Mulch left in pile. Is it safe?

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Dmitry

Minister of Fire
Oct 4, 2014
1,146
CT
Hi, I'm new to wood business. It was my first year burning wood. I dropped about fifteen trees around my property. Tomorrow tree service is going to come to cut and mulch everything that not worth to burn. I got a good deal but they not going to take mulch away so I'm gonna end up with several good piles. I'll use some for landscaping but the rest of it we agreed just to shoot into the woods. I had no doubts but now wondering if it's gonna smell or be occupied by unwanted habitants. The closest pile is going to be about 75 feet from the house , the rest 100-200 feet in fairly open woods.
 
No problem. Well, if you don't mind getting Christmas cards from the mice. :)
 
No problem. Well, if you don't mind getting Christmas cards from the mice.
Gosh, never seen a mice around my house. Chipmunks and squirrels- yes, a lot.
Damn , what do I do with this mulch?
 
Put it in the woods. It will be fine. You don't see those mice because they are out in the woods. Getting eaten by anything bigger than them.
 
Can you blow it into the woods without making piles ?

I've left piles to use later in the year and gotten yellow jackets in them. Also termites and those darned thatch ants.
The piles were rotted and turned to compost a year or so later before I ever got to use them.
 
If you don't want the mulch, spread it out. It will rot away pretty quickly.

To answer your question, yes, it is safe. I've had piles of chipped wood around my yard for a year or more and nothing happened. No bugs or animals, no smell, etc.
 
I'm gonna be there and try to make them change direction of the chute quite often.
 
I'm wondering what tree service guys do with mulch if they're taking it away. My first guy ,who wanted too much $$$ for his service ,told me there is no difference in price if he takes it or leave it.
 
There is a market for mulch but it is not a very robust market. If they haul it they probably just about give it away.
I am confused by the whole situation. You cut 15 trees but did not buck them into firewood length? My question is why not. It takes the same saw to do both the felling and the bucking. Limbing and bucking is the easier part of the jobs to do. Once you have harvested what you want from the trunk and the pile of limbs, why not just drag the small diameter stuff into the woods and pile it up as wildlife habitat? Rabbits, squirrels, ground squirrels and lots of birds will make good use of that small limb brush pile.
Just curious but it seems like you are paying to have someone do the easy stuff and do not like the end result.
 
The vets here are probably thinking "When is Osagebow gonna chime in tell this guy to use mulch for mushrooms like he always does?"
Well, here ya go...

http://www.mushroommountain.com/grow_your_own/kingstropharia.asp

Very easy and tasty, impossible to mistake for anything toxic, (color and goofy toothed ring on stem) and they rip through the mulch once they get going. You can upsize the initial colony and inoculate several more in case one dies off.
 
Rabbits, squirrels, ground squirrels and lots of birds will make good use of that small limb brush pile.
Just curious but it seems like you are paying to have someone do the easy stuff and do not like the end result.
It's a lot of limbs, some of it in my front yard, so I have to drag them uphill a long distance. Surrounding woods is my neighbors property, if I leave it on my own property it's going to be an eyesore.
 
IMHO, leave it in piles in the woods. Ten years later you will have smaller piles of the most amazing compost you've ever had...
 
I'm kind of with CountryBoy. I'm lucky enough to have a fencerow to mulch against. It's where I make dirt to fill in holes in the yard. If you're having 15 trees taken down, you've got 15 stumps to deal with someday. By the time they rot or you grind them down, you could have good material to fill the craters with.
 
There's a paper mill by me that takes mulch. Most tree services have commercial duty chippers. Its the most common method wood processing in my area. Plus its accepted as a means of pest control by DEC.
I got the idea of spreading mulch(chips) on my trails in my woods from a Presidential estate further south of me. It wasnt the Martin Van Buren estate but further south on the Hudson River.
It has extensive trails that are open to hiking and skiing and horseback riding. And all the trails are bedded in chipped brush from property maintenance.
They are a little slippery for horse footing but very attractive.
Like the Rockefeller preserve in Tarrytown and Acadia National park.
 
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