The below image is a four year old pile of wood chips from buckthorn clearing. The wood chips were directed out of the wood chipper into this preserve. This was done by city staff. I complained, but nothing was done to fix the issue. The wood chip pile shown was about a foot deep before it began to decompose. This depth was deep enough to smother spring ephemerals.

I have noticed that tall goldenrod does not tend to grow where common buckthorns controlled by a basal bark application have fallen over. I am now thinking the lack of tall goldenrod in these spots might be an artifact of the buckthorns that had fallen over having cast shade when these buckthorns were alive.

The above image shows that tall goldenrod is able to colonize a deep pile of common buckthorn wood chips that has had time to decompose. This is surprising to me because wood chips are very high in carbon. I did not think tall goldenrod would grow in such a carbon rich substrate. Possibly, the tall goldenrod is colonizing these wood chips because they are subjected to polluted runoff from the surrounding neighborhood.

Looking from within the woodland towards the edge, the decomposing wood chip pile has been colonized by one tall bellflower (Campanula americana) and Virginia stickseeds (Hackleia virginiana). Creeping charlie (Glechoma hederacea) is also invading.

Further down this drainage, there is a lot of tall goldenrod and reed canary grass.

At a Nature Conservancy Preserve, I have seen prairie species colonizing a deep layer of wood chips left after using a forestry mower.

What colonizes an area after vegetation has been reduced or eliminated appears more dependent on factors like existing vegetation or levels of pollution rather than only the carbon nitrogen balance of the soil.

I will have to return in spring to see if any of the spring flora has been able to colonize this pile of decomposing wood chips.

Corrections/Changes

On 10/19/2024, this post was changed to add that tall goldenrod may not have grown where common buckthorns controlled with basal bark herbicide had fallen over because of shade cast by the common buckthorns when they were alive.

On 11/12/2024, I added the image of prairie plants growing on wood chips from a Nature Conservancy preserve and changed “populations of invasive species” to “existing vegetation” when discussing what colonizes wood chips.