I get a Free 60 Yard Delivery of Wood chips once a year (Trees killed by
the bark beetle infestation in southern California) (But no bark beetles),
and I have the Local Tree Trimming Companies dump their wood chips here as
well. I only have a Half acre, but you would be surprised at how little 60
yards of chips covers ;)
(I can just see my yard ten years from now buried under three feet of wood
chips ;))
Jim
_____
From: TheRookieGardener@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:TheRookieGardener@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Betty Lowry
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 2:01 PM
To: TheRookieGardener@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [TheRookieGardener] Weed Control - Shreeded paper
Good idea about using the shredded paper to mulch new trees. I shred all my
junk mail and use it in the compost pile.
I volunteer with Trees Atlanta. We either restore forests taken over by
non-native invasives - or we plant trees during the tree planting season.
After we do a planting, Trees Atlanta maintains them for a full year. We
water them, prune them, and mulch them. For mulch we use the chippings from
commercial tree trimming companies.
Right now I'm rotting down three truck loads of these chippings that I got
(for free, of course) as compost. I'm luck to have a large yard and have
the room to do it. I turn it over about every 6 months. I'm in year two of
composting this pile - and a lot of it is ready for use in the garden
already.
Jimmy
I use a Cheap paper shredder that just makes strips.
Having the paper in strips helps keep the paper from blowing away (It does
make it harder to put under existing plantings though.
When I plant a New tree (Bare root) I use 2-4 bags (Small trashcan liners
(Office size, not kitchen size)) of shredded newspaper (our shredder
collecting can is about 14 inches tall to give you an idea of the size of
the bags. When I first put it down, I have a pile about a foot tall. I
then wet this down and get a Mat of paper about 2-4 inches things, it makes
a nice mulch ring around the tree. (Just do not mow over the mulch, unless
you want to have shredded paper all over the lawn ;))
For places you are going to cover the paper, or in crop rows where the wind
is not too bad, the Diamond cuts would probably be ok, but most of my area
is exposed to high winds, so the strips work better (They intertwine to hold
together.
I will also toss an occasional bag of shredded paper into my Compost pile
(browns are still hard to come by for the compost pile here ;)
Jim
yahoogroups.com
[mailto:TheRookieGardener@
yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Becki Blair
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 10:22 AM
To: TheRookieGardener@
yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [TheRookieGardener] Weed Control
Jimmy,
I've heard of using shredded newspaper for mulch successfully but have never
tried it myself. I'll have to try that one of these days because I am really
into recycling whenever I can! When you say a 'non-cross cut shredder' can
you be more specific? I have an electric paper shredder that draws the paper
down and cuts into about one inch long skinny diamond shapes. We sure do
accumulate alot of shredded paper so it'd be grest to have a way to get rid
of it and get free mulch at the same time.
Becki
> From: "Jimmy"
> Reply-To: TheRookieGardener@
yahoogroups.com
> To:
yahoogroups.com>
__________________________________________________________
Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfeeR
Security. http://clinic.
mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
Yahoo! Groups Links
Betty Y. Lowry
_____
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new
