Originally Posted by bjbebs

I have been using decayed wood chips for many years. Utility contractors, private landscape firms and one municipality that vacuums leaves have been dumping on a property I own. For the most part these are clean chips. The piles are separated based on age and stirred with a loader. Some of these piles start out over 20" high but with repeated mixing break down quickly. Like Sam said, green leaves mixed with wood heats a pile up overnight.
After 2 years the chips are tilled into already rich soils. These areas are cover cropped, tilled again and are ready to go. I would never use decayed chips as a stand alone product in a raised bed. It's not that they wouldn't grow good plants, they would. But to get all the benefits they need to be mixed with existing soils. The chemistry that happens is pure magic.