Pettex Chippets Woodchips, Pre Compressed Size 155 Litre

I bought this for the garden. Planning to add it to my three raised beds, especially to keep the soil light and to absorb excess nitrogen etc.I'm making 3 raised beds, one is for ericaceous plants, the middle one is for neutral soil and the remaining one is for calcium loving plants. I've been double-digging the entire area with a massive pick mattock and laid down plenty of clay breaker.My work on the garden is tying in with my research into nutrition for humans, as well as plants, and all this nitrogen fixing business, which also relates to my fascination about earliest life forms and evolution generally. Sounds weird, but if I'm told to eat something 'because its good for me', I need to know why, in terms of an evolutionary imperative and have translated a lot of that understanding to basic plant study too.In short, we need massive amounts of bacteria in our guts to remain healthy in order to derive everything we need from food. And plants too, need massive amounts of bacteria in the soil to remain healthy and grow well. So minerals feed bacteria, and bacteria feeds everything else.Its important for us to remind ourselves that all of life began in the sea, both for plants and animals, and what's really fascinating, all these millions of years later, is that we still need what the sea originally fed us, e.g. that's when our metabolism was set. This is why plants respond so well to seaweed tonic and why we need stuff like iodine, as well as other vital minerals that farming land is so short of these days.Minerals have put my health back on track and I plan to do the same now for my plants.Update: 25 May 2015Well, I'm very glad I bought this product. I've used it on all three raised beds and still have loads left. 2 days ago I had a bit of a shock, I noticed quite a few plants were wilting in my neutral bed (South Africa/India). After a frantic inspection of local vicinity, one of the plants literally came away in my hand? Plus, noticed its roots had melted? The smell of the soil wasn't yet of rotting, so I knew I still had time. Basically, my nitrogen and carbon cycle was right out of synch, as I'd over-fertilised the soil (long story). TG woodchips reduce nitrogen super-quick. On top of that, because I had quite a few plants at risk, I also decided to douse the bed down with diluted sugar solution, as this too introduces carbon. Then I had to spray the top growth with rainwater, because the sugar might attract insects. What a carry on, but pleased to say it worked. I reversed the situation and now everything is sticking up again and looking much more bushy already. Have since checked that its only the uppermost section of soil that's most at risk, the lower parts have minerals to contend with and so are slower acting microbes. Phew, what a close shave!

product as described and excellent service

We have purchased this twice for our guinea pigs before we have found a better equivalent, because at that time it was the best we could find.Another reason we decided to get this was that it is delivered to your door, we do not own a car so this was very convenient!After opening we have noticed the woodchips were very dusty and we were a bit concerned about safety of our guinea pigs but have used it assuming it's going to be fine. They were a bit sneezy when their bedding was changed and I must say we were too, when handling the woodchips. It's definitely not very 'dust extracted' as the description claims...We have now found out that in Wilko they sell a similiar size pack for £3.99, it is less compressed so it contains slightly less woodchips but still better value and quality... This gives us no reason to repurchase this and I have to give this 3 stars only because the quality is disappointing. But if you don't have a Wilko nearby I guess it's cheaper than buying small packs that are expensive. Or you could try using fleece as bedding, which is much better for your piggies, you have to deal with nasty laundry after though, so that only works for some people.Thank you for reading and if you find my review helpful, please let me know by clicking 'Yes' below. Also feel free to ask questions, I take only a few hours to reply.

We use these for our rabbits as it works out a lot cheaper than buying from the usual pet shops/supermarkets.We have 7 rabbits so we do go through a lot of bedding so we do save quite a lot. In terms of quality, it's pretty good, not perfect but good enough. You occasionally find slightly woody chunks but this isn't really an issue as it can be broken up, or not, the rabbit don't seem to mind. Try to keep this in mind when ordering - This pack is enormous, it lasts us over a month between 7 rabbits, 6 of which are a large breed. We're probably talking about 5+ times to size of a large pack from the supermarket. Make sure you have enough room to store it.

wood chippings used as bedding for our 6 hens and 3 ducks - they are all very happy

Great value for money. Low dust and tightly packaged so that you get full value. No moisture. No mould or rot. A really good quality product.

I brought this to try as my current one is only 80 litres , it looks a small bale because it's compressed but once I put it in to my container and smooth it out there is a lot more in the bag than you think so 155 is about right give or take , I have 2 guinea pigs and the bale has lasted 5 weeks and that is with cleaning out my girls twice a week in a 4 ft cage , there is no dust it is absorbent and the price I paid for this is cheaper than the stuff I was using before . so to me it is very good value and I will be buying more

Bought these for the guinea pigs and I am happy with this, I wanted to buy in bulk to save time and money and these were good value for what you get. Good quality. Would recommend.