The main issue with wood shaving or bark chips is that, as they decompose, they use a lot of nitrogen. When they reach the stage of rapid decomposition be prepared to add more than usual amounts of fertilizer to prevent nitrogen deficiency.

Jim

I have been using a lot of it around things AFTER its been in brooders for chicks, poults, ducklings, and goslings. So, it naturally has a lot of N at that point. Makes a good mulch, breaks down pretty quickly. You can compensate for the N issue by fertilizing more, and also be getting the fertilizer down to the root zone PAST the mulch (think injection or fertilizer spikes, something along those lines). I guess the biggest drawback I see is just cost versus time -- larger particles like bark chips will last longer. I personally would love to be able to afford massive quantities of the recycled rubber mulch that they claim lasts 20 years, but at $9 for a SMALL bag, I would have to spend $10K in mulch to do all of my property the right way.

I have bedding of pine shavings I used On the show pig can I use it for garden Mulch?