There have been any number of studies done on the pest-attracting element of using wood chip mulches that Google will pull up for you. The pests most commonly listed are various ants, several of the beetle family, slugs and snails, and termites.

How attractive the mulch is seems to depend on the size of the chips and the type of wood chips used. Example: cedar being far more pest repellent than oak or pine.

Mulching and the various mulches are discussed in much more detail over on the Soil & Mulch forum here than on this forum but the primary concerns with using them in vegetable gardens (as opposed to in perennial beds) is not the pest issue. Instead it is the nitrogen-binding they cause at the soil interface, their ineffectiveness at soil moisture retention when compared with other organic mulches, and the fact that they are not an effective weed suppression mulch.

Then there is the cost factor. If large amounts of free wood chip mulch is readily available to you then that off-sets some of their negative issues. But if not and one has to buy them then the costs of using them can be prohibitive.

Dave

This one's been debated here 1000 times...

My version of "long story short"...

If you got time (and the correct environmental conditions) to rot down all that wood...it's fine. Most (almost all) people will need to give extra nutrients during the breakdown + be vigilant about the pests it attracts.

There's a good amount of areas around that will not be able to break down all that wood in a season or two...there's some areas that can break it down enough to not be excessively limiting in a single season.

There is no "one size fits all" approach that the BTE approach misleadingly sells to the public. A lot will have to do with how your local area weathers organic matter based on temperature, native soil conditions (including water drainage), and the amount of moisture you get.

I'd save the wood chips for the perennial beds, myself. In my area you're asking for years of trouble introducing a heavy wood content mixed into all the constantly moist clay around here. The microbe population just can't keep up and it can take a few seasons while N is hogged by the process.

I took this a step further and used wood chips as a mulch and dug wood chips into a couple of my beds to see if all the claims about nitrogen robbing held up.

My wood chip beds produced the most vegetables this year.
They did take a lot of nitrogen fertilizer at the beginning, but it was actually easier to keep my plants green in the wood chip beds.

In my normal clay beds the nitrogen fertilizer would wash away. And solid nitrogen fertilizer wasn't effective in the clay beds, probably not enough soil web microbes. I actually put more fertilizer in my clay only beds and the plants still were nitrogen deprived.

If you have great organic content soil than digging in wood chips probably won't improve performance.

As for pests, certainly more pill bugs than open ground, but about the same amount as when I use leaf & pine needle mulches. Also the water retention for wood chips is better than for leaf & pine needle mulches. Only saw slugs during the rainy season.

This fall and am actively redigging wood chips into all my beds after see how well they did (even better than hugelkultur only beds).

Here is a link that might be useful: Wood Chip Vegetable Bed

This is a simple matter to me.

Fact #1 - people have been fantastically successful for longer than I've been alive without gardening with wood chips.

Fact #2 - there is no new secret to gardening. We're not inventing the light bulb here. Everything you need to know to have a great garden was known a long time ago. There are no secrets and no magic techniques.

From facts numbers 1 and 2, I don't see the need to garden differently. People who preach a 'new, improved' gardening technique are selling something i just don't need. That being said, if it works for you, have at it.

From the looks of your yields and growth, em, it looks like your plants could use a lot more light than they're getting.

The containers, especially, look stresses vs the amount of medium in the containers.

Wood chips will certainly cut down on water and all fertilizers. They will prevent weed seeds from sprouting. They will add a fungal flora that is usually limited in vegetable gardens. Long term, they will give you a nutrient profile that is even too rich in most micronutrients except nitrogen. As mentioned above, they will bind and slowly release nitrogen. They will temporarily acidify the soil as chips have a pH of 5.0-5.3.

Some vegetables (mychorrizal loving, mostly vegetables that are derived from woodland plants) and soils (alkaline) will like all that, although even acid soil get a long term benefit from chips. My own back loves the lack of weeding, the watering cut in half, and the fact I have to fertilize once a season those beds. I like that chips don't blow in the wind like leaves, which cover and kill seedlings. They last two or three seasons and the largest chunks provide lasting humus, while leaves need replenishing every year. They attract slugs, but less than leaves. They attract rodents, about the same as leaves. You still have to add nitrogen, they provide some long term but not enough. They are really perfect for fruit and nut trees and shrubs.

nc-crn,

You noticed! Yes my container garden only gets 4 hours of direct sun per day at the summer solstice, less at other times. Garden gets 5 hours.

Asked the Sun linger longer when he was overhead, but no response. :)

Told my neighbors it was ok to cut down their redwood trees, also no response.

Ah! The plants look healthy at least. Also, lol.

Good luck making it work with what you go to work with.

Emgardener your report on mixing the woodchips into the soil is very interesting. I probably won't do that because i am a little bit lazy and don't like to do too much extra work. I am happy to read glib's response for the same reason ; )

Shredded green waste costs me $20 a heaping truckload. It is not free but i think it is a pretty good price. My soil is not lazy like me and can breakdown a 4-6 inch layer in as many months during rainy season. I am always trying to think what to feed it but that is a different post for another forum.

I think i will start slowly and sheet mulch the asparagus bed and the peppers/eggplants/tomatoes with horse manure and wood chips. Still worried about slugs and snails, maybe i should get a few ducks....

I just watched the video this week and was impressed. I wish I had access to tons of wood chips.

Years ago, we had access to free sawdust and mulched our gardens with it. We even used fresh sawdust. You don't have to be afraid of it. We just mixed about a pint of nitrogen fertilizer into a wheelbarrow load of sawdust and everything grew great.

I sure wish we could get some now.

Around here, tree companies are figuring out that people will pay for chips, but for the longest time, chips were free. I did score 20 cubic yards for free a few months ago by stopping my car where they were clearing a lot. Because they had to drive the stuff only 200 yds they gave it for free (it was also very coarse, which I prefer because it lasts longer. For the orchard it is just perfect).

My neighbor is cutting down two trees on top of his deck. I scored those chips as well (plus the logs for mushrooms), the logs are free, the chips to my garden are free, but to drive the rest to the orchard the guy will want $10 (I need a little more because the free load turned out to have a lot of black walnut).

At least around here, a few phone calls can help. They prefer to dump a load near a work site rather than going back and forth with it, specially if they have to make two or three trips. And except for nitrogen the chips nutrient profile is very very good. For parsnips, carrots, or beans, I really don't need anything else.

I would like to try this method, however I do not have access to wood chips, but I have sawdust that is several years old (over 5), because we had trees harvested several years ago. Most of the saw dust looks back. I know it said on the video to only use wood chips, but is there any reason sawdust would not work as well other than needing to replace the sawdust more frequently?
Thanks

saw dust will be fine, but you will need a lot of it. At the very least, 10 lbs per square foot of garden, but what you have is basically finished compost and will work right away (you only need nitrogen fertilization). if you live in a suburban area, you can access wood chips through any tree company.

Thank you Glib,
The amount of saw dust is not a problem, because the loggers put a mill on our property so there are huge mounds of sawdust. We are so rural it is hard to find a a tree service most people cut down their own trees and just let the limbs rot or burn them.
I was searching for a way to help with water issue I used to use excess hay but the with the drought that is not an option.
I have always been conservative with water because I believe it is our most precious resource. I already use drip irrigation tape to conserve water and I have a small aquaponics system (it only loses water due to evaporation and transpiration) - I am adding on -it will be 700 gallons by this spring. Last year was the worst drought that I have ever seen in my life, so my goal is also to conserve even more water this year.

Put the drip lines under the saw dust and you will save even more water... I would love to have huge mounds of well rotted saw dust.

If you're dealing with real drought conditions, spread out your plants more. If you usually plant seeds every three inches, make it five. That gives each plant more soil to take water from. And definitely mulch where you can.