Wood chips,good for muddy road,or good for bugs?

[jerry wayne]

Gotta guy giving me wood chips (that i asked for) to put on a path ,on my land from the barn to the front of the property......its just been through the chipper ,so there is some lil sticks and stuff ,but is not dangereous to the tires.Just dont wanna make a big boo boo puttin this stuff down any experiences would help.Bugs are a major concern also thanx

 

[windthrown]

Yes and no...

Depends on where you live, and the source of the material that you are using. For the most part termite colonies and carpenter ants are not going to invade an ares with chips to make colonies. They prefer logs and larger size wood. Now, that being said, chips are cellulose debris, and that does attract bugs that eat wood. They home in on it. So keep it from coming into contact with the house and barn siding, etc.

As for keeping down the mud, it works great. I use chipper material for paths around here, in the gardens, fields, etc. Wood and bark debris, small branches, etc. I only use material that I have cut and chipped here on the property. That is becasue of disease and invasive weed seed. If you chip a tree with fingus, you are going to spread that fungus all around your property. Non-wood-eating bugs, fungus, and other diseases love a free ride to a new source of plants to dine on and invade. In central CA, Sudden Oak Death (fungis) is a huge issue, and I would not recommend getting any chipper stuff in an area like that. Here we have several forest types of bugs and disease (ie., Port Ordord cedar disease). An issue with chipped invasive shrubs like large Scotch/Portugese brooms is that you may plant a lot of seeds in the chipper material if that stuff is in there.

 

[begleytree]

you are near my area so, if ya leave them in piles, you are gonna get wood bugs (wood roaches) and centipedes. spread them out and you don't seem to have any bug problems. chips driven over into mud really tacks it up good, keeps it stable and drier.
-Ralph

 

[tawilson]

Don't try fill holes with them, the stupid things float. I probably should have known.

 

[Grace Tree]

I use them for mud abatement on of some commercial property. I spread them 4 to 6". Work great.
Phil

 

[lawson's tree s]

built a road out of wood chips i worked really good just had to keep it touched up once and a while . they will wash away if they are spread to thin .i spread mine pretty thick.

 

[Highclimber OR]

Yeah it works but as stated make it thick(depending on how bad your mud problem is) and touch-ups will be necessary depending on what, or more importantly how heavy the stuff is that you are rolling over it.

 

[johnha]

Based on advice I got here, about 14 months ago I made a wood chip path 4' wide with landscape timbers for edging. It goes from my front gate to my shed, about 100' total. I keep it about 3" deep.

I've replenished it once about on its birthday. It works well and I haven't noticed any increase in bugs. HTH

 

[GLM]

wood chips are alright for a ground cover but you DO NOT want to drive on them, they turned a back driveway I had in to a mud pit, they break down so fast when driven on they trashed a perfectly good drive, I got them all for free so I said what the heck and laid them down, I needed a bobcat to scrape the whole thing down three months later If you need to drive on the road don't chip it, save them for some other area. Good luck Jon

 

[yooper]

Yes there really bad for a driveway, they retain to much moisture underneath. And once broken down they turn into a nice black muck.