The Benefits of Wood Chip Mulch for Your Landscape

Many homes in Morristown, New Jersey, have mulch around their trees, but not all mulch is the same. Natural, biodegradable mulch like wood chips has numerous benefits for your yard and can help make your trees and soil healthier.

In this article, we will look at the key benefits of using wood chips as mulch and why you should consider them when landscaping your yard.

Key Takeaways

• Wood chips are an organic mulch component that both looks good and benefits your soil.
• Wood chip mulch naturally decomposes over time, adding nutrients to the soil and improving its structure.
• Other benefits of wood chip mulch include regulating the temperature of the soil, retaining moisture, suppressing weeds, discouraging mowing around the tree, and reducing soil erosion.
• Mulch around new trees after you’ve planted them; replace mulch around mature trees after enough has decomposed.
• Alpine Tree offers free wood chips for you to use as mulch in your yard and around trees.

Photo courtesy of Howard F. Schwartz, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org.

7 Benefits of Using Wood Chips as Mulch for Your Trees

Mulch doesn’t just make your yard look nicer; it also provides numerous benefits that make your life easier and your trees healthier.

1. Decomposing Wood Chips Add Nutrients to the Soil

Because wood chips are natural mulch (unlike inorganic mulches such as gravel, rubber, or stone chips), they will naturally decompose over time. Although this does mean you will need to reapply mulch as it decomposes, the decomposition process has numerous benefits for your trees and soil.

Mulch simulates the forest floor, which trees thrive in. The forest floor provides nutrients to the trees through decomposing matter, much like mulch. Aside from increasing the nutrients in your soil, decomposing wood chips will also improve the soil structure and aeration of the soil under a tree.

2. Wood Chips Suppress Weeds from Growing Under a Tree

Mulch can inhibit weed growth, as it blocks most direct sunlight. While mulch won’t stop all weeds from growing, it will slow down their growth, beautify your property, and stop them from competing for resources with other plants.

You may have heard that wood chips “steal” nitrogen from the soil and deplete it of nutrients. The truth is that while wood chips will steal some of the nitrogen from your soil, that isn’t actually a bad thing.

Most of the nitrogen will come from the soil’s surface and primarily affect weeds, which have their seeds and roots near the surface. For trees, whose roots are buried about 12 to 18 inches deep, this depletion of nitrogen will not affect their ability to grow.

3. Temperature Regulation for the Soil

If you live in an urban area like Morristown or downtown Dover, you may notice your trees can struggle in the summer heat, especially if they are near roads or sidewalks that radiate heat. Trees are not naturally supposed to grow in urban environments, but mulch can aid urban trees and allow them to thrive.

Mulch creates a layer of insulation between the soil and sunlight. By blocking direct sunlight, the mulch regulates the soil’s temperature and helps reduce heat stress during the summer.

Conversely, mulch also acts as insulation during the winter, trapping heat in the soil and helping protect against frost when the temperatures plummet.

4. Wood Chips Regulate the Moisture for the Soil

Without direct sunlight beaming down on your soil, it will not dry out as quickly as usual. Retaining this moisture will mean less watering and help get your trees through periods of drought.

Droughts and abnormally dry periods are becoming more common in Morris County. For instance, in July 2024, almost the entire county was labeled as abnormally dry or in a moderate drought. 2022 also saw extensive droughts throughout New Jersey, including the Greater Morristown area.

5. Wood Chips as Mulch Can Help Reduce Soil Erosion

While erosion is natural, it can negatively impact your trees and the ecosystem. Erosion from heavy rainfall often ends up in waterways, and a study from Cornell estimated that about 60 percent of washed-away soil ends up in rivers, streams, and lakes. The soil makes these bodies of water more likely to flood and contaminate it with fertilizer and chemicals.

Organic mulch, like wood chips, acts as a bulwark for soil, preventing raindrops from directly hitting it. This reduces soil compaction and potential runoff.

Tree removal and pruning creates excess wood chips that many companies will give away for free.

6. Tree Care Companies Often Offer Wood Chips for Free

They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but sometimes this adage doesn’t hold true. Wood chips are the byproduct of tree removal and pruning, and tree care companies often have a surplus of wood chips available for those in their service area who need them. At Alpine Tree, we offer free wood chips to aid with mulching. Why pay money for mulch when you can get it for free?

PRO TIP: The wood chips we offer are often quite woody. We recommend avoiding using them around your house, as they may attract carpenter ants. However, the wood chips are safe to use around trees.

7. Organic Mulch Lowers the Risk of Damage from Lawn Mowing

Since mulch will prevent most weeds from popping up and eliminate the need for mowing around the tree, your tree is less likely to sustain injuries from mower blades or a weed whacker (string trimmer). These injuries stress a tree and open it up to attacks from pests and diseases during high transmission periods.

Best Time to Mulch Your New Jersey Trees

You can mulch around your trees any time it’s warm enough to be outside. While most residents in Morristown will apply mulch in the spring, you can do it in the summer as needed or in the fall to refresh the mulch for the next growing season. Additionally, we recommend applying mulch after you plant a new tree. New trees need all the help they can get to survive their first few years, and an organic wood chip mulch application has numerous benefits.

Alpine Tree Can Provide Wood Chips for Your Mulching Needs

Wood chips and other organic mulch provide numerous benefits to your trees and the rest of your yard. Mulch can improve soil structure through decomposing, retain moisture in the soil during droughts, decrease the risk of erosion, regulate temperatures, and suppress weeds growing around your trees. Best of all, Alpine Tree provides free wood chips for you to use as mulch.

If you are near Morristown, we can dump wood chips on your property. Give us a call at 973-964-7798 to discuss our wood chip delivery or contact us online to learn more about our other tree services.