods will take about four years. Cedar will last until the end of time.
The soil in the raised beds is 100% composted wood chips (with some hugelkultur going on at the bottom)

It’s actually a biological process. The nitrogen fixing bacteria go to work breaking down the wood chips and don’t do their normal job inoculating the soil with nitrogen. Therefore the soil is nutrient poor during the time it takes to break down the wood chips. Anytime chips are added to the soil, nitrogen needs to be added also.

And one thing that it seems to have been ignored - local climate.
Things compost slower when it's colder.