Can You Use A Wood Chipper To Make Mulch?

Plenty of dedicated gardeners will spend hundreds of dollars each year on organic bark mulch for use on their properties, but have you ever wondered whether there is a cheaper way to do this? Chances are, if you’re a dedicated gardener you have a wood chipper of some kind – did you know that you can use this machine to make your own organic bark mulch (and for a fraction of the price of buying bags of it)?

Wood mulch that is created using a wood chipper (more commonly known as chipper debris) is composed of a mixture of shredded bark, wood chips and leaves. Unfortunately, the mulch that you create with your chipper will probably lack the attractiveness of the bagged stuff you have been buying for years – this is because a chipper does not create uniform mulch and isn’t dyed like the mulch you buy from the nursery. If you prefer a rustic look or do not overly care about the appearance of your garden, however, just so long as it has a layer of protective mulch, then creating your own could be just the job for you.

Advantages
There are a number of advantages associated with using your wood chipper to create your own organic bark mulch, including:
• As the mulch decomposes, it will recycle nutrients back into your garden, which probably came from the mulch in the first place.
• It is a great way of recycling (and getting rid of) fallen tree branches and limbs that you have pruned for one reason or another.
• Placing mulch around your garden beds can help to prevent moisture loss in your soil due to evaporation, which helps to reduce the amount of time you need to spend watering.
• Mulch can also prevent weeds from taking seed and growing around your flowers and other plants.

Disadvantages
As with everything, there are also a number of disadvantages associated with using your wood chipper to create mulch, including:
• If you insert any tree limbs that are diseased, infested with insects or home to seeds, these imperfections will be passed on to the mulch and into your garden beds.
• If you use boards and other construction woods, you could poison your plants and damage your soil as this timber is often treated with chemicals.

Thankfully, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, making the use of your wood chipper to make your own organic bark mulch a great idea (providing that you carefully inspect each limb before inserting it into the chipper and refrain from inserting construction timber). Try using your wood chipper to make your own mulch today and see how much money you can save every year.