Wood Mulch

Wood mulch is a beautiful finishing touch to many growing projects. Adding mulch to the surface of garden beds and around trees or shrubs, such as raspberries, haskap, or perennials helps to conserve water, control weeds, prevent compaction from rain, and moderate soil temperatures. Two to four inches of mulch is typically sufficient, and should be topped up as needed. Mulch can also be used as a base layer when creating new beds.

Wood builds up soil organic matter (SOM) as it slowly breaks down and mixes with the soil. Fresh wood should not be mixed into the soil, as microorganisms digesting the wood also take up nitrogen, making this important and limited nutrient unavailable to the plants ‒at least temporarily. There however are indications that in cold climate conditions such as those of the Yukon this process is so slow that the impact on nitrogen is marginal.

Two main types of wood mulch are 'rameal chipped wood' and 'trunkwood woodchips'. Rameal chipped wood tends to have a higher nutrient content than trunkwood. It is made from small to medium-sized green branches up to 7 cm in diameter, while trunkwood woodchips is made from whole trees.

Specific weight of wood mulch can vary 176-192 kg /m³ depending on moisture content and size particle, with typical value at 185 kg /m³.