what to do with stump grindings

Just finished having a bunch of stumps ground off. They were associated with big pine trees, and were storm damage aftermath.

The grinding process has left fairly large piles of shavings/chips. My inclination is simply to spread those out around the crater areas, instead of removing and disposing of.

Is this a good solution? I've got a drag harrow type thing that, towed by my tractor, will make quick work of spreading and levelling, if that's an acceptable thing to do with this kind of leavings

Reply to
RB
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We just had 22 poplar trees fell and stumps gound up. The stump grindings are fantastic to keep weeds down when spread around your perenials and also hold moisture after a rainstorm. Stump grinding are great also for winertizing a strawberry patch or saving any other short perenial from frost. I wouldn't just fill them in the craters...in fact I dug my stump grindings out as best as I could and replaced it with garden soil as I damned near broke an ankle when I stepped in one... hope that was of some help....Jim

Reply to
Jim M

Let's see...storm damage....pine trees....Florida??? If so, I would think anything you spread around to cover the sand would be good......Ross

Reply to
Ross Mac

Right. working wood chips into the soil is a bad idea. Like he said it sucks nitrogen out of the soil as it decomposes

Reply to
rnr_construction

Reply to
NoSpamFANatic

They're most likely terribly acidic, and as someone else has already noted, they will consume lots of nitrogen during the time they are decomposing--high nitrogen fertilizer in moderate amounts or even grass clippings will speed the process if you want them to break down quickly....

And don't expect them to permanently fill any low spots in the landscape, in reality there's not a whole lot of mineral substance in them.

Reply to
PrecisionMachinisT

Pile them up into a heap. In six months or so, they will become compost. If you can mix grass clipping to the heap, it will considerably speed up the process. If you do not compost the chips first, they will tend to draw nitrogen out of the soil.

Reply to
Phisherman

I have never heard of wood consuming nitrogen during decomposition, wood mulch is a soil amendment, fortifier. I know of a nursery that specialises in 800 different types of just Hostas , a plant breader with one of the midwests best selections. He plants Hostas a nitrogen loving plant in beds of 8"+ wood mulch, he does not fertilise and adds more wood continously. Yes wood can be acidic but beneficial to certain plants and soils.

Reply to
m Ransley

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Wood Chip Carbon and Nitrogen The micro-organisms that decompose wood chips require nitrogen in amounts greater than are available in the wood chips alone. If additional nitrogen is not mixed with the wood chips, the micro-organisms will get the nitrogen they need from the soil, competing with plant roots for the nitrogen available in the soil. This is why bark mulch works to keep weeds down.

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Reply to
PrecisionMachinisT

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