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Wood Chips in Vegetable Garden #848499

Asked September 04, 2023, 8:14 AM EDT

Good morning. I’m in the process of rehabilitating a fairly large vegetable garden for a non profit. The garden paths are muddy and weedy. I’d like to put wood chips on the paths. The city provides free wood chips to residents which would be a big help to the budget. Would there be any kind of disease issues using wood chips in a vegetable garden on the paths only? The wood chips would not be placed on any vegetable beds. The garden is in Wayne county but I live in and took the master gardener class in Oakland county. Thank you for any assistance.

Oakland County Michigan

Expert Response

Hi Cindy,

I manage a fairly large giving garden and we have used wood chips for our garden paths for 25 years.  Probably the biggest problem we had was the effort that went adding new chips as the old chips break down.  You will get still get weeds, but it does help.  It could be possible that some pathogens can be found in the chips; however, most wood chips would probably not carry vegetable specific diseases. Verticillium from wood chips could be an issue.  Black walnut could be a problem, but very little research can be found.  We have gotten chips from various sources and have not had issues of this type.  Check out the following links:

Can I use woodchips from walnut as mulch in my landscape? | Horticulture and Home Pest News (iastate.edu)

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/black-walnut-toxicity/

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ho/ho-193.pdf

Verticillium wilt refresher - MSU Extension

I hope this helps.


An Ask Extension Expert Replied September 05, 2023, 9:57 PM EDT

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