What to Do With Fresh Wood Chips
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Learn what to do with fresh wood chips on the homestead and how to use a small wood chipper safely.
by Jenny Underwood
One thing I’ve always wanted on our homestead was a wood chipper. It seemed like there were so many possibilities when it came to that machine. I could create unlimited amounts of wood chips (a homesteader’s dream!) and chop leaves for the gardens; the list seemed endless. One day, we bit the bullet and purchased one. What do we love, what don’t we love, and what would we do differently?
First of all, there are several different styles of wood chippers available: PTO driven, large motorized, and smaller motorized units. We opted for the smaller unit. It’s completely self-contained and has a gasoline engine. The larger ones obviously chip much larger quantities, sizes of logs, and complete the job faster. They’re also much more expensive, but if you have a large farm or woodlot or are wanting to sell your product, this may be the size for you to consider. The smaller size we bought was perfect for branches (no larger than 3 inches in diameter), leaves, and straw. There are even smaller electric models available for just basic yard cleanup.
How to Use a Small Wood Chipper
The most important consideration in using a wood chipper is safety. They produce a large amount of dust, noise, and small pieces of flying debris. I highly recommend wearing a mask, eye, and ear protection. They also have incredibly sharp blades and will chop anything that gets into them, including hands. Keep small children and pets away, and don’t allow yourself to become distracted around them.
Another thing to think through before you start to mulch your material is how you’ll move it. Our small wood chipper came with a large, heavy-duty, reusable collection bag. If you buy a larger size, you’ll need to have a plan to move your wood chips or other mulched material (preferably with a tractor). We simply fill up the bag and dump it on a trailer (for wood chips) or place into large leaf bags (for leaf or straw mulch).
Ours has two options: A side chute for branches, and an open top for leaves and straw. We feed the branches in one at a time or it bogs down. We try to limit our branches to within the manufacturer’s recommendations (or ratings). Leaves and straw may be thrown into the top hopper in small batches. Again, we don’t overfill the hopper, and we use a long stick we keep nearby when the material gets clogged. Don’t put hands in there to unclog it!
The leaves and straw can be dusty, so it’s best to lightly dampen the material before shredding. Always stand upwind of where the shredded material comes out.
A few ways we use our chipper are to shred leaves from our yard to add to our gardens as an amendment or as a mulch for plants like garlic and onions. If you lay down a layer of mulched leaves at least 2 to 3 inches thick, the weeding is almost nonexistent. It provides a perfect place for earthworms and improves your soil more each year. It’s much better than non-shredded leaves, as these retain moisture better and pack tighter.
The same applies for the straw, which we use around plants and for raising our baby chicks in a brooder house using a deep bedding method. The unchopped straw doesn’t work well for them, but this is the perfect solution.
Wood chips are always a boon to us and are used around berry bushes and fruit trees. All of these conserve moisture, prevent mud, and sequester carbon. It’s a win for everyone that makes use of scraps and waste that would otherwise need to be disposed of. One of the best features of the smaller chipper is they’re super easy to move. All we do is grab the handle, tilt it back, and pull or push it wherever we need it. It’s simple to load on a trailer to take to the jobsite, and it rolls easily on the pneumatic wheels. It also has brakes and a safety guard for the leaf hopper.
However, this smaller size isn’t built to do large amounts of branches from fallen trees or trees cut down for firewood. To do that, you’ll need a bigger chipper. And while it doesn’t take long to make enough wood chips to cover a chicken pen or fill in walkways, you’re not going to cover acres of land or build up a mountain of wood chips for later. It’s perfect for processing all your leaves in the fall to place on your gardens.
If I had the extra money, I’d most certainly go with a larger size, but when you do that, you also need to consider the space you’ll need to store it, how you’ll move it, and the expense of maintaining it.
So, whether you have small jobs in mind, or need a larger size for bigger jobs, using a wood chipper is a fantastic way to add more carbon to your land. Carbon is the ultimate soil builder, and when you can make use of the carbon produced on your homestead, it’s the ultimate way to improve your land for free.
Jenny Underwood is a homeschooling mama to four lively blessings. She makes her home in the rural foothills of the Ozark Mountains with her husband of 20 years. You can find her reading a good book, drinking coffee, and gardening on their little fifth-generation homestead. Keep up on her blog here.
Originally published in the September/October 2024 issue of Countryside and Small Stock Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.
