I just had a pin oak cut down & the stump ground up - the tree was slowly dying from something that has affected all the pin oaks in this area (Southern NJ). The guy who ground out the stump suggested it would make good mulch so without thinking I had my husband dump a ton of it on a large flower bed in our back yard. This bed includes 2 large, old growth trees (maple & sycamore), magnolia, rhoddies & a host of other plants. It's too late to move the mulch - I spread it across the entire bed - 1"-3" deep and it's now snowing (we are getting a foot of snow tonight). Plus I really don't want to remove it if I don't have to - it's so heavy!
Is this mulch going to be a problem? It was fresh ground (I just learned that I should have covererd & cooked it for a few months to kill any disease - oops!). The oak tree had some minor rot on the stump (it was the upper portion of the tree that looked diseased). Other than that the wood is perfect.
I was thinking of applying Neem oil as a preventative measure.
I'm a bit worried that I may have just transferred a disease to my other trees.
Any suggestions?
Without really knowing what was affecting your oak, it may or may not be transferrable to other species. I don't know enough about diseases to really be of much assistance here, though I would think the Neem would help.
I also just cut down a tree and had the stump ground - there is a LOT of mulch, I really can't get over HOW muc there is!
Something to keep in mind with your stump tho - as it decomposes, it will sink, so you will have to be adding dirt to the area for a few years to keep it level.
I also just cut down a tree and had the stump ground - there is a LOT of mulch, I really can't get over HOW muc there is!
Something to keep in mind with your stump tho - as it decomposes, it will sink, so you will have to be adding dirt to the area for a few years to keep it level.
-
grandpasrose
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1651
- Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:21 pm
- Location: Quesnel, BC, Canada - Zone 4a
Grey is right - without knowing what the problem was with the tree, it's hard to tell you what to do for prevention.
I will tell you though, that because you have put all those wood shavings on your garden, your garden will be depleted of nitrogen. The nitrogen will be used by the wood in decomposing.
To counteract this, you need to give your plants and busts, etc. some extra nitrogen. You can do this by digging in some alfalfa pellets, well rotted manure, in around your plants.
If there is nothing that can be passed on to your plants from the wood chips, then using it as mulch is a good thing to use it for, as long as you compensate for the nitrogen.
Good Luck!
Val
I will tell you though, that because you have put all those wood shavings on your garden, your garden will be depleted of nitrogen. The nitrogen will be used by the wood in decomposing.
To counteract this, you need to give your plants and busts, etc. some extra nitrogen. You can do this by digging in some alfalfa pellets, well rotted manure, in around your plants.
If there is nothing that can be passed on to your plants from the wood chips, then using it as mulch is a good thing to use it for, as long as you compensate for the nitrogen.
Good Luck!
Val