What to do with fresh wood chips?

The tree trimmers came thru clearing the trees from the power lines and they gave me really big load of the chipped wood. Got a huge pile of the stuff. Never had fresh wood chips before so I am not sure how long it needs to dry before using it for mulch. Got a few limbs and large pieces to pick out, but it is mostly small pieces. Anybody got any good info. on the subject?
Thanking you in advance!
Darlene

Darlene... We were lucky enough to get a load of wood chips 2 years in a row. If you will just let them sit in a pile, the pile should get warm in a couple of days, and be good compost in a couple of weeks. It can be spread when cooled down. Fresh (uncomposted) mulch might burn your plants.

Unfortunately, our loads (both times, LOL!) were dumped blocking the driveway, so we just spread the pile on our gravel driveway and drove on it until Spring/Summer. By then, the combination of driving on it, natural deterioration, and rain had made good compost anyway. It is great in our garden, and we add it it to the clay as well as using it for mulch. We are careful not to use any that is directly under one of the vehicles that has a slight oil leak. We just scoop that part up and dump it when we use all the other compost.

Hope this helps!

This message was edited Monday, Dec 10th 1:06 PM

Darlene,
I'll take those wood chips off your hands!
I mulch with mine as soon as I get them,
they help my sandy soil so much.
Have fun shoveling those 'chips!
Melissa :-)

Wood chips do not get hot the way a compost pile does, or fresh manure. You can use it as mulch right away.

Nice thing, if it's really new, is that it has enough greens in it from leaves that it makes a good balanced mulch. If it's just wood, however, there is a possibility that it is too carbon rich, which will pull nitrogen away from the soil.

Brook... My pile of wood chips had a LOT of green stuff in it, and actually got hot the way a compost pile does. I guess it depends on the amount of green stuff over and above the wood chips.

Sorry, I was unclear.

Kept in a pile they will heat up when there's enough green stuff mixed in. All you have, then, _is_ a compost pile.

What I meant was that if you apply them to the ground as a mulch that they wouldn't heat up and burn the plants the way fresh manure does.

Thanks for the info. everybody!
Darius, can't drive over it, its about 10 feet tall and I'm not about to spread it out and then rake it back up! I'm lucky enough to have an old paved road at the front of my property that I use for such things. The county moved the road far away from me long time ago and the old one reverted back to the property owner, and thats me!
This is mostly chips. The leaves have already fallen here, so not much green, just chips. I'm lucky enough to have a forest behind my house so I go and get a lot of dry leaves and really good compost from there as well as from my compost pile to add to the soil. Also added a lot of composted cow manure. The chips will go on top of that.
We have been under a drought situation here for the last 5 or 6 years and I need all the mulch and compost that I can get to try to conserve moisture. The weatherman said a couple of days ago that if we don't get another 2 or more inches of rain this month, we will beat the all time record for so little rain for the year. Peoples wells are going dry and I can tell mine is struggling. Not a lot of water pressure. I have 50 gallen drums under all my downspouts to catch rain water, when it does get around to raining. Looks kind of weird but it works. And I do use gray water.At this rate I may be doing desert gardening in a few years.
I guess the tourist industry can advertise North Carolina as the new desert of the east coast. LOL
I have been thinking about xeriscaping more this year than ever, and trying to get more plants that need less water. I am going to have do a lot more research on that before spring.
One question Brooke, if the chips will pull nitrogen from the soil, should I add nitrogen back to it. Will letting the chips sit for awhile before I add them help?
BTW, Melissa, grab a shovel and come on over!
Anyway, thanks for the info.
Darlene

Darlene... You are near Charlotte? I know all of NC has had so little rainfall in the last 4-5 years, esp. the flatlands... I remember when we were VERY green, with a little too much rain! My gardens here in the WNC mountains suffer because of it, but probably not as much as yours down from the Mountains and the Piedmont.

I'd think the chips would be okay as is for mulch since you cannot compost them... just remember to check nitrogen next year. Most mulches take nitrogen to decompose, with large pine bark nuggets taking the least. Doesn't matter if you let them age first, because it is simple chemistry as they decompose. I use cedar mulch a lot on my beds because I like the looks and smell, but have to add nitrogen, along with other amendments in the spring and summer; I use pine bark on the pathways (over screencloth) where I can afford it. My cats FAR prefer any of the piles of mulch to thier kitty litter boxes, LOL!

"They" have already said Asheville is the 'Sedona of the East' so advertising us as the new desert of the East might not be too far off!

Darius, yes I am near Charlotte, Just north of it near the racetrack. Harrisburg is between Charlotte and Concord.
I think you do get more rain there. The mountains break up the clouds when they come from the west and we usually don't get much rain anymore from that direction. Its about to the point that when it rains, everyone runs outside to try and figure out what that wet stuff is thats falling from the sky! LOL! We were a lot greener at one time, but it seems that the weather patterns have changed a lot over the years. Many, many years ago when I was a kid we always had at least 20 acres in vegetables and never had a problem with drought, and always had a bountiful harvest. We sold and traded veggies, and my dad gave a lot away to people that didn't have much. Now I can just get enough for myself and one or two other folks. No I don't have that much in gardens anymore, just small gardens in my yard. I have become very selective in what I grow for that reason. Can no longer grow things like melons because I just can't keep tham watered enough.
Watering has become somewhat of a problem. Even some of the cities have started water conservation, and the people in the city can not water in their yards or wash cars except at certain times or days. Back in the middle of summer, my brother was given notice that they were only allowed just so many gallons of water a day and anything over that they would be charged more.
And I know what you mean about the cats, I have a few myself and their favorite place is my flower beds. They don't dig up the plants but will squeeze in between them to do their business. At least the dogs don't have to dig a hole, they just go!
And I will check the nigrogen next year, I do try to keep my plants happy as I can. They just got to learn to drink less water. If only they could live on love!
Thanks for the advice!
Darlene