# Anybody selling wood chips?



## epicklein22 (Feb 3, 2010)

Does anyone on here sell wood chips by the yard? My work usually sells their chips every year to an incinerator/boiler in Akron, but they never fired up it up this year. So I have a buddy with a stake body dump truck and decided to throw up an ad on CL for wood chips. $8 bucks a yard plus delivery. Anybody else try this or have some success? I know there isn't much money there, but it beats nothing and will put some money in my pocket, my buddy's and my boss'/owner's.


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## pdqdl (Feb 3, 2010)

I have had grounds maintenance contracts in the past that would use my composted chips. 

Nurseries will typically accept truckloads of chips, but nobody in our area would ever pay for them. There are too many tree services trying to get rid of them.


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## treeman82 (Feb 3, 2010)

One nursery around here just put up a sign this year, you want to dump chips, it's $25 per truckload. In the past it was free.

I've done a bunch of jobs in the past where the client wanted to cover a large area in chips... 10 - 100 yards of clean chips, you get some money for the material, and then you get money to spread them.


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## epicklein22 (Feb 3, 2010)

Ya, that is the general consensus around here too. We will give them away to customers/nurseries, sell some on a job where we spread it, and the rare occasion where we charge to dump the chips. I thinking I might be able to snag some business off CL where people don't understand they could find them for free. I think offering quality chips will be key. I will update this thread if I get some good business.


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## jefflovstrom (Feb 3, 2010)

I am always looking for free dumping, the cheapest I can find is the next option, but palm is not considered 'green waste' and cost alot. Took a load to Escondido city dump (cause no-one wants it) and that load was $600.00. I always call Cal-Trans to see if they will acept chips and I get lucky with them. Tough sometimes dumping on a busy freeway like I-5. I will never find anyone to buy it.
Jeff


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## beastmaster (Feb 3, 2010)

We have a sign on the back of our chipper truck,"free wood chips". In ten years its gone from 5.00 to dump to 135.00 for a 12ft chipper truck. I worked for a guy who had a beast grinder and he had a deal with a local fence company and took all their old cedar and redwood fences and did pretty good selling redwood chips to landscapers.


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## PurdueJoe (Feb 3, 2010)

Why aren't palms considered green waste?? Sorry for a dump question but I've never had to work with them.


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## jefflovstrom (Feb 3, 2010)

beastmaster said:


> We have a sign on the back of our chipper truck,"free wood chips". In ten years its gone from 5.00 to dump to 135.00 for a 12ft chipper truck. I worked for a guy who had a beast grinder and he had a deal with a local fence company and took all their old cedar and redwood fences and did pretty good selling redwood chips to landscapers.



Did you dump more at $5.00 than now at $135.00 ,Sounds like you got something good going on! Must be some special stuff. 
Jeff


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## beastmaster (Feb 3, 2010)

PurdueJoe said:


> Why aren't palms considered green waste?? Sorry for a dump question but I've never had to work with them.



I think it maybe cause palm doesn't compose vary well and those fronds like to wrap around the tub in tub grinders. Figure out a use for palm waste and you could become rich i think.


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## jefflovstrom (Feb 3, 2010)

beastmaster said:


> I think it maybe cause palm doesn't compose vary well and those fronds like to wrap around the tub in tub grinders. Figure out a use for palm waste and you could become rich i think.



Not just palm, they say palm last longer in a landfill than Pampers. But also tough to dump Yucca and Erythrina, ( coral trees ), and more and more people are rejecting pine unless it is only wood chips- no green.


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## beastmaster (Feb 3, 2010)

jefflovstrom said:


> Did you dump more at $5.00 than now at $135.00 ,Sounds like you got something good going on! Must be some special stuff.
> Jeff



We do pack the truck a lot more. In all seriousness there use to be 5 green dumps with in a 10 mile radius, now even the last one(135.00)has packed up. Lucky we hooked up a deal with a few other tree companys and we truck our chips up north somewhere at a lost I'm told but still cheaper then dumping locally. At 40.00 a ton the waste dump isn't no deal and its not close. Time is money


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## pdqdl (Feb 3, 2010)

Geez! 

I only pay $40 for a single axle truck of wood chips, regardless of the volume. Tandem axle of logs & brush: $125.00

Wood chips are free if you are willing to drive all the way to one of the nurseries.

At $600 per truckload, I would think you could buy some old ravine that nobody is willing to build on and truck your own yard waste out to it. California probably has some law against that, don't they?

You could always go into the "compost manufacturing business", and charge your peers $600 per truckload for their palm fronds. Mix it 50% with topsoil, bag it, and sell it for more than the regular dirt. [not my idea: there is a big company here in KC that does just that.] I can't imagine that the sandpile you guys call dirt in San Diego could ever have too much organic material in it.


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## jefflovstrom (Feb 3, 2010)

You said it, Time is money, weigh the difference.
Jeff


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## epicklein22 (Feb 3, 2010)

Geeze, that must really make things tough for you guys out in Cali. Dumping is free around here, mulch companies tell everyone to keep bringing it.

We just dump everything in the acre of swampy land behind the shop. We just clean it out every couple of years by loading it and delivering it to a incinerator or boiler.


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## jefflovstrom (Feb 3, 2010)

epicklein22 said:


> Geeze, that must really make things tough for you guys out in Cali. Dumping is free around here, mulch companies tell everyone to keep bringing it.
> 
> We just dump everything in the acre of swampy land behind the shop. We just clean it out every couple of years by loading it and delivering it to a incinerator or boiler.



If you are trying to make me jealous, it is working.
Jeff


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## epicklein22 (Feb 3, 2010)

jefflovstrom said:


> If you are trying to make me jealous, it is working.
> Jeff



Does anyone make mulch out of the palm chips? How does it chip in general? I remember chipping some tiny ornamental palm for a customer once. It was almost like shaved ice coming out of the shoot.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Feb 3, 2010)

pdqdl said:


> At $600 per truckload, I would think you could buy some old ravine that nobody is willing to build on and truck your own yard waste out to it. California probably has some law against that, don't they?




Count on it.



pdqdl said:


> You could always go into the "compost manufacturing business", and charge your peers $600 per truckload for their palm fronds. Mix it 50% with topsoil, bag it, and sell it for more than the regular dirt. [not my idea: there is a big company here in KC that does just that.] I can't imagine that the sandpile you guys call dirt in San Diego could ever have too much organic material in it.




I used to know a guy who had the contract to clean out the stables at Santa Anita race track. He got paid to take the stuff which he hauled it out to the desert, where he ground it up, composted it with, you guessed it, wood chips and other green waste, and sold mulch and blended topsoil.

He was making a killing!


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## Ellistrees (Feb 3, 2010)

*Chips are free to get rid of in Indiana as well.*

Lots of people request for filling in low spots. Local mulch company takes all everyone brings including brush, stumps and wood.

We use it around our place to fill in low spots.

Sure hope things don't change around here.


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## jefflovstrom (Feb 3, 2010)

If you got a chuck and duck, thats best but need to stomp the fluff down now and again to fill the truck. Roller feeds will have stringy fibers that grab on and spin . On Morbark chippers, we chip with the belly plate open. Seems like you can load more by hand and stacking inside the truck, but, time is money.
Jeff


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## jefflovstrom (Feb 3, 2010)

Ellistrees said:


> Lots of people request for filling in low spots. Local mulch company takes all everyone brings including brush, stumps and wood.
> 
> We use it around our place to fill in low spots.
> 
> Sure hope things don't change around here.



Don't do palms and you won't. Palm is not compost material, it is trash and you pay by what the scale says. Mix it? You can try but if you get caught you could screw yourself of a dump site. California, gotta love it.
Jeff


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## dingeryote (Feb 3, 2010)

If any of you guys are lookin for a place to dump 'em, bring 'em on over, and I'll give you #'s for lots of guys looking to buy 'em from you.

No walnut though.

Mulching the crowns of Blueberry bushes is the latest rage, and around here the prices just keep going up because of demand.

I could use a couple hundred Tons myself. LOL!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## pdqdl (Feb 4, 2010)

Why wouldn't palm turn to compost? 

1. It's organic.
2. Everything organic decomposes.

Perhaps it is so durable it takes too long to decompose? 
Maybe it has never been introduced to the right conditions to make it compost?
Too much work to make it profitable?


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## mikewhite85 (Feb 4, 2010)

How many tons is in a 600 dollar load of palm fronds? That must be a huge truck. I pay 50 for my pickup but in Sun Valley there is a dump that lets you dump for free on Saturdays- even palms- but it has to be 6 yards or less.


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## joesawer (Feb 4, 2010)

You guys down the hill in SoCal have a crazy situation.
Google Bradco Environmental They have a yard in Redlands now and maybe others that will accept from the public.
They will beet those numbers for dumping.
Jeff I think if you explore inland some you might find some where that would take chips more reasonable. Also contact CalFire they always seem to have some use for chips.
When I was working around Julien, ppl where always asking us for chips.


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## joesawer (Feb 4, 2010)

pdqdl said:


> Why wouldn't palm turn to compost?
> 
> 1. It's organic.
> 2. Everything organic decomposes.
> ...





Nothing much decomposes in SoCal. It does not spend enough time with enough moisture in it. It pretty much piles up till it burns.


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## sgreanbeans (Feb 4, 2010)

We have the old CAT plant that is a businees park now, we can dump anything there, full logs if we can get them there, they have a tube grinder and us the materail to heat all the shops.

Jeff, 
I used to work for Sutton in San Marcos, not very long, I was hired by Gothic, Sutton used to have a place that would take palms. I think they charged 25 a load, it was in Escondido.
Also, while at Gothic, They brought in a 40yd roll off dumpster, I could pack alot in one of those, had it changed every couple of weeks.
Call the Branch manager at The Brickman Group, his name is Mike, Tell em Scott from Iowa sent u (my old boss) He is the one that set up the dumpster, I believe it was around 300 a dump.

A proper usage for palm waste needs to be developed!


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## outofmytree (Feb 4, 2010)

I guess things are different all over. In Perth we have zero market for fire wood but in Summer particularly, I get $220 per truckload (15m3) of mulch all day. I would average somewhere between $6000 to $8000 per year in mulch sales or more if you include the cash sales. (If you work for the Tax Department I was joking. Of course I declare all my income.)

As to the question of palms as mulch it is worth noting that different parts of palms decompose at different rates. We do more Cocos (_Syagrus romanzoffiana_) palms than anything else and the fronds take forever to decompose compared to almost any other material. The trunks on the other hand are highly acidic (tested a number of times between 4 and 4.5 pH) and make a great additive to hardwood mulch as they greatly increase the rate of decomposition. 

If you are looking to sell mulch it would pay to spend a little time asking your clients what they want to do with it (control weeds, provide soil nutrition, save water, improve aesthetic appeal) and tailor the load to suit. I now plan my week so we have palms every Friday (no Catholic jokes please) and hardwoods Monday to Thursday. It is also vital to sharpen or rotate knives every week. Just by this simple maintenance and a little job planning my business has gone from spending $9000 per annum on tip fees to just $2500 and of course, adding another income stream as noted above.

If there are any enterprising folks out there with some computer skills maybe you should take a peek at Tim's website. The link is here. http://www.mulchnet.com/postcode.php?problem=2 just type in 6028 where it asks for postcode so you can look around. Check out his history. Its an interesting read and if you have some acreage and a chipper it may well be a business oppurtunity.


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## familytreeman (Feb 4, 2010)

*buy chips*

Our dump buys wood chips and burns them, they offer 3$ per yard.

We dump logs and brush there free.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Feb 4, 2010)

joesawer said:


> Nothing much decomposes in SoCal. It does not spend enough time with enough moisture in it. It pretty much piles up till it burns.



Yep. Plus, palm fronds are almost like plastic. They shed water like it, anyway.


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## jefflovstrom (Feb 4, 2010)

mikewhite85 said:


> How many tons is in a 600 dollar load of palm fronds? That must be a huge truck. I pay 50 for my pickup but in Sun Valley there is a dump that lets you dump for free on Saturdays- even palms- but it has to be 6 yards or less.



I got a laugh out of that, that would be a big load! (if if were only fronds), these were removals, heavy. That load was probably a full 25 yards-back in the 70's and 80's, no charge, . California, gotta love it.
Jeff


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## epicklein22 (May 3, 2010)

Well, the wood chip business has been picking up. Over 50 yards delivered this weekend. Clean, quality chips is what the advantage I have over free chips. With mulch at $20 bucks a yard, plus delivery; it makes wood chips a more appealing product. All the customers seemed to be very happy with the product. The Morbark chippers make nice chips.

I haven't been making much money myself after paying the owner $3 dollars a yard and my buddy to haul the chips in his stake dump, but I haven't been doing anything besides setting up a time and date, and help with loading and unloading.

Free chips aren't nice and nice chips aren't free.


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## Bigus Termitius (May 4, 2010)

We have no problem giving them away, they are in demand. Sometimes I'm persuaded to sell them for whatever. 

Had the power company secretary's son on my crew a couple years ago, (a standalone adventuresome tale) He turned down $200 in cash for a load while I was finishing a couple removals. That was one of those early signs of things to come with him.

At any rate, I sold a one ton contractor dump bed full of clean thornless honey locust chips from a couple of removals I did. They were perfection via the Vermeer 1400 XL. I had them set off to the side for myself, but someone saw them and offered to buy them. I forget what I charged because he wanted a tree trimmed and I just combined the cost. Say 300, half being chips and delivery.

I believe that once I settle in somewhere that I will stock pile depending on the various quality and sell them from home along with firewood, greenhouse products, and my son's birdhouses. I've also been considering becoming a chimney sweep to compliment my other services.

Where folks have tree services by the short hairs is in our need to dispose and quickly.

I've dumped on a couple locations that have sold all that I have dumped and want more. Some have kicked some back my way.

Everyone that wants chips stops and wants to know what we are doing with our chips. I give them the usual with emphasis on the fact that the demand for my chips will not be met. The smart ones know how to be next on the list. Money talks.

The point is in the perception. If they think you are desperate, then they have you where they want you regardless of their need. If you act as if you have a thousand options and you won't make it to half of them to supply the needs and that you can always take it home if need be, they reveal their willingness to pay for the material and delivery. Simple.

I don't mind giving it away though if the situation is right.


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## treesquirrel (May 4, 2010)

There is a local tree service here that recently bought a big 18 wheeler chip box truck and they sell chips to a biomass facility. He lets us and other competitors dump our chips at his yard.


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## Damon (May 4, 2010)

we get 38.50 per yard of clean quality for the paper mills and 30 a yard for biomass plants if its dirty have to have a wheeler load though or there not interested so most people stockpile


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