What do you guys do with your wood chips?

[Gus]

How do you typically dispose of the wood chips that are left over from a job? I am asking this question because a friend suggested that I use wood chips as a mulch over an area in which I plan to get some ground cover established. I also want to use them near a child's play area. Neither site is near any type of structure, so termites aren't much of a concern. My friend suggested calling a couple of arborists in my area and asking if they would just dump a load on my property to use. Do you all see any problems with this?

Thanks for the input!

 

[sonny]

Im sure you will have no problem having some arbors dumping chips on your prop. The only problem woul be getting them to stop dumping. 1 thing just make sure its clean loads.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Be sure to be there when the chips are dumped. Otherwise you might get a mixed load of twigs, logs and stringy chips. If a tree service isn't wiling to assure you that the load is clean, call another. Also, do some calculations to see how many cubic yards you'll need to cover the area. If you end up with too many chips, put a "Free Woodchips" sign on the pile or down on the corner and the chips will disappear around your neighborhood.

Tom

 

[treeman82]

By ground cover, do you mean grass? I would highly recommend that you do not do this. What I do with my chips, is I try to find customers who have thinned out wooded areas (no little saplings or brush) or just MASSIVE gardens. Dump the chips as close as possible to those areas and leave somebody there to spread em out. That is my ideal situation for getting rid of chips. The playground idea should work for you just fine.

 

[Shespen]

I use chips in my playground area as well as in all th flower beds and the dog kennel.

A few things that you should request when talking to a tree company about dumping chips. is to request that they are hardwood chips, that there are no chips from trees with thorns on them such as Hawthorn or Black Locust, and that the chips are not from a sticky sappy tree like pine. Be prepared to do some sorting because usually a tree company will dump the final rakings from a job in to the back of the chip truck instead of risking dulling the blades on the chipper. Personally I like Oak and maple chips the best.

Also studys have shown that chips do not attract termites. Termites like to have a more solid wood to build their caverns and they don't like exposer to birds and other predators.

Steve

 

[DDM]

I like Hickory chips Best of all. If i cant find
anyone that wants them I just find a vacant house with a for sale sign and dump them in the yard.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

A number of nurseries around here take clean loads too.

I used to keep a list of clients that wanted chip regularly.

One thing you can do is look for companies that do removals, that gets you the best chip.

Matt, croundcover is small plants like pakixandra and creeping euonomus.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

We had a lady call the office, after we dumped a load of chips in her yard, all excited about what the guys were doing in her chips.
She said she tried to spread them but they smelled like feces.

No, we didn't go pooh po in the chips, but we may have raked up some dog do. We all got a good laugh about it though.

 

[Jumper]

Wood chips

Some we dump in the city municipal yard, they are used to put on jogging and hiking trails. Others, we drop off on request to private property owners to use as fill. and finally a local duck farmer takes some to us as bed dressing in lieu of straw to line his bird's cages.

 

[Jumper]

Wood chips Pt 2

Also a local nursery takes some. The duck farmer actually prefers them with pine in them as it takes the stink away from the duck sh*t, which believe you me reeks worse than chickens or pigs.

 

[Nickrosis]

After spending hours planting pachysandra a couple summers ago, I was extraordinarily disheartened to see the lawn guy dumped his mulch into the bed. So, my dad, hero that he his, volunteered me to pick all the mulch out of the bed so the pachysandra could vegetatively reproduce like they're supposed to. In other words, don't mulch if you want groundcover - for the sake of the children.

To me, mulch is brown gold! You take something that is a burden, really, and make it into something profitable. Some people pay to have the chips dumped in a landfill, but that sickens me when I think of how much is wasted and how much of a landfill could have biodegraded if it had a chance. I would rather save the dumping fee and sell it as a landscaping product for $15 to $25 a yard. Food for thought.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Specialy now that the tipping fee here in MKE is by the tone. Used to be by the $30 a load, now it is around $120 for a small dump.

 

[Rob Murphy]

I used to have a front lawn now I have a front mulch....no mowing...no watering...no worries
We sell most of ours to a landscape supplier.People are becoming more aware of its value esp where water is limited or costly

 

[artwood]

Burn'em up

I heat my house, shop and wood kiln with a wood fired boiler from Central Boiler in MN. Has a draft blower that keeps em cookin'.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Must be easier to shovel them in insetead of lugging logs.

I've tohout of soemthing like that, have ahopper that can be filled with a skidder....

 

[Jumper]

Wood chips

Today was cleanup at the yard, and I burned some-seems like a great waste given posts earlier that state they are fuel. Anyways despite having a burn permit (we are in the country), the neighbours about 200 yards away(upwind) complained so I had to do a little PR with the fireman that showed up, and we kept on burning.Anyways, do not get mad, get even, this idiot who has been a pain in the butt before is going to have a visit shortly from the cops re his car with no muffler that he drives to work every day.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I know a guy who piles them up, then once or twice a year, rents a tub grinder, and regrinds them. They come out like that expensive stuff some guys sell. Once reground, he gets like $20/ Yard.
It's also a good time to clean up the yard and grind all the other crap that you don't want to(or can't) put through your chipper.

 

[DDM]

I have been giving them away but everyone keeps asking me how much for a load So from now on i'll at least get a days fuel $ for a load of chips.I have a load stashed on the back of the lot Cedar
I havent quiet decided whether or not to sell it of mulch around the yard with it.

 

[Stumper]

I give 'em away. Lots of people ask about buying them. People say "you could sell that mulch", but I give it away because: A. it makes for good public relations. B. if I'm giving it away I don't feel compelled to worry about the last rakings that did'nt go through the chipper. I used to give them to the local tree farm. Now, besides the list of people who want some whenever I can bring them I have a guy with acreage who wants to mulch everything! The local electric power plant mixes wood chips with their coal but I doubt I will ever have any to take to them!

 

[Jumper]

I get complaints about the last rakings that did not go through the chipper, and some farmer complained that the pieces were not small enough-he was using them to fill in a quagmire in his stock pen-and I was to do something about it. I did, I told my boss I was not going to deliver anymore to there. You would think people would be appreciative of something provided for free