This article will examine one of the most popular mulch types; wood chips.
If you’re seeking to get some wood chips for garden use, you might wonder where to get them.
This is especially true if it’s your first time wanting to use such or if you’ve moved to a new location where you’re still trying to know the businesses around you.
Where to Get Wood Chips for Landscaping
Mulch materials vary by type but serve a similar purpose. These are broadly categorized into organic and inorganic mulches.
Organic mulch types include shredded leaves, grass clippings, straw, bark, wood chips, nuggets, cardboard, newspaper, cocoa chips, and composted animal manure.
Inorganic mulch types include rock or crusher dust, rubber, and landscape plastic or fabric. For the most part, organic mulch materials tend to be the most popular.
Getting the Right Wood Chips for Mulching
While looking for wood chips in your garden, it’s essential to only go for the best kind while avoiding certain types. So, what constitutes good and bad wood chips?
The best wood chips have a long-lasting scent, insect repellent, and no spray or coating.
Other characteristics of good wood chips include appreciable weight and size, which makes them unlikely to be blown out. Long-lasting performance and being properly dried are additional features to look out for in wood chips.
Bad wood chips, on the other hand, tend to have acidic content that can promote the growth of fungi. What more? Some wood mulch types release a significant amount of salt into the ground, making your soil increasingly alkaline.
Pressure-treated chips or those painted with a sealant aren’t ideal for use.
Some of the best wood chips for garden use include pine bark, Amish cedar, and Amish aromatic cedar.
Others include Rio Hamza houseplant wood chips and mighty 109 raging red chips for gardening. These will better serve your mulching needs.
Not all wood chip types are desirable or effectively serve the purpose of use. Such include pine chips, eucalyptus chips, and cypress chips.
Painted or treated chips are among those you shouldn’t use for gardening.
Where to Get Wood Mulch for Garden
Your mulching needs can be affected by mulch availability. This can be a problem if you don’t know where to get these wood chips.
Luckily, this section provides multiple options to explore. You can shop for your wood chips from home improvement centers & nurseries.
Other sources include municipal disposal services, landfills, private landscape material suppliers, chip drops, and tree trimmers. Any of these sources can serve your need for wood chips.
Let’s discuss each point mentioned for further understanding.
i. Home Improvement Centers & Nurseries
Home improvement centers and nurseries offer a wide range of products and services, including the sale of wood chips for gardening. While that is true, not every nursery will sell these chips.
You’ll have to make inquiries to know if they do.
Examples of nurseries and tree services that sell wood chips for gardening include The Otter Nursery, Patuxent Nursery, Total Tree Care, Charmingfare Farm, Pleasant View Nurseries, and Leonberg Nursery.
Traverso Tree Service is one reliable source of free wood chips.
ii. Municipal Disposal Services & Landfills
This is another source to find wood chips for garden use. Whenever tree trimmers complete a job, they haul off plant waste to landfills for disposal.
Such wastes are further processed at landfills by running them through tub grinders. With this knowledge, you’ll need to explore such options.
It’s also necessary to state that this is a free source for mulch materials. While this saves you some expense, you’ll also need to consider the suitability of the mulch material to your needs.
As discussed earlier, certain mulch materials are known to be acidic, while others significantly increase soil alkalinity.
iii. Private Landscape Material Suppliers
Plant waste is likely to be produced during landscaping, tree trimming, or tree removal.
Now trimmers and landscapers pay for the disposal of this waste at local landfills. Rather than have these disposed of at the local landfill, a private facility can be used for that.
This is where you come in as a gardener needing wood chips for mulching. These materials (plant waste) are further processed and available for purchase.
You can buy your mulch material and have it delivered to you.
iv. Chip Drop
The chip drop program has served the landscaping needs of homeowners for quite a long time. This meets the needs of gardeners and arborists.
As a gardener, you can link up with tree trimmers while signifying your desire for wood chips.
With chip drop, it’s a win-win situation for those involved as you access wood chips for your gardening needs while helping arborists safely dispose of plant waste.
However, the downside is that the wait time can be extended if the service is relatively new in your city.
v. Tree Trimmers
Another effective strategy to get wood chips for your gardening needs is by being attentive to logging activities nearby.
Machinery like wood chippers and chainsaws make a lot of noise and can serve to alert you to nearby trimming activity.
You can find your way to such places to enquire about chip disposal decisions. You’re likely to be permitted to use these chips for free.
Here, you only need to inquire.
Caution is Necessary
Before searching for wood chips, you need to understand that chemically contaminated mulch won’t be ideal for your garden.
Choosing the right mulch type is also essential. The right mulch type is suitable for plant and gardening needs.
When wood chips are old, they will likely find critters accompanying them. It would help if you were careful about buying these as you could introduce a pest problem in your yard.
It’s safer to use fresh mulch as these tend to be safer and pest-free.
There are multiple options available when shopping for wood chips. While some of these are sold, other sources may be accessible.
Wherever you get your wood chips, you must ensure you’re getting the right kind.