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Bark chips got stuff growing on them

ceninpedrceninpedr Posts: 47
in Problem solving

I opened my bag of bark chips to find white stuff growing on them. It is quite moist in there I suppose. What I want to know is, would the white stuff harm plants if I used it to mulch them with. Is it some sort of mycellium?

Posts

  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,905

    It will be some sort of fungal mycellium but shoudn't harm your plants. You often find something similar in multi purpose compost.

    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • ceninpedrceninpedr Posts: 47

    Thanks for your advice image

  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713

    We often have it (the chips smell a bit & are damp) when opening a bag of stored wood chips (the tree surgeon leaves a huge pile - we use what we want immediately & then bag up the remaining chips for use later in the year). They never seem to do any harm and one the chips are spread around the plants they weather in well enough.

  • ceninpedrceninpedr Posts: 47

    Thanks. They do smell a bit in the bag, but as long as they won't harm the plants, I'll go ahead and use them.

    image

  • plant pauperplant pauper Posts: 6,904
    Guernsey Donkey2 says:

    We often have it (the chips smell a bit & are damp) when opening a bag of stored wood chips (the tree surgeon leaves a huge pile - we use what we want immediately & then bag up the remaining chips for use later in the year). They never seem to do any harm and one the chips are spread around the plants they weather in well enough.

    See original post
    GD are your bark chippings treated in anyway or do you get them straight from the tree surgeon? I live near a wood mill and I was going to see if they had any but I wasn't sure if they'd be ok.

     

  • plant pauperplant pauper Posts: 6,904

    B****y quote thing's gone stupid again!

  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713

    I have managed to read it Plant pauper - no worries.  Our bark chippings aren't treated - just natural as they come. We don't get anywhere near as many weeds when we use wood chips, but of course you can't hoe either (not that I want to do any hoeing). I put chips around all my new plants - in fact I cover the whole of the flower beds with them - about 1 or 2 inches deep.  It has taken a year or so to get them all covered and I do add more chips every year as necessary. We have had a lot of trees taken down in the past few years either because they are dead or dangerous, so have asked the tree surgeon to chip them rather than paying him to take them away.

  • plant pauperplant pauper Posts: 6,904

    That's great news. I'll go up to the yard later in the week, see if I can do a bit of a deal. image Thanks GD

  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713

    Good luck - they should be glad to get rid of it - although you may have to pay for delivery, plant pauper. I do believe that it helps to keep slugs away from the plants too - they don't like the unevenness of it.

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