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[Matt Demmon <mdemmon@gmail.com>]

My experience supports this as well. I use 6 inch deep 3 foot wide rings of
fresh wood chip mulch from arborists around newly planted trees. The ones
that I don't have time to get to don't do quite as well. I think any
(probably slight) nitrogen loss is greatly offset by the increased moisture
and decreased competition from grass. I imagine the increase in organic
matter has long-term benefits as well.

And woodchips incorporated into soil in the veggie garden definitely suck
nitrogen and can ruin a tomato crop. Experiment to get mushrooms going in
the garden failed in several ways, but that was one of them. Severely
stunted tomato plants.

-matt
z5 se MI

On Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 4:48 PM, Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/index.html<http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/%7ELinda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/index.html>
>
> Seems old myths are slow to die.  I believe that wood chips do not
> appreciably tie up nitrogen when used as a mulch, except perhaps in soils
> with poor drainage where feeder roots have to function right at the
> surface.  Bacteria will have to take N from the very surface but at that
> location wood chips don't decompose fast enough to create an appreciable N
> deficit.  Incorporate them in the soil, however, and all bets are off, even
> with aged wood chips, as they are still breaking down quickly until they
> become humus.  I've read of research that indicates that aged wood chips
> take about as much N from the soil as fresh when incorporated into the
> soil,
> but not for as long.
>
> Linda Chalker-Scott covers the issue as well as other common hort myths at
> the site above.
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