How to Break Down Wood Chips
Having a compost pile in your backyard is a great way to recycle materials that you would normally throw away. Many of the items that are typically thrown into a compost pile, such as lawn and garden waste, are high in nitrogen. Adding wood chips to your compost pile will provide a better carbon-to-nitrogen ratio since wood chips are high in carbon. Wood chips' rigid structure also allows for a better air flow throughout the compost pile. Creating a compost pile is a relatively simple process that produces useful rewards for any gardener. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Wood chips
- Dry leaves, branches, sawdust or hay
- Grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells or coffee grounds
- Water
- Spading fork
Instructions
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Build a pile. Start with a four- to eight-inch layer of wood chips. Cover that layer with two to four inches of grass or fruit and vegetable scraps. On top of that, add another layer of wood chips about the same depth as the first layer.
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Sprinkle the pile with water while mixing the layers together. A spading fork works well for mixing all the layers together. Continue mixing the layers while sprinkling with water until the layers are well-blended.
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Add another four-inch layer of wood chips, then a two-inch layer of grass, followed by another four-inch layer of wood chips. Continue in this manner until the pile reaches about three feet high.
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Mix the pile with the spading fork and sprinkle with water until thoroughly blended. The pile needs to be moist but not soggy. The compost pile has to be turned weekly using a spading fork and, if too dry, will need water added to it. Keeping the pile moist and turning weekly will allow for a faster decomposition rate.
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Tips & Warnings
A compost pile layering should consist of a layer of brown materials that are high in carbon (dry leaves, sawdust, hay, wood chips, small branches), a layer of green materials that are high in nitrogen (grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, manure from livestock or poultry) and then another layer of brown materials. Note that wood chips take at least 6 months to compost, as they are slow to decompose.
Do not add chips, branches or sawdust from chemically-treated wood to the compost pile because it could add toxins to the compost.
