I have a wood chip mountain and don't know what to do!!

Donna S
by Donna S
I've spread it around the yard and still have a ton left! I've put it on craigslist and freecycle. Any suggestions on what to do with this eyesore?
  33 answers
  • Melissa G Melissa G on Feb 05, 2012
    Is there a playground you could offer it to? Maybe at a school you're familiar with?
  • Usually the county or other local municipality will take it some their own us in different things. Check in with wherever things like yard waste and such is taken.
  • Good for play areas. Also great for pathways thru the garden. However, don't put this directly under your plants !!! These chips will rob the ... » nitrogen from soil/plants and your plants won't grow until the chips have composted.
  • Peace Painting Co., Inc. Peace Painting Co., Inc. on Feb 05, 2012
    How about a sign in the neighborhood, 'Free mulch'
  • Tammie W Tammie W on Feb 05, 2012
    wish I lived closer, I would take it!!!
  • Walter Reeves Walter Reeves on Feb 05, 2012
    Ask Master gardeners (1-800-ASKUGA1 ) if they could use chips at their community garden. Need a truck to haul them though.
  • Let me see if my son wants it, I just posted about it.
  • He is working 3 jobs & has no time. Oh well, I tried.
  • Donna S Donna S on Feb 05, 2012
    Thanks for asking him. I appreciate it
  • I could use some in the backyard where the play set is. Just need to figure out how to bring it home.
  • Do not know about the mulch, But I will take the motorcycle off your hands! lol.
  • Many farms that own and/or board horses, and other animals, use it for bedding.
  • Just keep posting it...we're starting to get to the season now
  • Donna S Donna S on Feb 06, 2012
    I'm selling that as well. All it needs is a new carburetor. It has 45K miles and is a '96 Honda Shadow 600. She's my baby, but now that I have three little boys, I can't ride her anymore. I'm asking $1,500. It's worth $2,500 in the Blue Book.
  • SawHorse Design Build SawHorse Design Build on Feb 06, 2012
    If I bring a truck by this weekend, will you help me load it up? I can take some of it off your hands. I have guests coming in town to see our new baby and need to freshen up some of the areas of the backyard.
  • Teresa D Teresa D on Feb 06, 2012
    Man ... if only I had a truck, I would gladly take it off your hands! How much of that could I fit into the trunk of a Nissan Altima? :-)
    • Dorothy Collett Dorothy Collett on Jun 28, 2015
      @Teresa D It's easier to haul and spread soil in heavy plastic bags and buckets, you fill them only once. With hauling in a truck you shovel twice: load then unload.
  • We might have an interested family member in Roswell as well...We'll check!
  • Be glad to loan you my 6x10 dump trailer..... but too far...sorry...
  • Donna S Donna S on Feb 06, 2012
    I've had three people contact me about the wood chips! Yippiee! I hopefully won't have to see it in my driveway soon!
  • Ricardo B Ricardo B on Feb 06, 2012
    I'm thinking bonfire, several weenies, dozens of marshmallows and about 25 of your favorite neighbors... Um, you may want to light that pile a few hundred more feet away from your favorite home and ride, though.
  • Team up ith your family or friends and apply it for an elderly neighbor who can't do it for themselves.
  • Faye W Faye W on Feb 07, 2012
    What ever you decide to do with the wood chips please know that untreated wood around a house can potentially enstice termites.
  • Donna S Donna S on Feb 07, 2012
    Faye, according to Walter Reeves, wood chips don't attract termites.
  • Donna, he is sort of right with that, but also not. The wood chips are fluid in nature. Meaning they move when it rains, animals walking on them etc. Termites need to create tunnels in which to move about to protect their bodies from drying out. The wood chips by their very nature move thus making those fragile tunnels worthless so you do not see them to often in them. But as the chips begin to build up over time the grading of the soil moves closer to the foundation sill area. This allows more protection for these little bugs to move higher towards the main course, the home. They will feed on the very bottom of the pile where the wood is sitting on the ground but not move though the chips themselves. We find that termites also are not found in very sandy soils. As the sand is also fluid and moves all the time. Making it very difficult for them to move about without the issue of tunnel collapse. What the wood chips really attract is ants and spiders. As the moisture in the chips provides water to them. It also allows for hidden protection to allow these bugs to move freely without being detected.
  • Okay, I feel like "Monk" ! Know that I know this, I am all itchy!!!
  • Shirley Shirley on Mar 12, 2015
    Many helpful hints above and if push comes to shove, put it somewhere out of the way in the yard and let it decompose by itself and use as compost for your flower beds and or garden, they will love it!
  • Linda M Linda M on Jun 21, 2015
    Wish you lived near us...we'd be there in a heartbeat to take them off your hands...er driveway....our back and front yards are all woodchips....we love it...
  • Elaine753 Elaine753 on Aug 31, 2015
    Offer it to a church school for playground cover or call a landscape company to see if they might want it.
  • Margolynluvsu Margolynluvsu on Feb 11, 2016
    Pile more mulch where you need it. Around trees, fences where you don't like mowing. Worse comes to worse, put a FREE MULCH sign on it, it will be gone in a minute. FREE ALWAYS WORKS.😉
  • Laurie Harry Laurie Harry on Apr 18, 2016
    I think I would find a corner in my yard and move it to. You may wish you had it next year. The "free" sign should get rid of it real quick.
  • Georget Georget on Jun 02, 2016
    If using as mulch don't pile it up. It has been suggested that 3-4 inches should be sufficient. You could lay in on the paths of your vegetable garden to walk on after rain. But don't rototill into the soil until after you've picked all your veggies as it depletes the nitrogen as it decomposes. Another warning, please. If they are walnut chips keep away from the tomato, pepper crops as it will kill them. However, the walnut or oak chips keep the poison ivy in our wooded area from spreading. There is where we put it about 6 inches deep. Perhaps someone with chickens would like them. We have a deep swale next to our road in front of our property and we use chicken manure topped with wood chips about 1in. deep to fill in. The reason it is so thin is to allow the grass that is being covered to recuperate and come through. As it decomposes we put a bit more on through the summer and fall.
  • Janice Janice 2 days ago

    Put a big yard sign out near the road or corner near you saying "Free Mulch"