Wood chippings?

Simple question . . . Wood chippings - What are they good for?

I have several bags from a dead tree that I had to get cut down and chipped up.

 

I use it as paths between beds. It feeds the soil and makes a very low maintenance path that is good to walk on in all weather. Depending on the thickness and wood it can last many years before topping up. It's also the mulch around my redcurrants, blueberries, apples and raspberries. It's very easy to pull weeds out of

I did once try out using it when fresh mixed with horse manure in a compost pile, but the resulting compost had a lot of obvious wood chips still in it and it wasn't very good. So if you want to use it in any reasonable amount of compost I'd pile it up for a few years first, then use it

 

I use it as a mulch, to be honest I could use a lot more than I actually make each year.

I wouldn't dig it in though until its rotted to some extent.

 

I wonder if it depends on the type of tree it used to be.

I produce a lot of wood chippings because I have willow along the edge of my garden.

I use the chippings to top up the surface of the kids play area, I've used it for a path, and the last lot I just left in a pile.

I've found it rots pretty quickly, and judging by the weeds and grass that try to grow in it, I don't think nitrogen is an issue.

 

Hardwoods degrade quicker than conifers and the lighter weight hardwoods like willow and elder are the quickest to decompose. Also size of chippings is also a thing, I've seen chippings that are really chunky and they would take an age to decompose. So you could make a path with chunky spruce and not bother topping it up for a few years, but I bet a finely chipped elder path would disappear in fairly short order

 

There are hardwoods and there are hardwoods.
Some softwood is harder than some hardwood.
The term has little to do with the density of the wood.
In general terms, with a few exceptions, hard woods are broad leaved trees and softwoods are conifers.
Willow grows rapidly so is a soft timber but it comes under the heading of a hardwood.
Compared to oak chippings, another hardwood, it will rot down rapidly and probably faster than many conifers.

Some timbers contain certain chemicals and resins which naturally resist rotting.

 

I once read that balsa is technically a hardwood.

 

Promotes a fungal soil, will produce some spectacular mushrooms/toadstools, with suitable preparation/knowledge a useful crop? Local tree feller calls them Timberwolf manure !

 

That's good.

There's a growing number of scientists worrying about the health of the world of fungi. When people talk about biodiversity they are usually concerned with plants and animals, but there's a growing realisation that both groups depend heavily on a third, often overlooked group, the fungi.

I can't say I know much about the role of fungi in nature, other than it's crucial roles as a decomposer and for its symbiotic relationship with many plant species. I presume it's also food for some animals, although possibly not the fungal species that carry some seriously deadly toxins.