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lenoir city Tennessee

I have access to a bunch of aged sawdust, but i have read that it pulls the nitrogen out of the soil. This is probably at least 10 years old, is it worth fulling with,?or should i leave it alone?

1/6/2007 9:03:25 PM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

One way I have used saw dust, is as a top dressingmulch for my vines. then I bury my vines and add more manure to the sawdust, be sure to mix it together if yu do.I used it tooo hold mosture in, If it's aged 10 yrs how broke down is it? I have found that too much and your plant dosen't do squaut. It sucks all of the nitrogen out of it. Can you compost it with some of that mushroom compost you have access too? Use the saw dust just a little, but use manure or muchroom compost instead.

1/6/2007 9:41:10 PM

Montoursville, PA

A-men.

1/7/2007 10:35:29 AM

lenoir city Tennessee

Captain, the sawdust has a real dark rich color to it.

1/7/2007 5:44:58 PM

Long Island,New York

Maybe its from Black walnut?....hee-hee

1/7/2007 7:02:31 PM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

Well being Tn it could be one of the following, Hickoryprobably not hickory, Oak, Walnut, Cedar(but it would smell cedary) catalpa is a little tan,Willow, (do you have Russian olive there, probably not) It could be a varity of seet gum tree.
remember add lots of nitrogen to it if u compost it. Since some area of Tn (like nashville area) have been under average precepitiation the last two yr, sawdust with a little manure may make for a great mulch. about a half in thich orso.

1/7/2007 7:52:35 PM

Montoursville, PA

Using sawdust is very tricky. Sawdust and ground up wood mulch materials are best used in a permanent mulch situation.

1/7/2007 7:52:55 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Ten years old I think it'll be dark regardless the species.

If the stuff was kept dry it might still cause a slight Nitrogen draft. But if this stuff was outside all this time it should be good as gold.

Where was it kept?

1/7/2007 10:26:44 PM

lenoir city Tennessee

Its been outside and uncovered the whole time, my brother bought a few acres up in the mountains where there was a sawmill at one time. The pile is all spread out and level and covers a wide area.

1/8/2007 5:29:49 PM

Montoursville, PA

If it has converted to fully rotted and is now compost it may be good stuff. Usually what I see is a spot that has nothing growing in it, on it or even around the edges of it. Remember that totally rotted is a very slow process for wood even in the form of sawdust.

If the spot has mixed new undergrowth growing up and through it as a major issue then the process is allmost sure to be fully composted.

The biology of the woods floors of the mountains from Main to Georgia is very sparce. Conversions of just mixed leaves is also very slow. What has rotted has been largely fungal in nature. Fortunately it does maintain the very slow growth of the trees. Where I live the two principle re-growth items are Mt. Laurel and in open spaces ferns. Both are considered a weed in forrest management. Darn near everything else is eaten off by an over population of deer where I live. Growing in it by assisted management has been total failure, for the most part. Planting seedling trees has been useless. They don't make it past early brouse time.

1/21/2007 11:17:37 AM