Wood Chips!

baymule

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Is your wood chips supply still going? Hope so.

Mary
We are still using the loads we got earlier this year. We used a lot of them on the pipeline, the worst soil on the place. We are feeding the horse's round bale of hay on the pipeline, they drop a lot of hay, poop on it and it adds humus to the soil. We started doing this last fall and will continue until early spring when I sow grass seed on the pipeline and close the horses off. In the meantime, the wood chips are helping to check erosion and adding humus.
 

flowerbug

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wood chips will certainly help with erosion control as it breaks the wind and rain fall and the fungi will knit the area together. once a mat of wood chips and fungi dries out it may be rather tough to get rain through it but if you are planting it out and then having animals in there to graze that won't be an issue for long. :)
 

ducks4you

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I have forgotten who complained, rightly so, that soiled horse stall bedding from stalls in stables contains a LOT of pine shavings. I use as close to sawdust as possible, FINE Pine shavings. I have used Medium Pine shavings in the past, specifically for my chicken's coop, (now EMPTY bc of a weasel!! :hit:hit:hit, which I Intend to correct soon), and, in the past I noticed that the Medium Pine shavings take more than 5 years to break down when just piled up, never turned. I think that is what you want your mulch to do, be safe for your plants, be safe for YOU, and take a long time to decompose.
I am suggesting that maybe you should consider buying/laying down MEDIUM Pine shavings as mulch instead of wood mulch.
Compare the prices and quantity. You probably won't want to or care to store any, but I would suggest a brand new small metal trash can for that purpose, so that mice don't set up house in it.
1.5 cubic foot
19 pounds, forgot how many cubic foot, but I can spread 1 out in my horse's 12' x 12' stall, a couple of inches thick
Now, THIS >
... I would recommend. I have used 3yo PREEN in my garden, JUST as effective, so you can buy/store the rest for next year.
BTW, I was window shopping/considering buying this for my horse's training area.
My horse trainer friend told me that she was part of a police training session in an outdoor arena that HAD this as mulch. Seems great, recycling tires, soft if you fall, easy on the horse's legs.
EXCEPT, they used explosive devices in the training session and it set the arena on fire.
Therefore, do you WANT to lay down something combustible right next to your house?
Ironically, I may spread limestone down on my arena. In front of my barn the gravel/limestone continues to deteriorate, BUT the footing for my horses is alway good there, and they are barefoot, so it would file their hooves down while schooling.
It is more dangerous for a horse to slip and go down on a slick surface than be ridden on gravel.
Just some thoughts to digest...
 

Gardening with Rabbits

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There is biodiversity in wood chips. A dust mask is a very good idea.

About 20 years ago, a neighbor had his spruce taken out. I had the wood chip guy leave a pile in my driveway.

Hauling it around, I developed a severe "cold."

Steve

Since this COVID thing I have been more aware of breathing and air or my air is more polluted lately with smoke from fires, but I started wearing a mask for taking the ask out of the woodstove, cleaning the rabbit hutch and messing with the compost bins, and handling potting soil.
 

Dirtmechanic

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Since this COVID thing I have been more aware of breathing and air or my air is more polluted lately with smoke from fires, but I started wearing a mask for taking the ask out of the woodstove, cleaning the rabbit hutch and messing with the compost bins, and handling potting soil.
Fungal spores will tear your lungs up, get inside you and have to be chased down and killed before they start swinging from your organs.
 

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