I don't know if I'm posting in the right place, but I have a question.
My brother is cutting down some trees and he has the big wood chipper to chip up everything.
If I help I can have the chips for my beds.
Question...If I use the chips am I asking for trouble, because they have not been treated, like the ones from the garden centers? My husband is afraid of termites... any advice????
Thanks
using wood chips (UNTREATED) in beds
I wouldn't put them up near the house. If you have beds away from the house it might be OK.
Our city takes old Christmas trees, etc, limbs that they gather up, and runs it throught the chipper, and you used to be able to just go get bags of it for free. We did, and we didn't have any problems with it. I don't know if they treated it or not.
My cousin has a chipper....I can ask him what they process and where they put it!
You might want to google it to get more information, or call your local State / County home extension office. I'd be interested in what they had to say.....
This message was edited Oct 4, 2007 10:29 PM
Want2be,
When I lived in California I bought all my chips from a landscape materials yard. They were not treated and I used them all over the yard including next to my house and never ever had a termite problem. Sometimes they were a little green, as they just came from the chipper in the woods trucked down to the yard, but I just added some blood meal to the top of the beds before I put them down to make up for the nitrogen that they could rob from the soil...
In California the bagged chips are not treated with anything they're just dark from sitting in the yards somewhere before bagging.
Lauri
We used fresh, untreated wood chips in our yard - what a mistake! All sorts of nasty, slimey mold grew - I definitely would not recommend you use it,
freshly chipped wood makes good paths away from the house.