How To Make Garden Soil With Manure And Wood Chips Without Getting Termites

Master Gardener: Wood chips from are good for the garden

Are there any problems with using wood chips from Tulsa's green waste site for mulch? What about termites? — Louise, Tulsa

There are no significant drawbacks to the use of chipped wood products as mulch from the city's green waste site. The chips are abundant and free to Tulsans with proof of residence.

Much has been made about possible negatives to the use of wood chips. The suggested downsides have included changing soil acidity, depleting nutrients from the soil, having chemicals that inhibit plant growth and attracting termites.

Studies have shown there is no effect on soil acidity from wood chips. This applies to all other organic mulches, as well, including oak leaves.

As wood chips are broken down by microorganisms, they require the nutrient nitrogen (the main ingredient of most fertilizers). They do not remove nitrogen from the root zones of your plants but may remove it from the superficial layer of soil. This may be one reason they inhibit weed growth.

However, if chips are tilled into the soil, it is a different story. When incorporated into the soil, they will remove nitrogen temporarily but then release it after a complete breakdown over a period of months.

Wood chips may have disease-causing organisms, but experts say there is little evidence that they can affect healthy plants when used as mulch. Most of the organisms found in wood chips are those normally present in nature and are beneficial.

All woody mulches may naturally contain what is termed "allelopathic" chemicals. These chemicals may inhibit seed germination and kill young seedlings. This may be why they are so effective in preventing weed growth. Most of these compounds have no adverse effect on established plants.

Insects, including termites, may be found in wood chips. However, wood chips aren't thought to attract termites to your landscape. If termites are already present, a 3-4 inch layer of chips does not contain enough wood volume, nutrients and moisture to support a colony.

Because of the unlikely possibility, though, most experts recommend at least 6-12 inches of bare soil between wood chip mulch and a building.

Other insects in wood chip mulch include pill bugs or roly polys, centipedes and earwigs. These insects are simply trying to make a living eating dead organic material and do no harm. If it were not for these insects, including termites, and the thousands of types of bacteria and fungi breaking down dead plant material, we would be completely covered with plant waste.

Wood chips are great to use around trees, shrubs and perennials. They, like all mulches, help conserve water, moderate temperatures in all seasons, suppress weed growth and prevent plants from damage related to lawn equipment.

For more information or to ask a question about gardening, contact the Master Gardeners at 918-746-3701 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

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