Bad Mulch???

The electric co-op is triming trees under the power lines in our area. I ask them to dump all the chips on my place and I have a major mulch mountain going. A lot of the stuff is chipped up cedar trees and smells great. I'm using this around the foundation of the house and around some trees and bushes in the yard. The soft wood chips I'm working into an area I plan to garden in a year or so. Two of my sons are telling me horror stories about free mulch like this. They're saying it will draw termites. Cedar doesn't attract termites does it? The soft wood stuff might but I'm keeping it away from the house. I think they got a case of "mulch envy" going. Anybody want to add their horror stories about this kind of mulch?

Now see? I thought the same thing when the hurricane tore up so many trees around here. I Would have loved to have some of the oak the stump grinder was making and not waste it, but the FEMA man was standing there when I mentioned it and was told it was not a good idea for the same reason. Bugs and disease because it's not sterilized. Well neither is the free stuff the City gives away but people line up to get that when it's available.

If the areas you use the mulch is sprayed with insecticide termites are not a problem. As for disease I don't believe I have ever heard of a human contracting a disease from wood.


Don

You can use those wood chips safely but as they break down they may leach nitrogen from your soil. Any chips are only as good as the source of the wood- if you know where they came from and the tree was relatively healthy they are fine- some of the "unknown source" ones can contain chipped up railroad ties (creasote and other chemicals) etc. Also some of those offered by the city street departments and the like may have poison ivy chipped in with them- the source for them is usually any "yard waste" donated by the public. If I know they came from a good source I take anything I can get for free!! MW

hi yarapa, i have a regular tree guy that i call. he tells me if the mulch is o.k. or not. he usually tells me when he will have some " good stuff" .i have never had a problem with his mulch but here near the wisc. border in illinois we dont have hurricanes or termites. we do have carpenter ants. i usually top dress my beds with well rotted manure in the spring. that helps the leaching of nitrogen. i use organic blood in my vegetable beds. i would stay away from yard waste also! i am not afraid to ask anyone i see for anythng, shredded leaves, horse manure, anything to save a little money . i have purchased bagged cedar mulch at the end of the season locally for $1.00 a bag. I cover it with a tarp near the back of my lot for use in the spring( which i am supposed to be doing right now, but i am cold to the bone, its cold and damp). if you check your local home depot or ace hardware or meijer maybe you could do the same. i dont know if you can store it because i dont know much about termites. good luck on gardening! kathy