This is off subject somewhat but I have a friend that has a lawn service business. He delivers all the grass clippings I want and truckloads of shredded leaves in the fall. I don’t use a lot of grass clippings since there is no way to know if chemicals have been used, but I love the leaves.
Not wood chips but valuable nonetheless.
I used chip drop.
Like others said the timing can be hard. I once had a request for close to a year. I canceled it then I put a new request and got 2 truckloads of chips within a few weeks. I got it during winter and it froze shortly after due to a storm but was able to move it once it warmed. Leave a 20 or 40 dollar tip to expedite things. Or cold call arborists to get them dropped off
The type of chipper also makes a difference. The local arborist tried a new chipper in the middle of a job and it turned the oak branches from coarse shreds to chips.
I actually think the coarse shreds are better for deeper mulch application because they don’t stack well and let air through the soil.
Local arborist. During spring there is no availability from the one I currently get chips from. I have gotten dumps from several.
The style of chip depends on the chipper and what is being chipped. Generally a newer, more powerful chipper will make chips + dust. The lower powered ones or an old not like new one are more prone to make coarse shreds. So some of my chips look like chips, others are coarse shreds.
I prefer coarse shreds for deep mulching. I can apply around 12” of those without anaerobic consequences. Not so for the chips, they interlock and block air exchange until they decompose.
I paid nearly $400 for 12 cubic feet because I needed them in a pinch and I could not source any free options in my area. I’m really hoping I could find a free source at some point. It seems most arborists in my area already have land to dispose and take care of their chips.
I’ve been using what I get, which varies. Typically, I receive a big delivery (half a dozen truckloads) in autumn. I use some of it then but much of it partially composts over the winter and spring, which is fine with me.
The chips / shreds / compost suppress weeds and retain moisture, which is what I want. It’s mostly decomposed within a year or so, so I’m constantly replenishing. The soil is rich and the fruit trees and berries are happy. Also I get bonus crops of Stropharia and once Maitake.
We had that nasty ice storm in January.. and everyone had lots of tree damage.. broken limbs, tree tops or entire trees down..
I called and talked to two local arborist figuring over the next few months they would be over run with wood chip.
They assured me they would bring me a load.. I setup a place in my field for the chip drop and let them know.
Still empty.. no chips delivered yet.
I have gotten chips in the past when our county hwy dept was clearing brush/limbs from the hwy rightaway.. and when my neighbor had about 30 Douglas pear trees topped.
I need more..
TNHunter
A very large commercial grower near my town hogs all the wood chips. They buy them from any arborist around for a premium, thus pricing us little folks out of affordable wood chips. I sometimes still have luck with Chip drop, but it’s almost always from an arborist from outside my county that don’t seem to know they can keep driving a few miles farther and get paid for them.
If I want woodchips I have to purchase them from a local store. I live too far from populated areas for things like chip drop.
I had considered the purchase of an industrial woodchipper, but the price is too steep for my liking.
I typically just use slough hay as mulch, which I can easily acquire.
Finally got a decent pile of wood chips delivered.
Those might last me a year… and glad to get them. Asking for a couple more like that.
TNHunter
I am in the unfortunate position of not having free chips available in my area. The next town over, there is a sawmill that burns biomass to generate electricity for the plant, and sells all excess back into the grid. All large loggers and tree companies in my area haul their chips there and get paid for their efforts. If I wanted to divert any of those shipments I’d have to pay 100-200 dollars a truck minimum.
Other than the odd load I get lucky on, I’ve stopped using chips for now and mostly use leaves and grass clippings that I get hauled in by a local landscaping company for free. This is a lot easier to come by as most places have to haul to a private yard or pay transfer station fees which are not cheap.
It works well enough for weed suppression if applied thick enough…recycled cardboard underneath will help it suppress for longer.
I’ve been signed up for chipdrop since November last year, nothing came from that at all but I keep renewing it just in case. I called my local arborists but I’m not near any major city so there’s lots of more convenient dumping locations for them I am very certain. I even walked across the street as they were cutting back limbs from the power lines and mulching them, they outright told me no.
My brother can get as much as he wants at his company because they always have trees they are mulching but the cost of gas back and forth didn’t make sense in my high inefficient truck so I elected to have a company deliver me 18 cubic yards for $500. For all but those with acreage, that’s quite the quantity of mulch. I’ve used half already, waiting for the humidity to die down more before I move the rest manually by wheelbarrow. For my setup, that is likely enough until fall next year but $500 biannually for that much mulch delivered is not bad for my area. The actual average from most places I’ve called is $40/cubic yard and that’s even if I hauled it myself.
This is highly dependent on individual circumstances but something I also like doing is taking my lawn sweeper across the yard after or during mowing and I can collect quite a bit. This summer has been exceptionally wet here and the grass growth has been unreal so it’s what feels like an infinite nitrogen source.
I got my lawn sweeper off Marketplace for $40 and it works well enough.
I do have one and it’s a great option for a few trees in someone’s backyard. But I have a lot of trees in my orchard…plus a lot of nursery rows I mulch every year…days of tractor work worth of mulch moved each year.
My stump grinder tree service guy has delivered two loads of chip so far. It is nice chip and has a lot of leaf in it.
I got 6 trees chipped today.
I will get the rest over the next week.
TNHunter
You are very lucky to get wood chips like that, here it is sold and expensive.
I bought a wood chipper with a hammer mill and a screen. The chipper shreds the branches and the hammermill breaks it into smaller pieces until it can exit through the screen. The result is a fine wood chip that is easy to work with and it breaks down into compost quicker than larger pieces.
I have not been able to get chips… until I talked to the right person at the City. They hire a local tree company to do all of their tree work. The tree company has to pay to get rid of the chips. The City loves it when they don’t have to pay, so I get all of the chips I can handle.
I have two different arborist in my county (tree service, trimming, removing, stump grinding, etc). I called them both back in January and asked for wood chips.. we had just went thru a nasty ice storm and everyone had trees down, tops broke out, many limbs broken…
I figured they would be over run with chips and I might get some quickly.. they both talked favorably.
No wood chips were delivered and I reminded them of my need in May… But still none were delivered.
late June one contacted me and said they were doing a job near me and would bring me a load of chips… once finished with that job. Then they contacted me a couple days later and explained that I did not get the load of chips.. because the customer they had done the work for wanted them.
Finally in August.. I had around 30 stumps (in our future new home clearing) that needed grinding. I called the arborist that had said they would bring me a chip load.. but then ould not because the customer wanted them. He came out and gave me a reasonable quote for removing those stumps.. and got the job done quickly.. pleased with the work.
The same day.. he unloaded a big load of chips.. and then brought another load a day or two later.
I have enough chips to last me a couple years at least…
I have gotten 21 fruit trees, 2 muscadines and one row of kiowa blackberries chipped so far.
Will be working on more today.
TNHunter
I think for my area, people use the vast majority for firewood to heat homes, instead of turning it into chips. There are 3 different arborists within about 20 minutes of me and they all have huge piles of logs, clearly stuff they keep from the jobs. The one guy burns nonstop, no idea what he is heating or powering but his outdoor furnace is going continuously even now during summer temperatures. It will be interesting to see if ChipDrop ever ends up finding someone to deliver here, I signed up November past year with nothing yet.
