Hi there,

I would like to improve the soil on my property, which is clay-like
and very hard to work with (hasn't been worked for over 40 years). I
would like to try to add a large amount of compost to improve the
quality of soil, but I need a large amount to do this. I have a
compost pile going, to which I add kitchen waste, grass clippings, and
twigs, but the resulting quantity is not enough and seems like only a
symbolic amount when I look of the size of the potential garden-to-be
(I have about 400 sq. m. available for gardening, but will not use
that much in reality!).

The local sawmill has a huge pile of "left-overs", which contains aged
bark, wood chippings and sawdust - and the deeper I dug into the pile
the more humus-like the content looked. They told me that was waste
for them so I could take as much as I can. They also said fresh
sawdust was also available if I need it.

So, if I take advantage of this large amount of carbon-rich material,
I would also need a source of nitrogen to supplement this. The only
thing that comes to mind is paying for a truck-load of cow manure.

My idea is to get a truck-load of the sawmill "waste" and a truck-load
of cow manure, create a big pile by adding thin layers of the 2
materials, cover the pile with nylon and wait one year and hope for
the best!

Does this sound like a recipe for success? Is the ratio of 1:1 (carbon
and nitrogen sources) OK in this case? Should I also use fresh sawdust
and not just the aged "waste" stuff (which also contains rotted
sawdust)? Can I expect finished compost after one year?

Any ideas would be greatly appeciated!
Joe

Spread the materials on the plot itself and disc or till them in.
Grow a cover crop disc or till it in.
You may need some supplemental nitrogen .
Do a soil test.

Joe Jamies wrote:

...My idea is to get a truck-load of the sawmill "waste" and a truck-load
of cow manure, create a big pile by adding thin layers of the 2
materials, cover the pile with nylon and wait one year and hope for
the best!

Does this sound like a recipe for success? Is the ratio of 1:1 (carbon
and nitrogen sources) OK in this case? Should I also use fresh sawdust
and not just the aged "waste" stuff (which also contains rotted
sawdust)? Can I expect finished compost after one year?...


You have 400 sq. m of space to cover. 2 truckloads at 10 cubic
meters/load will cover this to a depth of 1/20 meter (about 2 inches).
If you use the rotted sawdust and manure mixed you can put it on now and
till it in. Depending on how rotted the sawdust is, you might have to
add some fertilizer to get a lawn started in those areas where you
aren't gardening.

I would use the older sawdust as long as you can get it. Large chunks of
wood will not hurt, (other than becoming an obstacle to tillage) as they
will eventually break down when buried. The amount of nitrogen they will
use to break down depends on their surface area. The fine sawdust has a
much larger surface area than the chunks of wood, so it will soak up
nitrogen quicker. However, the loss of nitrogen is only temporary, since
when it is decomposed, the nitrogen will be available again. However in
the meantime you might need to supply some temporarily.

(Joe Jamies) wrote in message . com...

My experience with wood chips vs clay is that they do not improve the
soil all that much - worms just don't like them as much. I would think
that sawdust, mixed with other organic matter, will do a much better
job as it is more bite-size to them. Manure does a good job of
conditioning the soil. I concur that

1) you will need some 30 cubic yards of stuff, and that will
ultimately give you
less than one inch of top soil (half the matter volatilizes during
composting, and the other half compacts some)
2) a cover crop will help with the N and will also provide some soil
structure when their roots rot and form channels. It will also shade
the soil allowing uninterrupted earthworm activity

Also, if you do have a truck to transport chips, you probably can find
a place that will give you free manure. A 50/50 sawdust/manure mixture
will probably give you close to ideal C/N ratio, if you need more you
can go with the cover crop or you can buy a 50lb bag of urea.