GOOD point, Nicrosis
Yessir, Nickrosis. That 'robbing' of nutrients that Nick refers to is called 'nitrogen draft'.
Fresh hardwood chips are low in nitrogen, because trees, and wood in general, are low in nitrogen. Nitrogen in biological systems, is associated with protein, or byproducts of protein, like after a chicken has eaten soybean meal, it's poop is high in nitrogen, because it's diet was high in nitrogen.
Even the luguminous trees are low in protein and nitrogen, even though their roots are 'fixing nitrogen from the air. The nodules on the roots are high in nitrogen, but not the roots themselves, nor the wood have much protein in them.
The term 'rot' is generally applied to very moist things that are dead. Wood chips are not really all that wet, and though technically are 'rotting', I think 'decomposing' is a better term. In fact, bioconversion, if you're talking about the whole process of going from chips, to soil.
So, for chips to (bio)convert to soil, a host of invisible worlds are at at work. first on the attack, fungi. Fungus is the first to attack dead wood, because that's what fungus does in nature.
The fungus run's across the surface of the chips, growing into strands of white filaments called mycelium. Other microscopic bugs and bacteria find this a good food source, but what limits the growth rate of the fungus, and thus all subsequent forms of life feeding on the fungus, is nitrogen. If there is not enough nitrogen present in the chips, the fungus will find a way of sucking it out of the soil so it can form it's own proteins.
That's the short-version of bioconversion of chips. Chips from evergreens generally have even less nitrogen than hardwood chips.
If you add urea (chicken $hit) to your chips, you will supplement the needed nitrogen, and 'balance' the nutrients so that 1) Nitrogen draft does not occur and 2) The fungus can really rock across the chips, then the millipedes and centipedes and, in New Zealand they've got kilopedes, big 'ol things called wetas.
Urea can be gotten from feed and farm supply stores for about 8 bucks for 50 pounds. It's very, very cheap. It's just pelletized chicken poop. Ya just sprinkle some on your chips, and conversion back to rich earth is greatly accelerated. Or you can use any high-nitrogen fertilizer, like Miracle-Gro, but that's usually costs way more than urea, especially a 50 pound sack at a time -TM-
You sure pile it on deep bob.
