Black Walnut wood develops chemicals that can impair the growth of other plants. I wouldn't use that if you have it. In fact it is so toxic that many years ago DH worked for a feed store in town that bought walnuts from people and hulled them. He wore gloves, but balanced the bags of freshly hulled sometimes damp nuts on one leg as he threw them onto the truck. The ooze from the hulls soaked his gloves and pants leg and his hands and leg above his knee both burned and peeled. It's nothing to fool around with. I wouldn't trust it even after two years of curing.

Oh, wow, that's why I asked though. I have an Audubon Society field guide to trees that has good pictures of the bark, leaves, and fruit. I'm pretty sure we don't have one of those here.

I did remember we have these nasty trees with thorns that are at least an inch long up the trunk and branches. We cut them down as soon as we find the thorns. I never stopped to look at the leaves to try and figure out just what type of tree they are, just that they hurt when you don't see them. They get put in a special pile so we don't stab a thorn through our hand (or foot) trying to go through the piles of oak and cedar.

Tara, The trees we have on our property with nasty thorns are honey locust trees and I assume the trees you have with thorns might be the same thing. I am not fond of them. I've linked their Wiki which includes a photo. We cut them down all the time, but they sucker from old root systems, so you have to be persistent.

Other than walnut trees that contain juglone (which prevents plants from growing), I cannot think of anything else that would be a cause for alarm.

If there is any chance there's any poison ivy attached to any of the trees y'all are chipping and shredding, remember to wear gloves when handling the mulch or even when pulling weeds from it.

Otherwise, shredded hardwood tree trimmings are one of the best mulching materials around. As the mulch decomposes over the years, it will do an incredible job of enriching the soil beneath it too.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Honey Locust Trees

Thank you both!

Dawn, I have no doubt it probably is honey locust. I can't say for sure because we did a lot of cutting in the fall/winter on a visit from Maryland, then again in the spring before the trees got their leaves so all I ever really had to go on was the trunk and limbs. Ours didn't have compound thorns, just single thorns an inch long coming out on near opposite sides of the tree so that when layed on the ground you were almost guaranteed to get one through the shoe if you weren't looking. The biggest one we cut down was smaller than my wrist, so maybe they get the compound ones once they get bigger? I suspect the previous owners were cutting as they found them too. Either way, thorny trees are out!

I haven't seen poison ivy here, but we wear gloves/boots/long pants anyway, just too much nature that fights back.

I noticed a huge improvement to the soil once we mulched, the plants and earthworms are much happier. It only has about an inch of mulch so far, but we have a field full of brush to chip and put that down too. We didn't mulch last year, and even with almost daily water pulled our tomato plants out at the end of July (I didn't know then about how important mulch was, or about fall tomatoes). I spent about 3 months in late winter/early spring reading posts on here and our garden this year has already been much more productive.

Everyone here has been a big help, thanks!