Merla - Ramial chips are cut a certain way at a certain time and it also requires expensive machinery. This is a situation where the technology exists, but few actually have the advanced equipment.
So I'm not saying you should rely on Ramial chipped wood. Rather, just use whatever wood chips you got and figure there will be similar benefits to soil biology. Thanks for the notes on your location. If you are trying to establish wildflowers, then you should think twice and then three times about the DeWitt Sunbelt Weed Barrier. As I said, I can "guarantee" that you will have a successful planting. Again, it is for specialized plantings near homes, street corners, high visibility right-of-ways, and around signs for churches and schools. But that is also what it sounds like you are trying to do in certain areas. What are the diminensions of the knapweed plot that you hand dug and applied micronutrients? I bet that if you mowed down the knapweed and covered it with weed barrier and let it sit as a fallow treatment, that 3 months later you could come back and find that all of the in the knapweed has died out completely. It takes time for roots and shoots to die from sunlight depravation. When you buy a 300' x 15' roll, it is an investment. You can take a large piece of the weed barrier to a location and cover it as a fallow treatment. Later, you can use it again... and so on.... from place to place where it is needed as a fallow treatment. This is simple weed control that is effective. This is cheap by comparison to a lot of labor and equipment. Then, you can remove the weed barrier and establish clover and grasses and wildflowers on fresh ground. Yet, for broad-scale roadside plantings, the weed barrier is irrelevant. For broadscale wildflower establishment, try: *Plugs and transplants of tough species that are planted at strategic times in fall and early spring. *Seedballs For steam, challenge the agricultural engineers and farmers to develop some low-cost equipment. The magazine called Farm Show is excellent for farm-scrapped equipment ideas. Farm Show http://www.farmshow.com Regards, Steve Diver
