Thank you all. Friend says wood chip killed an apple tree as the wood drew all the nutrients from the soil as they rotted down. I shall weed the area & then lay my woodchip down with gay abandon!
There used to be a theory about wood chip robbing the soil of nitrogen to fuel its rotting process.
The RHS did tests and concluded that it may use a small amount of nitrogen but it would be a negligible amount. Using a membrane won't stop it consuming nitrogen but it will stop the exchange and feeding of beneficial organisms.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
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Thank you all. Friend says wood chip killed an apple tree as the wood drew all the nutrients from the soil as they rotted down. I shall weed the area & then lay my woodchip down with gay abandon!
This is how a myth starts, putting two facts together and deciding one caused the other
In the sticks near Peterborough
There used to be a theory about wood chip robbing the soil of nitrogen to fuel its rotting process.
The RHS did tests and concluded that it may use a small amount of nitrogen but it would be a negligible amount. Using a membrane won't stop it consuming nitrogen but it will stop the exchange and feeding of beneficial organisms.
The thing to avoid is digging fresh woodchips or sawdust into the soil as these will deplete the nitrates. Used as a surface mulch they are fine.
Gay abandon is what some of us do best.