Wood Chips around the barn

[DoubleDown]

So I have about 800 pine trees that I plan on taking out to make room for a small barn and outdoor arena. I’ve been mulling over what to do with them, as in my area of the PNW they are pretty much worthless. While tall, these trees vary in diameter from a few inches to about 12-16" or so.

The most recent thought I’ve had is chipping them, and using said chips for my runs off the stalls, and possibly my arena footing. These would be largish chips, not hogs fuel.

Questions- Has anyone done this- chipped their own full sized trees? If you did, any tips? Am I ok in thinking these will work for my run and arena?

[kinscem]

I like and use wood chips for walkways and around the barn areas. Looks neat. Like mulch.
Disadvantage is they break down naturally pretty fast, and I am not lucky to chip my own forest:) I have to buy them. Also any spilled hay is hard to rake from wood chip area and the hay rots and attracts flies.
I would not use them for arena as they shift and move easily under heavy rain conditions and they are hard if impossible to upkeep with normal drags.

[Garythesquirrel]

Don’t do it!! You’ll regret it if you do. In the long run it’ll make more muck and more work.

[barnmaven]

We have red clay so I have them dumped around the gates…Yes they do decompose, but it turns into a compost type material. IMHO the mud created by the wood chips is far superior to having clay exposed. Especially since I have a pinto.

[Palm_Beach]

I think they would be too soft once they decomposed and make the areas too deep when it rains. Can you have them ground to shavings for bedding?

[walkinthewalk]

No wood chips around the barn.

1. Fire hazard where white stone or crush laid over landscaping plastic is not.

2. Wood chips draw bugs ---- and mosquitoes ----- and probably ticks if you use pine.

3. Turns to yucky/ugly/stinky mush, over time, unless you’re someone with so much energy and spare time you can clean them up and put fresh down every year.

I haven’t used any sort of mulch around my home or barn since the 90"s. It’s either some type of stone or it stays dirt:)

[danacat]

Ditto - don’t do it! When the chips break down – and they will (in a year or two), you will have slippery muck. Rain and wood chips don’t play well together.

I learned this the hard way. Used chips (4-6 inches deep) in a small sacrifice paddock. It looked beautiful-- horses loved it – it harrowed nicely – didn’t freeze rock hard in the winter. And then, after abut two years, the horses were slipping and sliding – the bottom 3 inches of chips had turned to muck – then the whole paddock was muck and I had to take all of it out. Made for nice garden mulch!

[Jim_in_PA]

Wood chips are organic materials and when they break down…they will increase your mud.

Chipping whole trees is not a job for a DYI-er, IMHO. The size and level of machinery as well as the material handing brings substantial safety concerns.

[ciscolark]

I would not recommend it. They will break down into a mucky mess that is slippery and stinks. They might be okay on a little used path but if they are traveled regularly on or pooped on (even if cleaned daily), what a mess.

[Pocket_Pony]

My experience is that wood chips are slippery. I would only put them where I DON’T expect horses to go.

[horsepoor]

If you are in the wet part of the NW (not the dry side), I would not recommend using the chips in paddocks or arena. As others have said, they will be slick in the wet and will break down into muck. You might be able to use them on paths or landscaping that won’t get horse traffic. Or mulch. Maybe someone would want the trees for firewood? Assuming you are contracting the work out, does the person taking out the trees have any suggestions?

[MoreHorsesThanSense]

I wouldn’t put them in my ring or paddocks for the reasons listed above.

but, could you get the chipped much smaller and use them for bedding? I mean, I pay 8 bucks a bag for pine shavings…
I’m guessing it would be a lot of work to separate the non-bedding parts of the trees (leaves, bark) but might be worth looking into.

[csaper58]

If you can find someone with a portable saw mill, you can have the larger trees turned into lumber.

The big question is what will you do about the 800 stumps?

[Pennywell_Bay]

The barn I trailer to to use their facilities puts real wood chips down on some of the paths. I don’t know how often the refresh them but it’s nice there. They must have better drainage than I, as it would be a soupy mess at my place.

[DHCarrotfeeder]

[QUOTE=DoubleDown;8847905]

Questions- Has anyone done this- chipped their own full sized trees? If you did, any tips? Am I ok in thinking these will work for my run and arena?[/QUOTE]

Arena, maybe. I’ve seen runs and paddocks done with wood chips and they held water like a sponge. The BO eventually had it all excavated. So I would only do it if the drainage is good.

[csaper58]

Wood chips make wonderful mulch over the root system of a mature tree. The chips keep the soil evenly moist and the soil temperature consistant. They also allow beneficial fungi to colonize the soil and assist the tree roots to absorb nutrients.

I want to see the chipper that handles full grown trees.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=csaper58;8850981]
Wood chips make wonderful mulch over the root system of a mature tree. The chips keep the soil evenly moist and the soil temperature consistant. They also allow beneficial fungi to colonize the soil and assist the tree roots to absorb nutrients.

I want to see the chipper that handles full grown trees. :)[/QUOTE]

Here you go;

http://www.banditchippers.com/index.php/product-line/whole-tree-chippers/drum-style-whole-tree-chippers/73-towable-drum-style-whole-tree-chippers/114-model-3590xl-36-drum-style-whole-tree-chippers

There are ones that can process trees even bigger than 36" in diameter.

[fordtraktor]

Yes, the pipeline people had one of those on my farm when they cleared the pipeline. I had trees up to about 18 inch diameter, 60 feet high and they just shredded everything. it was remarkable to watch.

[fordtraktor]

BTW, forgot to add and can’t edit for some reason – I would not want to rent one of those suckers and try it myself. They had a whole team and it still made me nervous. Too easy for someone not used to the thing to get pulled into it and lose an arm (or their life). Google “man falls in wood chipper” and you’ll get LOTS of gory stories, many of which end in death.

[DoubleDown]

Cripes, I was hoping you would all tell me it was a wonderful idea!

Once the rains start, trees will be pulled from the ground, they are small enough, and I didn’t plan on doing the chipping myself. :eek: They’re too big to easily handle, and I’m just not willing to put my clutzy self in a position to get chopped up! There are a lot of tree handling/pruning/chopping companies around me, and the intent was to get one of them to do it.

Just trying to figure out what to do with all of them. They don’t make good firewood, and the local mill has closed down. I’ve thought about bedding, but I’d need to figure out a way to dry them out to make them useful.

Just thinking here- what if I did put them down in paddocks, and paths, knowing that in a few years I’ll have to redo them? It would buy me time to get the bank account filled back up to replace with gravel. But then I guess I have to find someplace to take the decomposed mess. I don’t know; getting frustrated with these dumb things!