What wood chips are the best, and why

[5thelement]

I used to fell 100 tonnes of Sweet Chestnut coppice a year to create chip for the biomass heating on the estate, they had 500 acres of SC in rotation.They chipped it in house with a machine fed cone type chipper. The spiral cone of the chipper made very regular size/shape chips at 50mm, it worked really well in the boiler and any chip left over after the Winter was spread out on the play areas and around established trees etc.

I have just removed six Lombardy Poplars in the Orchard, chipped all the brash and created a good/clean looking chip to mulch around the fruit trees, I use it fresh as long as there are no leaves in it to create heat.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

GlynnPercival (Bartlett labs) reckon even green mulch is beneficial if composted not available n Rosacea spp seem to promote best growth coz higher sugar content...interesting stuff. 

Cheers

Paul

[nepia]

I have no qualms in using fresh chip out of the growing season.  In the growing season I try to use older stuff but I have a suspicion that the nitrogen robbery thing is overstated, especially with established pants; the chip is in a thin layer and composts to a decent degree in a fairly short time but the plant roots are deep.

If the prospect nitrogen robbery bothers you I guess you could add to the mulch with manure

[sime42]

I have no qualms in using fresh chip out of the growing season.  In the growing season I try to use older stuff but I have a suspicion that the nitrogen robbery thing is overstated, especially with established pants; the chip is in a thin layer and composts to a decent degree in a fairly short time but the plant roots are deep.
If the prospect nitrogen robbery bothers you I guess you could add to the mulch with manure

Pretty much what it said on that RHS page.

It's all my fault, I started this scaremongering by mistakenly overstating the nitrogen robbery thing!

[nepia]

Sorry, didn't read your attachment.

[Mrblue5000]

For bedding cattle I find dry conifer chip to be the most absorbent, compared to fresh Ash. I haven’t tried anything else. I have no tests done but from personal experience ploughed in muck from spent woodchip bedding does reduce N availability in the first year after spreading.