Will wood chips decompose? Will worms Help?

[Bill Donovan]

I've cleared a part of my property and ground up the leaves, weeds, vines, ivy, etc. with a lawn mower. My intent is to let the stuff decompose over the winter, thoroughly aerate the area next spring, and plant grass. I've also got a bunch of branches from trees and bushes I cleared, and was wondering if I shredded them with a wood chipper and spread them over the area, would they decompose as well, or would they be too dense?

Also if I bought some worms and spread them, would that help? I live in Charlotte, NC.

Thanks.

[Dwight Sipler]

Depends on how fine you chop them. The composting process depends on the surface area of the material. Chopping them finer means they will take a lot of nitrogen out of the area to compost, but they will decompose quickly. Chopping them more coarsely means they will not use as much nitrogen but will take longer to break down.

If they use a lot of nitrogen you will have to add a temporary source (fertilizer) to support plant growth.

Worms will help aerate the soil and compost mix and will contribute to the breakdown of the organic material.

If you want to avoid problems with insufficient nitrogen in the cleared area, remove the ground up material, place it in a pile to compost on its own. Add the worms there. Keep feeding it (and the worms) with vegetable scraps from your kitchen. If you remove the grass from your lawn when you mow, add it to the pile. Turn the pile occasionally. Your pet worms will love it.

[Salty Thumb]

"Bill Donovan" wrote in news:D43zb.3500$ [e-mail]:

I think the wood chips will decompose, speed depending on the size. You will probably want overlay with green material as a nitrogen source (speaking in compost terms) because the wood will wick it right up.

re: worms - I thought I read some where that there aren't any animals capable of digesting cellulose. Termites do, but technically it's the bacteria in their gut that render it. I don't know how carpenter insects or beetles do it.

[Pen]

Some fungi can also digest cellulose. Moisture helps a lot.

I used to use paint sticks to stir my worm bin. After I filled a bin, I decided to leave it and let decompose. I stuck the stir stick in there because there was no where else to put it. A month later, half of the stick that was in the bedding was completely gone. I think it takes more than just worms. In a very active worm bin, there are lots of other organisms at work too.