I previously had issues with standing water in my backyard after heavy rains due to clay soil. I have since added at least 150 yards of free, fresh wood chips from a local tree trimmer.
I just spread it around, and then let it sit. It has been about 3 years since I put down the first load. Most recent load was a week ago.
I have no more issues with any standing water, and my soil is so much better. I dig down just a couple inches and find worms and dark, rich soil. Before, it was very heavy clay soil.
No digging, no french drain, no pipes, just free wood chips and time. Much better soil and no water issues.
Yeah it's fricking sick for sure
Clay is definitely the hardest soil to "fix", but the mechanisms are always the same, give it lots of decomposing organic matter
I just got a truckload from the power company trimming across the street yesterday, but I use it for paths in my garden rather than general purpose. Extremely sandy soil has no issues with drainage, but it also doesn't have much nutrition, and plants require more frequent watering because it can't hold on to the rain at all
I add fertilizer sometime too
With that much material, your yard slopes away now.
Probably right into your crawlspace too.
My backyard slopes away from my house. 150 yards of fresh wood chips, but they have mostly broken down into rich soil by now. That greatly reduces the volume. Also, spreading that much around my 1/3 acre, only results in a layer a few inches thick.
Chilling tale brethren.
Why not compost instead?
Bro that is compost.
It becomes compost
Maybe this is a regional thing. I live in Kentucky and every horse farm around here is offering free composted manure
Delivered? I can also get free composted horse manure, just not delivered. I get 30 yards of wood chips at a time delivered right to my yard. For manure, I have to drive to pick it up and then only what fits in the bed of my pickup.
Are you an actual moron?
Free wood chips or $10,000 in compost?
>Just fill your house with fungus my man
I love all the mycorrhiza in the wood chips. Great for the soil. I even inoculate some of the piles of wood chips with wine cap mushroom spores.
Works great, speeds up decomposition, and they taste great too.
Your house already has mold spores, they are an unavoidable fact of life.
Adding woodchips outdoors will not make a difference.
amateur mydickissmallogist here, ppm particulates are avg of 3-10x higher inside your house compared to outside, but it's not unheard of to see that number ridiculously high. the fungus is necessary for the soil and what actually allows plants to live in it
What else is good for clay soil?
It’s great for making clay bricks.
I honestly can't tell if this whole thread and every reply is just trolls trolling trolls or if anything here is real.
What about termites?
Shouldn't be a problem so long as OP doesn't pile the wood against his house. Termites don't like being exposed. Only real thing he may need to worry about would be if the wood chips have pests like borers or diseases like oak wilt which may infest his existing plants. That's generally why it's recommended to compost shredded wood mulch.
I am somewhat surprised that the soil would be clay with the palm trees around -- those do horribly in clay soils, and outside of Louisiana the soils in their range generally aren't clay. It could just be that the otherwise loamy/sandy soil was compacted and the added biomass has attracted natural cultivators to it.
If you can get your hands on old hay bales those are even better.
You did the right thing bud. Woodchips are good for any yard: they aerate the soil, they bring in the microfauna that turns the dead sand into a fertile soil, they provide cover for good insects that do their daily naps under the chips and leaves. I have about a ton of sawed down bushes and tree branches - they all are also about to be turned into a nice mulch for my acres.
If you'd like to plant trees you should also add the woodchips into the planting pit, mix it with soil, then put a young tree's roots in it. Trees grow much better if fed with woodchips, especially coniferous ones.