Same here. I don’t think getting rid of chips out here is a problem. I agree that contacting local folks is the way to get free chips. Amish saw mills are also great places to get saw dust.
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I’ve been offering $80 and will accept a few logs, and have gotten no action in the last year. I’ve gotten a few loads before, and also found a tree guy who delivered a couple for me.
Most recently I paid hundreds of dollars for 18 yards of hog fuel that looks like aged hardwood chips, black.
They were popular before, but with Covid attention they are hard to get now… I’m at the end of our road, so anybody ahead will get it first.
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I put out enough hemlock to fill up a Public works truck. I asked them if they could dump it and they said no. I also asked the Public Works truck that came the week before and took a smaller amount of hemlock from me and they, too, refused. Both told me that I can go to the transfer station and get as many chips as I want from there. I’m not sure what’s up with them. Oh well.
I recently paid to have a stump ground up and let the grindings stay. Much of it is mixed in with soil. I spread mine around the area where I expanded the blueberry patch. Now THIS is something I’d like to have delivered. I’ll go ahead and send a message to the guy who ground up my stump.
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I just bought a 2nd hand 3 point stump grinder for my little tractor:
Now I just need some nicer weather.
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Stump grindings are old heartwood. The wood chips from utility companies are typically RCW (ramial chipped wood). It is significantly higher in nutrients than is the heartwood.
Think about this, when power company crews trim branches away from the power lines, it induces water sprouts which quickly grow back into the lines in a few years. Those sprouts are fast growing and super high in nitrogen and every other nutrient necessary to grow a tree. They decompose better, feed fungal colonies better, and they don’t steal nitrogen from the soil to break up. The old wood inside a tree is no longer growing and thus has no reason to contain many nutrients.
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To expand on RCW, I think of it like a chicken egg. An egg is a complete source of nutrition, everything needed to grow a body, because eggs literally grow bodies. Similarly, RCW has everything needed to grow a tree because it’s literally made of the growing part of the tree and has everything short of sunlight in it.
This really could be a thread by itself.
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That’s good to know. Third parties are occasionally working and making chips close to here. I really wanted my hemlock chips, pine needles and all. Public Works just really wanted to drive them down to the transfer station. Maybe each trip across town is preferred as it’s a long break for them, while those who are paid by the job instead of the hour might be in more of a hurry to get things done.
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Smaller wood and “hardwood” in general have more nutrients but the overall benefits lie more in the organic matter than anything else. N fixing bacteria will likely take advantage of the carbohydrates in time but the slower the chips decompose the more overall bang for the buck in that it stays weed inhibiting, water retaining mulch for a longer time- water can be harder to add than N. Certainly leaves in the mix encourages faster decomposition- but so does the extra N in smaller wood.
The moral of the story for me is to appreciate whatever woodchips you can get, as long as they aren’t allelopathic.
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I live in the forest, but still been waiting a cumulative maybe 2 years since my last drop, and am offering $80, I think half of which goes to the chip provider.
I had better luck finding a guy on Craigslist who lived in the area and has a tree service, but that has since dried up.
Most recently I bought an 18 yard load of hog fuel (all coarse wood chips) that was about $300, half of which was the delivery.
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Not here. This is expanded Portland metro. People have been vegetable gardening in their front yard, recycling and so forth for decades now.
I have gotten loads from chipdrop, but not in the last few years, when they were getting established. There was a lot of demand for growing stuff at home even before the pandemic. Not to mention the legalization of marijuana possession. You should see the price of vermicompost here!
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Worse comes to worse put a Facebook post out saying you need a semi load of chips you will get them for shipping and loading costs. A buddy of mine brought me manure in semi loads.
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That’s an interesting idea. Our private drive can’t handle an 18 wheeler.
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Have them dump the load in your driveway and use your little tractor to spread it. It’s not illegal to block your own driveway. Those trucks are called End dumps. Here is a yellow pages search in lawrence and people are lined up to get the work. Best 19 End Dump Trucking Companies in Lawrence, KS with Reviews - YP.com
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I waited 3 months and nothing ever showed up so I cancelled the request. I hear if you drop them a donation they will prioritize you which I was not aware of so that Is why I suspect I was pretty much last in line for the local drop and I just wasnt patient enough to wait around for it.
The drop you got looks great and I feel a bit inspired to give it another go. Thanks for the post.
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I have places to dump, and have gotten up to 20+ yard loads. I’ve probably spread 100-150 cubic yards of chips with my Kubota.
Lots of people around here want chips and I’m at the end of a private drive, so never the closest property requesting chips.
edit: This is the first load I paid for after we moved it. It was telephone pole peelings. 27 yards. The Chipdrop loads aren’t that big. Apparently last load form Chipdrop was in 2015.
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I spent 2 years waiting for a drop with a donation before moving. I then spent another 3 years before i got my first drop, 2 weeks later i got a second drop. There really is no way to tell or predict if/when you will get a drop. The first drop i got was miserable, it seemed like 50-50 wood chips and small branches. The second one was much better, logs for firewood and nice woodchips with minimal branches. Ultimately, i don’t think I will sign up again, the random quality of what you get with the random timings for getting a drop make it less useful.
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I convinced my boss to sign up because we have been planting a lot of trees that needed mulched at our office. He paid the donation for the cost of the drop and a guy showed up with a Toyota Tacoma and dumped a load from his truck. Has anyone else experienced such a minimal load? It seems like everyone gets more than they need, if anything… Needless to say I was disappointed myself too. My boss ended up ordering 60 yards from a local hauling company we work with. It was delivered in a dump tractor trailer, pretty impressive.
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Their FAQ says it could be as little as 4 yards: How big is a ChipDrop delivery? - ChipDrop Knowledge Base
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