Winter is the invigorating time of year when master arborist Paul Gautschi prunes his fruit trees. Winter is the best time of year to prune your trees because they are dormant which means they are in a sort of state of hibernation from growth. Timing is important to consider when pruning trees because it is easier for the tree to recover properly from the pruning. It is also vital for optimal growth and fruit production to occur in the coming seasons. When you prune in the winter you give your trees a huge jumpstart on their ability to put our healthy vigorous new growth in the Spring. Pruning fruit trees in the spring, summer can actually cause more damage to your trees than benefits, especially when done heavily.
THe gautschi pruning technique
Ever wonder how Paul's fruit trees look so magical and are abundant with so much sweet hanging fruit? Paul Gautschi has been a professional arborist for most of his life and is known for his skillful Japanese influenced pruning techniques. His unique pruning art aims to remove unnecessary branches that open up the tree and lace out in the interior growth. The end result of Paul's pruning technique aims to appear as though the tree was not obviously pruned. On the contrary, many western pruning guides instruct to chop a tree branch off partway up the branch. This style of pruning results appears not only ineloquent and butchered but can also be detrimental to the tree's natural growth preferences and even cause rotting, insect infestations, and disease. Paul has experience with a wide variety of fo trees from his whimsical looking fruit orchard trees to 200 feet tall conifer trees. Today we will teach you the basics of what you need to properly prune trees like master arborist Paul Gautschi for getting the maximum production your of your fruit trees.
PruNING Tools
To prune your trees like Paul first you'll need the proper tools. Paul does most of his fruit tree pruning with simple but very high quality made tools. He uses the Japanese Samurai Saw for sawing larger branches and Felco Pruning Sheers for trimming twigs. He also uses a simple drop cloth to help easily gather his tree trimming waste and take it to a local compost facility t be chipped up and recycled into mulch.
How to Prune Fruit trees
How Much to Prune
During the winter it is an ideal time to prepare for pruning your fruit tree orchard. Your goal should be to open up space inside the tree branches. For younger trees be careful not to remove too much of the tree until it is more mature and has been established for several years. For established fruit trees you generally will not want to remove more than 1/3 of the total tree branches to start. The goal is to remove enough growth to allow for optimal sunlight filtration, air circulation, leaf growth space, fruit production space. However, do not remove too many of the essential branches or your tree will not be able to fill out with enough leaf growth to pull in energy from the sunlight that stimulates flower and fruit production.
Identify Cross Overs
First, observe the tree structurally. Look for any obvious branches that are crossing over one another that could be potentially interfering with one another growing space. You will want to remove these branches first. Keep in mind never to remove the main central branches so that the structure of your tree remains balanced and strong enough to hold the weight of abundant fruit growth. How to identify these branches takes a careful eye for observation. The best way to describe what you are trying to achieve is to see Paul Guatschi's end results in the video above. The trees look almost like a hand reaching into the sky when he is done. It appears as though almost too much of the tree is removed to a beginner's eye. But it is easy to see that there are plenty of evenly spaced strong limbs remaining intact. Cut at the Collar Start with your Felco Sheers to get warmed up to trimming. Cut the twigs at the base where they meet the tree branch as cleanly as possible. Do not chop off the twigs partway up the branch leaving an open stub. Remove suckers at the tree base and twigs that are shooting upwards or crossing over one another's potential growing space. Next, use your Samurai Saw to remove any larger branches that are growing in the wrong direction or interfering with one another. Again, cut the branch off at the collar, the area where the branch meets the tree trunk or other main branch. Think of yourself as a surgeon with the goal of making as few open wounds or messy cavities in your patient. A cavity can form at the site of a pruning area that is not cut properly. As you work, periodically step back to keep track of the bigger picture of your tree. It is important to keep the shape of the whole tree in mind to maintain balanced pruning as you work. Try to imagine the limbs with full leaves and fruit all over them. Try to imagine the branches like they will be in a few years, longer and larger than they are now.
Benefits of Pruning Fruit trees
We are Dana & Sarah, the Producers and the Directors of BACK TO EDEN. Our documentary, Back to Eden, ignited a gardening movement that quickly earned the name, "Back to Eden Gardening." The film aimed to inspire gardeners to grow food by documenting the incredible gardens and orchards of American gardener and arborist Paul Gautschi. At the time of the production in 2010, Paul had been growing food at his home in Washington for over 30 years -- since 1979! It was challenging for us to get Paul to describe exactly how to "start a Back to Eden garden." In fact, we spent an entire year tirelessly filming and editing this documentary. As novice gardeners, we didn't fully understand how miraculous Paul's vegetable garden and fruit orchard are compared to other gardeners. Our intention was to inspire the viewer to grow food and teach a simple, sustainable gardening method. However, we have noticed that it's easy for information to get lost in translation online and we would like to clear some things up from our first-hand experience. THE TRUTH ABOUT BACK TO EDEN GARDENING The truth is Back to Eden Gardening works! Paul Gautschi is a world-renowned gardener because he practices a sustainable permaculture method that eliminates most of the stress and work associated with gardening. He teaches a gardening method that is so profoundly simple that anyone can do it! That said, many gardeners make mistakes and we would like to reduce the number of problems people have with the Back to Eden gardening method! First, we are going to talk about Paul's two separate growing areas: Paul's Garden and Paul's Orchard. In one of the first opening shots of the film, you see Paul's property, an aerial view from a plane that was filmed in the middle of Winter. You can see in the photo below the separation of the garden and orchard. From this photo alone, you can clearly see that the ground looks different in Paul's garden and orchard. The garden has a dark, rich, black gold compost that looks similar to topsoil. The orchard has a much lighter shade that resembles arborist wood chips. Why do they look different? They are both wood chips from tree trimming waste. The difference is they have each been processed using two different methods. Confusing? Let's dig a little deeper. PAUL GAUTSCHI'S BACK TO EDEN GARDENPaul's Back to Eden garden is where he grows beautifully straight rows of annuals such as carrots, celery, cilantro, beans, beets, cucumbers, lettuce, chard, spinach, parsley, kale, and so much more at his home in Washington. At the very far end of his garden is where he grows the perennial asparagus. Look at the beautiful ground Paul is standing on in this photo! WHAT DOES PAUL ADD TO HIS GARDENS? COMPOST! There are only two times in the documentary when you see Paul add organic matter to his garden. The first time Paul adds compost to his home garden is after he visits a compost facility. Steve Johnson, the owner of Lazy J Tree Farm, invested in a tub grinder to chip up green yard waste. Steven then composts the wood chips for several months and sells the composted wood chips back to the community. In the film, you see Paul receive a truck bed full of composted wood chips that have also been screened. This is so important to understand and perhaps the biggest point that needs clarity: composted wood chips that have been screened are different than arborist wood chips that have been freshly chipped. In the film we show 3 types of "wood chips" that were all processed differently.
The film never shows Paul Gautschi adding fresh arborist wood chips to his Back to Eden garden. Why? Paul does not add fresh arborist wood chips to his Back to Eden veggie garden at his home. Paul adds composted wood chips that have been screened -- the premium source of wood chips! Why? Wood chip compost is ready to plant directly into and will immediately give your plants the nutrient food they need. In the film, you watch Paul add the composted wood chips that have been screened onto his garden plot, carefully raking them to a thickness of 2 inches. Paul at the time of filming said he reapplies composted wood chips that have been screened every 3 years. Let's say you just got a FREE delivery of arborist wood chips dropped off at your garden using the Chip Drop App. You can create your own wood chip compost by hot composting your wood chip pile. Learn how to compost wood chips by hot composting your wood chip pile here. WHAT DOES PAUL USE TO FERTILIZE HIS GARDEN? COMPOSTED CHICKEN MANURE! The second time Paul adds compost to his home garden in Back to Eden Film is after he sifts compost out of his chicken run. Paul lovingly calls his chicken coop his "soil manufacturing plant." He feeds his chickens any of the green waste that comes out of the garden -- from weeds to expired greens. In the Fall, Paul uses a screen and wheel barrel to sift through the soil in his chicken run. He then applies about 1/2 inch to 1 inch of the composted chicken manure onto his garden. Organic composted chicken manure is one of the best sources of nitrogen for fertilizing your garden. Since Paul has been doing this for so many years, he says he needs to add less fertilizer every year and less often over time. At the time of filming, Paul told us he reapplies composted chicken manure every other year but we recommend doing this every year when you are getting started with your Back to Eden Garden. Again, if you are using Raw Arborist Wood Chips you'll especially benefit from adding organic fertilizer to help break down the wood chips into compost. Although in the film you see Paul applying composted chicken manure to the garden second, during the Fertilization chapter, Paul actually applied the composted chicken manure first and then covered it with the composted wood chips from the compost facility. The reason he does this is to reduce any weed seeds from sprouting that are in the composted chicken manure. PAUL GAUTSCHI'S BACK TO EDEN ORCHARDPaul Gautschi's Back to Eden Orchard is definitely the most beautiful orchard we've ever walked through. Many visitors from around the world have agreed! It is filled with dwarf fruit trees including apple trees and pear trees that are loaded with fruit. Underneath the fruit trees and throughout the orchard, Paul grows vegetable plants including zucchini, cabbage, broccoli, and more. You can see the stunning orchard behind the garden in the photo below. WHAT DOES PAUL ADD TO HIS ORCHARD? RAW ARBORIST WOOD CHIPS! In the film, Paul mentions that in 1979, he first added straw and sheep manure to his orchard but then switched to wood chips. Paul told us in person that initially, he added 12 inches of fresh arborist wood chips to his orchard. He allowed the wood chips to compost in place without tilling. He goes on to explain that after 17 years of tilling his garden, he went out to his no-till orchard and began digging with his hands. He says he dug "down to my elbow in this beautiful black compost." He had been laboring in his garden, tilling and bring in organic material to try to build compost. In his orchard, he didn't do any work other than initially covering it with fresh arborist wood chips. At that moment Paul says God told him, "it works in your garden the same way." Paul then threw away his rototiller and began covering his garden with composted wood chips. Paul told us he does not add chicken manure or other fertilizers to his orchard. The raw arborist wood chips built fertile enough soil on their own over time. He also adds the waste from his wood stove to his orchard over the winter, because he has it. If you do the math, by the time we arrived to film the documentary in 2010, Paul had been growing a no-till wood chip mulched orchard for nearly 30 years and a no-till wood chip mulched vegetable garden for nearly 15 years. Therefore, the documentary shows the results of a no-till wood chip vegetable garden after 15 years and the results of a no-till wood chip mulched orchard after 30 years! This is a really big deal for those of you who are just starting a Back to Eden garden and/or orchard and are hoping to see results like Paul. The good news is that you can see results like Paul, it will simply take time and patience! BACK TO EDEN DEMONSTRATION GARDENS As filmmakers, our goal was to reduce the amount of mistakes people would making practicing the Back to Eden gardening method. Therefore, we dedicated 20 minutes of Back to Eden Film to documenting "Back to Eden demonstration gardens." Paul consulted both of our families while they installed a Back to Eden garden for the first time. 1. Demonstration Garden in California The demonstration garden CA featured Dana Richardson's family. Ron & Sylvia demonstrated adding a layer of premium composted wood chips that had been screened onto their vegetable garden. Since they had access to screened, composted wood chips (just like Paul) this was the easiest solution for their urban garden. They were able to sow seeds directly into the compost and also plant transplants. 2. Demonstration Garden in Pennsylvania The demonstration garden in PA featured Sarah Zentz's family. Mark & Diane actually installed two gardens. In the first garden, they only added newspaper and 4-6 inches of fresh arborist wood chips in the Fall. When they planted in the Spring, there were a few problems. The first mistake was planting in the wood chips instead of the soil beneath the wood chips. Therefore, many of the plants were lacking nitrogen. To fix this, Mark added a dried blood meal, an organic fertilizer. This mistake could have been avoided by either planting in the soil beneath the wood chips, adding composted wood chips instead of fresh arborist wood chips, or waiting longer to allow the arborist wood chips to compost. Mark was determined to get it right so we installed a second demonstration garden in the Spring. This garden wash installed with a layer of newspaper, 2-3 inches of mushroom compost, 3-4 inches of composted wood chips, less than 1 inch of composted cow manure. Since this garden had compost added, they were able to immediately sow seeds directly into the compost below the wood chips. This garden grew prolifically without any problems. Now, 10 years later, Mark has uploaded a YouTube video showing the 10-year results! BACK TO EDEN GARDEN TIPS FROM THE FILMMAKERS The take away from Back to Eden Film is to cover your garden with wood chips. The easiest (and free) resource for home gardeners is arborist wood chips. Fresh arborist wood chips need time to decompose before they are ready to plant in. Here are some of our tips: 1. Do not plant seeds directly in fresh arborist wood chips. Arborist wood chips need time to decompose before they are ready. That is why we recommend to mimic nature and add arborist wood chips in the Fall. In the Spring, pull back the coarse wood chips and plant in the soil and/or compost beneath. 2. Add composted wood chips (ideally, that have been screened) instead of fresh arborist wood chips if you have access to this resource! Of course, not everyone has access to this premium organic matter. If you want, you can allow your delivery of arborist wood chips to compost before you add them to your established vegetable garden. Learn how to compost your arborist wood chips here. 3. Do not till the wood chips into your soil! Since wood chips are high in carbon, they can tie up nitrogen when they’re tilled into the soil. 4. Be patient! Every year you are building more and more soil in your vegetable garden by adding organic matter which is creating more nutrient-rich food for your plants. HOW TO START A BACK TO EDEN GARDEN
We want to close this article by saying, Paul's somewhat mystic, read-between there lines teaching techniques are not accidental. Paul explained to us again and again as we drilled him for a "one size fits all formula" for growing a Back to Eden Garden that one size doesn't fit all. Paul constantly reminded us that he wanted people to get connected to nature in their region and adopt what works best for them. As frustrating as this can be for people who prefer rigid instructions, it was actually a stroke of genius on Paul's part. There isn't just one way to start a successful Back to Eden Garden. But there certainly are some things you shouldn't do. Remember to Avoid the Most Common Back to Eden Gardening Problems! So, you've watched Back to Eden Film on repeat a dozen times and you're feeling inspired and prepared to grow the best food with miraculous results just like Paul Gautschi. Sounds easy enough, right? While Back to Eden Gardening is in fact easy, when you are first starting a Back to Eden Garden you may experience some unexpected problems on your journey 'back to Eden' that you didn't see in Paul Gautschi's gardens. Please don't be discouraged! When you first start using wood chips you may face challenges but there are solutions! Almost all of the problems faced in Back to Eden growing resolve themself with time. And most importantly, Back to Eden growing technique gets easier with better results every year! Unlike conventional gardening and farming methods require more input and the same intensive labor process every year. Below are some of the most common problems Back to Eden gardeners and farmers may face and our suggested simple solutions. Problem #1: Nitrogen Problems with Wood ChipsDo fresh wood chips or composted wood chips work better in a vegetable garden? Fresh wood chips are any wood chips from tree trimmings that are less than three months old. When you get fresh wood chip loads from tree trimmings you should be able to see green leaves mixed into the pile. Leaves are the wood chip piles primary source of nitrogen. Nitrogen is required for your garden plants to grow healthy, green leaves. Composted wood chips are wood chips that have been composting for at least three months. The main difference between the two is the amount of nitrogen that has undergone mineralization to turn into an accessible nutrient for plants. Understanding Carbon & Nitrogen in Wood Chips Many people claim that neither composted or fresh wood chips are good for adding to vegetable gardens and that they should only be used in pathways or around perennial shrubs and trees. Those people usually go on to explain that this is because they expect the high content of carbon in wood chips to "rob nitrogen from their soil" and thus hurt their veggies and plants growth. This has been proven to be simply not true! Wood chip piles do contain enough nitrogen to break down and supply nitrogen for your vegetables. When the leaves and chipped wood branches break down the nitrogen and carbon turn into a healthy compost. The ratio of C:N varies greatly in each wood chip pile. Some researchers claim wood chips contain an average of 200:1 ratio of carbon to nitrogen. This would mean nitrogen would benefit from being added. However, a scientific study on the effect of wood chips on fields of crops that the addition of wood chip mulch did not cause the soil to show nitrogen deficiency even in the first year. In other cases nitrogen was found to be 'tied up' during the decomposition phase of the wood chips during the 3-6 months. But after the first year of decomposition the nitrogen would be released back into the soil naturally. Carbon affects the chemical and physical properties of the soil, such as water infiltration ability, moisture holding capacity, nutrient availability, and the biological activity of microorganisms. The addition of carbon and nitrogen to our soils are essential to building healthy, fertile soil and regenerative food growing systems. How Do I Avoid Nitrogen Problems in My Wood Chip Garden? Fresh wood chips usually benefit from an addition of nitrogen to get your garden started. Adding fresh wood chips to your soil will tie up nitrogen on the very surface of the soil initially. Nitrogen deficiency in the soil causes plants growth to be stunted. Signs of nitrogen deficiency usually include yellowing leaves and wilting. This is why we recommend using composted wood chips if you want to grow vegetables in your wood chip garden immediately. Paul Gautschi uses composted wood chips that have been screened before he adds them to his vegetable garden. Additionally, he adds composted chicken manure to fertilize his vegetable garden. Paul does not add fresh wood chips to his home vegetable garden. He only adds fresh wood chips to his orchard. However, Paul Gautschi also has a second property which is also featured in Back to Eden Film about 15 minutes from his home where he allows tree services to dump loads of fresh, unscreened wood chips. His veggie and fruit gardens on his second property that uses fresh wood chips grow with just as amazing results as his home garden. This is because after applying fresh wood chips to any soil for many years, the growing medium of your plants will be in the composted wood chips below the freshly added wood chips. If you add fresh wood chips to your soil and want to plant in them in the first 3-6 months, you will need to add an organic nitrogen source such as Compost, Blood Meal, Kelp, Composted Chicken Manure, Composted Horse Manure, Bat Guano, or Fish Emulsion. Using fresh wood chips without the addition of compost, composted animal manure, or organic nitrogen fertilizers can lead to vegetable growth problems, initially. Again, the nitrogen levels will naturally improve with time even without the addition of fertilizer. See the photo below, on the left are beans growing in compost with fresh wood chip mulch and on the right are beans growing in fresh wood chip mulch without compost added. The leaves are turning yellow on the beans growing in fresh wood chips indicating a lack of nitrogen. If you see leaves turning yellow in your garden, you have a nitrogen deficiency in your plants and will need to add a source of nitrogen. Most of us don’t have access to already composted wood chips from tree trimmings. Usually Back to Eden Gardeners end up getting fresh wood chips dumped at their properties and often begin laying them down on the soil as soon as possible. However, many Back to Eden gardeners have proven that issues with nitrogen deficiency naturally disappear after 3-6 months of applying fresh wood chips onto a vegetable garden or orchard. Wood chips added annually experience decomposition and integration of carbon happening throughout the year thanks to earthworms. Before you know it nitrogen will be fed to your plant roots by microbes and fungi.
Problem #2: Not All Wood Chips are the Same QualitY Almost all wood chips are beneficial to use in vegetable gardens, orchards and farms. However, wood chips can be a difficult mulch material to analyze due to the many uncommon denominators in the size, tree variety, and quality of tree trimming waste. No two deliveries of fresh wood chip mulch will be exactly the same. Hardwood vs. Softwood Wood Chip Mulch The most important factors that will vary in wood chips for gardening include the types of trees used and the content of leaf matter vs wood matter. The species of tree your wood chips come from will affect the amount of time it takes to break down into compost and what naturally occurring chemicals it releases into your soil. Hardwoods are deciduous trees that have broad leaves, produce a fruit or nut and generally go dormant in the winter. North America's forests grow hundreds of varieties that thrive in temperate climates, including oak, ash, cherry, maple and poplar species. Some people think using any types of hardwoods as a wood chip mulch in gardens will kill plants. This is not the case. In fact, according to a study conducted by Cornell University comparing vegetable growth in fields covered with hardwood wood chips vs. fields without wood chips or with cover crops. The results were consistently better when using wood chips! In fact, the scientists were surprised to find that Nitrogen was not depleted even during the first year of decomposition of the Carbon heavy wood chips. How can you tell the different between a hardwood and softwood tree? Hardwood trees the seeds are enclosed in ovary structures like a fruit, such as an apple, or a hard shell. Hardwood trees also tend to have more full appearing leaves, not needles. Softwoods come from conifer trees, or cone-bearing trees. North American softwood species have needle-shaped foliage and have "naked" seeds, not contained by a fruit or nut. Where Paul Gautschi lives on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington conifer trees are prevalent in the forests and surrounding his property. We can assume that a large amount of softwood varieties are likely present in the wood chips Paul often has access to. However, Paul successfully uses a large variety and of hardwood and softwood varieties of trees in his gardens and orchards. Both varieties offer similar benefits in vegetable gardens and primarily differ in their decomposition rate. Soft tree wood chips are nice if you are just starting a garden because they decompose faster. But hard wood chips will provide a slow release for a longer time and not need to be added on as often due to slower decomposition. Take note, the decomposition rate of wood chips is greatly effected by the size the chips are chopped up to and the amount of leaf content in a load. TYPES OF TREES TO NEVER USE IN WOOD CHIP GARDENS One of people first concerns when receiving a delivery of fresh wood chips is what type of tree am I getting. There are in fact some types of wood chips that will actually suppress seeds and plants from growing. Some trees generate naturally occurring chemicals that stifle the growth of competing seeds and seedlings. This process is called allelopathy. By definition, allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemicals that influence the germination, growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms. These biochemicals are known as allelochemicals and can have beneficial (positive allelopathy) or detrimental (negative allelopathy) effects on the target organisms and the community. Some varieties of trees to avoid using in your vegetable gardens due to their seed germination suppressing allelopathy include Black Walnut, Eucalyptus, Pepper Trees, Tree of Heaven and possibly Cedar. The studies testing the effects of the above mentioned trees on inhibiting growth found that not all plant species growth were stunted. Some of the allelopathy effects only target the suppression of certain plant species growth. However, it is important to ask, what type of tree was chipped up? Don’t use bark nuggets, sawdust, or treated and dyed landscaping wood chips for your vegetable garden! None of these materials will provide the paper ratio of carbon to nitrogen to build healthy compost. You will likely see yellowing leaves of plants, wilting and stunted growth when you use one of the materials as a mulch due to the lack of sufficient nitrogen, nutrients and biodiversity. In Conclusion: When you look in nature or take a walk in the forest, you will notice a diversity of leaves and branches covering the soil. When we talk about using wood chips in your garden we are referring to tree trimming waste made up of 90% branches and leaves. When using the ChipDrop App make sure you indicate in your free wood chip request any types of trees you don’t want delivered. I always make a note that I am using the wood chips in a vegetable garden and would prefer finely ground wood chips without logs. Problem #3: Back to Eden Gardening TAKES TIME
It’s important to remember that Paul Gautschi started adding wood chips to his gardens and orchards decades before we showed up to film the documentary BACK TO EDEN (2011). You should expect to allow your wood chip mulch in your garden bed to compost in place for several months before seeing soil improvements. Benefits you will see immediately in wood chip gardens include less watering, less weeds, and less soil erosion. However, if you have access to already composted wood chips, you can add a layer of 3-4 inches of composted wood chips before covering it with fresh wood chips for immediate growth benefits. If you don't see Eden in your backyard immediately, don't give up, it takes time! Remember what Paul says in Back to Eden Film? "I always go to that Scripture where God says, It's good for man to bear the yoke in his youth. God is saying upfront, if you're going to have anything of value you've got to work for it, but He says if you do it the right way you want to do it early on, do the work upfront, and if you've done it right over time it will produce for you. And this is what I think is so neat about the wood chips and God's way." If you are adding fresh wood chips with the addition of any organic nitrogen rich fertilizer and keeping your soil covered you will see incredible improvements after just one growing season. Fresh wood chips can be used in your garden as mulch immediately. However, adding a layer of composted material below them and some organic nitrogen fertilizer will help the wood chips benefit your garden more immediately. If you can find or create composted wood chips they will offer the accessible nutrients for vegetables immediately. Make sure to seasonally add a layer of visible wood chips on top of your composted wood chips material to experience the most benefits of mulching. A healthy compost ratio is usually 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen. Look at your wood chip pile and if it looks like there aren’t enough leaves (nitrogen), add more leaves, manure, or organic fertilizer to help them break down. Problem #4 Find Free Wood Chips Near ME Getting good wood chips can test your patience. It can require persistence to find wood chips. As the Back to Eden Gardening method continues to grow in popularity, so has the demand for free wood chips from tree trimming service companies. We recommend signing up on ChipDrop App to request a free load of wood chips several months prior to really needing a wood chip delivery in your garden. ChipDrop was created by a tree service professional who watched BACK TO EDEN and decided he wanted to help gardeners get access to free wood chips. After ten years of getting loads of wood chips from different tree trimming services we have learned a lot about the diversity in the quality of the wood chips. We’ve used everything from composted piles found on the side of the road to massive dumps of fresh wood chips made of huge corse tree trimmings. If you don’t get a delivery using ChipDrop, search on Yelp for tree trimming services and send a message to all local tree trimming businesses near you with one click. Make sure to mention you will pay for them ($20-$40) to drop off wood chips at your property and this will save them time and money having to dump their wood chips at a landfill. It’s worth the price when you consider you'll pay $10/bag of mulch at the local nursery. Remember to make notes of your preferences and follow up with a quick phone call to explain the details of your needs for best results. Problem #5: Wood Chips Spread Pathogens and Disease It’s important to also ask if the trees that were chipped were diseased or sprayed with herbicide. It is extremely rare to find that trees have been sprayed with herbicide but important to ask. According to a study conducted by the University of California, “If you chip and allow mulch to dry out before use, most plant-pathogenic bacteria and viruses and many fungi that infect the branches, flowers, fruit, leaves, and twigs of trees and shrubs will not spread in the mulch. Likewise, most wood decay fungi that affect the upper trunk and branches do not survive in chipped, thoroughly dried wood.” If you get a pile of wood chip load contains too much large debris or is from uncertain origins allow the pile to compost in place for a season before using it. Wood chip piles will reach over 140 inside while composting. This process will also help purify the wood chip compost from any disease or contaminates that may be present in the tree. Make sure to wet any wood chip pile occasionally to help it compost and prevent overheating. More is always better right? Not necessarily. Using too much than 4-6 inches deep of fresh wood chip mulch on your vegetable garden could cause growing problems in some plants until it sufficiently breaks down. Volcano mulching is when someone piles a huge mound of mulch at the base of a tree trunk, causing the base of the tree to rot from lack of oxygen. When too deep of a layer of wood chip mulch is surrounding the base of plants in your garden the stem or root system can rot due lack of oxygen and too much moisture. Too much moisture in the soil caused by excessive mulching can also make your plants more likely to contract fungal diseases or burn the plants roots while they compost in place. Lastly, if you plants that are having trouble reaching the soil below the wood chips their growth will be stunted. Adding organic nitrogen fertilizer can help in this case. In conclusion: It’s best to stick to 4-6 inches deep of wood chip mulch on your vegetable gardens. For the first few years add another layer of 4-6 inches every fall and as needed. You can add thicker mulch in an orchard or around perennial plants in your garden as long as you leave some air space surrounding the base of the plant or tree to avoid root rot or trunk rot. Problem #6: Planting Seeds in Wood Chips Is DifficulTWood chip mulch hides sunlight from the soil preventing many weed seeds from germination. The same can be true for some types of vegetable seeds if you plant beneath thick wood chip mulch. Especially small seed varieties like carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, oregano can be difficult to germinate when underneath a thick layer of mulch. On the other hand, vigorous weed seeds and many hardly plants like squash will have little difficulty pushing their way up through the wood chips on their own. A common issue when raking away the wood chips for planting seeds is when the mounds of chips pile up on the sides of the seed furrow, you walk away thinking you’ve done such a great job taking extra care for your seeds and you come back a few days later to find wood chips covering your carefully cleared rows. After all, the bare soil wants to be covered by nature’s design! Gravity, wind and watering will easily cause wood chips to cover a narrowly cleared area of soil and prevent sensitive seeds from growing.
Composted wood chips can be planted in more easily since the wood chips are not corse and thick enough to bury the seed before it sprouts. You can add some compost directly to your rows before planting to prevent the wood chips from burying the furrow made in the wood chips. It’s also beneficial to add composted fertilizer to your garden before planting to improve growth. Allow the seeds to all come up and reach 2-3 inches in height before side dressing them with the removed wood chips. If your seeds are not germinating well in place try seed starters to transplant into your garden after they reach at least 2 inches or roots are established. Make sure when you transplant the wood chips will not bury the base of the plant until it is well established. A trick for preventing small seeds like carrots from falling into the soil or wood chips too deeply to grow is to play a layer of toilet paper down in the furrow, add about an inch of compost to the top of the toilet paper, surface sow your seeds and then water to keep the paper from moving. All of these challenges with geminating seeds in wood chip gardens will be eliminated with time as your soil improves. You will find yourself able to grow anything easily the longer you have been growing a Back to Eden Garden. For improved seed germination in your wood chip gardens remember to add your wood chips to your garden in the fall or winter so they have time to break down instead of waiting until the spring. When plantings seeds in any type of mulch, wood chips straw, grass clippings, leaves, cover crops, the same tips apply to improving seed germination in your no-dig garden garden or regenerative agriculture farm. Problem #7: Garden Pests in Mulch Some people experience challenges with increased insects or tunneling pests when they first start their Back to Eden Gardens. After all, you just turned a barren desert-like environment into a lush life-giving Eden, flourishing with nutrient dense plants, soft soil, beneficial microorganisms and an abundance of growth! People and animals alike will likely notice your gardens. How you treat these problems can be a personal preference but a lot of these problems will resolve themselves when you learn to restore balance to the garden environment. As Paul Gautschi shows us in his gardens and orchards, when your plants are in good health they will be able to naturally fight off the occasional damage from insects and even the occasional animal damage. Even though a thriving Back to Eden Garden may see signs of minor damage from slugs, aphids, squash bugs, etc. the plants will be strong enough to survive abundantly due to their healthy ideal growing conditions. In a garden environment that is in balance you will see very few occasions of any out of control infestation that cause significant damage to your plants. This took me a long time of trial and error and speaking with other Back two Eden Gardeners dealing with pests to fully wrap my mind around. I understood it in theory but did not comprehend how to make my plants healthier and keep the pests from killing them aside just adding more wood chip mulch and organic fertilizers to the soil. Now I understand that many factors play into creating a balanced Back to Eden Garden with healthy, hardy plants including humidity, too much or too little moisture in the soil, lack of nutrients and minerals, too much raw material in the garden. All of these problems are of course caused by us as humans interfering with the environment improperly instead of mimicking the design of nature. Trying to mimic nature can be challenging! It’s easy to overwater because people do not take the time to reach down into their soil below the wood chips and touch it to see how wet it really is! The mulch on top can appear to be very dry even when it’s very damp below. Too much moisture again causes rotting in plants and therefore attracts more insects to your plants when they begin showing symptoms of weekend immunity. If you see a plant with an infestation try to understand the root of the problem. Plan your garden plot carefully so that only seeds needing to germinate are getting watered regularly until they sprout and not your established plants too that do not need watering. In conclusion, water less, add fully composted wood chips to avoid attracting insects that feed on raw organic matter like slugs, snails, and roly-polies. There are some OMRI certified, natural insect control methods that are deemed safe for use in organic gardens.
In conclusion: To avoid insect and pest problems in Back to Eden Gardens: 1. Don’t overwater to avoid attracting harmful insects! In fact, if you live in many climates you don’t need to water at all unless your germinating seeds! “I realized that Texas provides enough rain for all our native food producing plants I decided to give it a try (Back to Eden Gardening). And I'm so glad I did! This one 15x20 garden gave us over 1500 pounds of food without a single drop of water from us, and when temperatures were well into the 100s!” - A Modern Homestead 2. Don’t add too much raw material during the growing season. Add sufficiently composted material. Insects are attracted to organic matter and green waste. It’s part of their job to feed on cellulose and fiber from vegetable scraps, leaves, plants, wood. In fact, insects and beneficial bacteria actually help break down cellulose like raw wood chips into compost. However, when you add too much fresh wood chips or even vegetable compost that hasn’t fully decomposed, the insects will crawl in like a magnet to feed on the raw organic material. Adding a layer of raw wood chips that is 4-6 inches is usually not enough to attract a ton of insects on its own. But when combined with excessive moisture, compact soil without drainage etc. 3. Don't overcrowd when planting. This can cause plants to be more prone to excessive moisture and decomposition which can attract insects which can in turn attract animals. 4. Don't use toxic pesticides! Like Paul Gautschi always says, it's best to treat the root of disease not the symptoms. Think about what this means. Its easy to ignore what is causing a problem and just attack the symptoms of it relentlessly without ever resolving the problem! For example a slug infestation happens in your garden. Find the cause. Water less. Rake away debris to allow soil to dry from excessive moisture or attractant food for the slugs. If you must reduce the population, do it naturally using Neem Oil sprayed on your plants. An old DIY trick is to place a small cup with beer placed flush with the soil surface. The slugs will down in it. BACK TO EDEN GARDENING WORKS!Back to Eden Gardening is simple and sustainable. Even though the wood chip mulch you use many vary in the time it takes to break down and the ratio of carbon to nitrogen it contains depending on the source of the wood chips, the end results of the gardening method are consistently beneficial. The most important rules to remember in Back to Eden Gardening are 1) the goal is to build healthy soil 2) have a wood chip covering on top of the soil will help achieve improved soil with time 3) adding organic Nitrogen or compost to fresh wood chips helps provide more immediate benefits 4) Don’t bury the soil so deeply that your plants roots can’t access it. If you follow these rules, you will not only have a successful Back to Eden Garden. Cover it with just enough compost and wood chips to improve the soil slowly while allowing your plants roots to grow in the soil below the mulch. As Back to Eden gardeners we tend to forget that the soil is the ultimate food source for our vegetables and trees and we are simply trying to help improve the soil by covering it with wood chips. It’s easy to forget about the soil when we don’t see it below the wood chip mulch! Results in a properly installed Back to Eden Garden are significantly better than tilled gardens and farms. Just remember to check in on the soil regularly and adapt your fertilization and irrigation practices based on the condition of your soil.
By definition, urban gardening is "the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around cities." The interest in home gardening grew in the year 2020 unlike any year since America's patriotic "Victory Gardens" were planted during World War I and World War II. During WWII, home, school, and community gardeners produced an estimated 40% of the United States fresh vegetables and fruits, from approximately 20 million gardens! This was the last time in history that food security was under attack until COVID-19 caused the entire world to go on lockdown. In 2020, a resurgence of home gardens grew across the entire world setting record breaking demands for seeds, soil, and plants. Ten years ago, we (Dana & Sarah) produced a documentary about gardening called BACK TO EDEN. We both decided that in addition to the main star, Paul Gautschi, a gardener and arborist from Washington, we wanted to include both of our families in the documentary. If we wanted to change the world, we knew we had to start with our own relatives. Neither of our parents had acres of land. Mark and Diane (Sarah's parents) installed a demonstration community garden at a church in Gettysburg while Ron and Sylvia (Dana's parents) installed a demonstration backyard garden at their home in California. The goal of the demonstration gardens was to show that Paul Gautschi's gardening method could be implemented in diverse soil conditions and climates. In 2011, BACK TO EDEN premiered online, streaming for free, and immediately went viral. The documentary quickly ignited a global gardening movement called, "Back to Eden Gardening." Fast forward nearly 10 years after the release of the film, Back to Eden Gardening is renowned as one of the best gardening methods in 2020. During the first month of quarantine in the United States, BACK TO EDEN received nearly 1 million views on YouTube. Quarantine brought on a new wave of beginner gardeners who were desperately searching for the best ways to grow food at home. Living in Los Angeles, California, we found ourselves under a "safer at home" order which encouraged us to spend more time in our urban garden. We shared our urban gardening experiences daily on Instagram hoping to teach and inspire other home gardeners! Although our backyard and front yard gardens total less than ⅛ of an acre, we were able to grow all of our own produce this year enabling us to have food security during these difficult time. Since we have limited space we focused on creating rich soil. The fact is, when your soil is full of nutrients, you are able to grow a high quantity of nutrient-rich food in a small garden plot. We grew everything from Apples to Zucchini in our small urban garden. To this day, both of our parents are still gardeners who practice the Back to Eden Gardening method. Mark McOmber offers tours of his community garden in rural Pennsylvania and shares a wealth of knowledge on his YouTube channel.
The quick answer is yes! Wood Chip Gardening is a scientifically proven effective gardening method. In fact, there was a study comparing 15 different organic mulches which concluded wood chips are one of the best mulches for holding moisture, moderating soil temperatures, controlling weeds, and overall sustainability. The fact is wood chips absorb and retain more water than any other mulch! This water cools the soil and is slowly released to plants. Soil moisture and soil temperature is directly related to the yield from plants grown in your vegetable garden.
Myths About Wood Chip Mulch
Myth #1: Wood chips will rob nitrogen from the soil.
The biggest and most widespread myth about wood chips is that they rob nitrogen from the soil. Scientifically, there is no evidence that wood chips deplete nitrogen from the soil. As Paul Gautschi mentions in the documentary, BACK TO EDEN, this myth can be debunked by simply looking at the soil in a forest floor, where dead wood, needles, leaves, and undergrowth are all present and yet new growth is always happening. What studies do show is that where wood chips are sitting on top of the soil, such as the no-till Back to Eden Gardening method, bacteria is actively working to decompose the wood -- bacteria which then consume nitrogen as food. However, this only occurs to a depth of approximately 5mm below the wood chips. This shows that "nitrogen loss" is limited to such a small area that wood chips do not rob nitrogen from soil or plants. Actually, many studies have demonstrated that wood chip mulch materials increase nutrient levels in soils and plants. Before applying wood chips, create a thin underlying layer of a compost if there are concerns about nutrient deficiencies. This mimics what you would see in nature. It’s not required, though, and over time a wood chip mulch will develop this same structure as the lower layers break down and decompose into compost. Myth #2: Wood chips will kill your plants. What type of wood chips you use in your garden does matter! It is incredibly import that you are 100% aware of what tree(s) are in your wood chips. Before wood chips are delivered to your property, make sure you inquire about what type of wood chips are being delivered. Tell the arborist or tree service company you are using them in a vegetable garden. Why? Allelopathy is the chemical inhibition of one plant by another due to the release into the environment of substances acting as germination or growth inhibitors. For example, Reformation Acres, shares that wood chips from black walnut trees affected her tomato plants. Black Walnut wood chips have been confirmed by science to contain a chemical that inhibits plant growth. Paul Gautschi had a negative experience with Eucalyptus tree wood chip mulch which inhibited the growth of plants. Make sure you do research about the trees that grow in your local area. If you are certain about what trees are in your wood chip mulch, plants will not be killed through the leaching of allopathic chemicals in wood chips. NOTE: When you are signing up for a free delivery of wood chips, the Chip Drop app has a place for your to make special requests to your tree service company. Please, make a note if you have any specific requests about what wood chips from trees you are interested in receiving. For example, write, "No Black Walnut. No Eucalyptus." Myth #3: Wood chips acidify soils. When we refer to "wood chips" we mean tree trimmings that are composed of 90% needles, leaves, and branches that have been chipped up in a wood chipper. It is important to understand that leaves are a source of nitrogen and branches are a source of carbon. This ratio of wood chips composed of needles, leaves, and branches creates an ideal mulch for a vegetable garden once they are composted. What studies do show is that when you do not use this nitrogen to carbon ratio, mulch can increase soil acidity over time. For example, if you use 100% bark, 100% needles, or 100% leaves you are not mulching properly. However, it is difficult to significantly alter soil pH without the additions of chemicals. Changes in pH may be found in the decomposing layer of mulch but these have little effect on underlying soils. Myth #4: Wood chips increase pests such as ants, slugs, termites, etc. The top question we get asked is, "Do wood chips attract termites and pest to your garden?" The first thing to address is that wood chips do not bring pests to your property that are not already present. Paul Gautschi has never had an issue with termites nor have we heard testimonies of any gardeners complaining about termites due to wood chip mulch. As far as pests, if you have a healthy vigorous plant, insects should not be a problem. Wood chips are the key to building healthy soil that grows healthy plants! Mulch Your Vegetable Garden
Now that you know all of the benefits of wood chip mulch for a vegetable garden, figure out how much mulch you need to cover your vegetable garden and fruit tree orchard.
Mulch Calculator
This is the best mulch calculator that you can customize to measure your garden area and easily calculate how much mulch you need for your garden and orchard.
Mulch Calculator
HOW TO FIND WOOD CHIPS NEAR ME
Once you calculate how much mulch you need, sign up for free to the Chip Drop app to request a free delivery of wood chips from your local tree service company.
WHAT IS WOOD CHIP GARDENING?
Wood chip gardening is the practice of covering your vegetable garden and fruit orchard with wood chip mulch. Wood chips will improve your soil and regenerate the natural life in the soil instead of the use of toxic chemicals that deplete the soil and create soil loss.
CAN I USE FRESH WOOD CHIPS IN MY GARDEN?
Fresh wood chips come from a renewable resource -- tree pruning waste! Back to Eden Gardening uses fresh wood chips that are 90% needles, leaves, and branches that have been chipped from tree trimming waste. It is important to understand that the leaves are a source of nitrogen and the branches are a source of carbon. This ratio creates an ideal mulch gardening material when the wood chips have composted. Paul Gautschi has multiple gardens and orchards in which he utilizes both raw, composted, and screened wood chips.
Happy gardening!
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