sawdust waste not want not

[jteneyck]

along with robbing nutrients, sawdust/chips from the dust collector- when spread around trees/shrubs,flowers as a mulch- eventually compact causing a lack of oxygen to the trees/plants/shrubs.

Mine get added to a lot of other wood types, like branches, prunings, and the like for the mulch my wife makes.  It's been sitting all Winter but one would hardly call it composted.  If you add it on top of the soil it does not rob the underlying soil of anything.  They have to be mixed for that to happen.  Sawdust does compact, but wood chips don't.  The stuff we make is pretty fine, however, and only lasts about a year.  At that point, we till it into the soil and add a new layer.  Been doing it for way more than 25 years on the same plantings and they are doing just fine, at least by the evidence of how often they need to be pruned. 

John

[rayknight]

mulch doesn't oxygen starve plants, since they don't use oxygen. Photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide and sunlight and has oxygen as a by product. 
Plants need carbon dioxide, we need oxygen. We use their byproduct, they use our byproduct.

[daddo]

What I don't use goes on the burn pile or spread all over the back yard area.

[Duane N]

My cedar shavings go into my Screech Owl nest box.  Everything else either gets spread around in the yard, put into my compost bin or into flowerbeds.

[joespehar]

You can compost sawdust.   Even walnut sawdust is safe to use after full compost decomposition.   Normal composting technique involves high carbon, brown material, like sawdust, and green material, like grass clippings, to add needed nitrogen.   You could also add commercial high nitrogen fertilizer to the mix, if you are so inclined, or fish meal, or anything else that would supply sufficient nitrogen for successful composting.  I garden in wide beds, with paths in between.  I lay my sawdust and shavings in the paths so they are not so muddy to walk on.  The following year I till up the whole garden area, incorporating the decayed sawdust and rebuild the beds and paths, not necessarily in the exact same configuration as the previous year.  That churns up things well and mixes a lot of organic matter into the soil.  I also throw wood shavings and sawdust into my raspberry patch, along with oak leaf powder that I create by running my lawn mower over piles of the dried leaves in the fall or spring.   The layer is not thick enough to clump and keep rain from soaking in or depriving the roots of air.  I also lime and fertilize periodically to keep down the acidity and nourish the canes and vegetable patches. 

I am fortunate to have room for gardening and not have to waste resources like sawdust.  For someone with a negligible yard area, it is more of a problem.  Our town also has provisions for local citizens to take their organic matter (leaves, grass, bush and tree trimmings, sawdust) to the town pit, where the staff bulldozes  everything into huge piles for composting.  They move the stuff around to make sure everything is composted properly.  In the spring you can go and get as much compost as you can carry home.  The annual permit to dump stuff and take out compost is currently $25, a bargain compared to the cost of commercial compost. 

I learned a lot about composting as a Peace Corps Volunteer in an agricultural project in India 50 years ago and have been using the knowledge ever since.

[pmaczik]

Great info thanks!  I would like to give some info on compost from city compost pit.  I got some for our city pit.  I had above ground pool I sold.  I didn’t want to re-sod the 15 X 32 area so I made a strawberry patch.  I mixed the sand and compost top soil.  The next year I had a thistle that vine the whole area.  I roundup and rote tilled the whole next year before I was able to kill.   I found out last year I should have paid a little more and bought the stuff that is put through a furnace to kill all everything.  This year I should have a nice patch of strawberries.

[MichaelMouse]

Put the shavings under the electric fence line. Cattle don't care, helps control weeds when applied thickly. 

Find someone who keeps chickens or rabbits and loan some benign planer/lathe shavings for bedding.  Getting them back with all the added nitrogen is a bonus.

[AHill]

mulch doesn't oxygen starve plants, since they don't use oxygen. Photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide and sunlight and has oxygen as a by product. 
Plants need carbon dioxide, we need oxygen. We use their byproduct, they use our byproduct.

True, but compaction does deprive oxygen from the essential microorganisms in the soil that break down organic material into nutrients for the plant's root systems.  The most common cause of poor plant health is poor soil health.  Compaction of any kind of mulch will cause problems..

[5thumbs]

When I work with walnut, I use the shavings and sawdust to spread along my privacy fence. Keeps the weeks from growing and saves me time when trimming the lawn.

[Joe Tilson]

I give some of my shavings to people to start fires in fire places or going camping. One must be careful not to give out the poison emitting woods. I mostly give away pine. 

We always went by the one match one fire rule.