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Fresh sawdust as soil amendment???
Hi,
About 10 cubic metres of fresh fir sawdust was just delivered to my garden site. The soil is basically clay and very hard to work with. I would like to use this sawdust to improve the soil structure. Should I compost the sawdust in a pile (or several piles), or can I spread the sawdust over my soil so it can compost "in place" (due to the large amount of sawdust)? As a nitrogen source, I am thinking of using urea. How long before this soil is ready for planting vegetables? My vegetable garden will take up half the site, so I would like to prepare that soil ASAP. I would like to use the other half of the site for trying other ways of improving soil, eg. cover crops, etc. Can I start some cover crops now in the area I will not be using for my vegetable patch? Any suggestions on what a good combination of cover crops would be? Thanks Joe |
Fresh sawdust as soil amendment???
Joe Jamies wrote:
Hi, About 10 cubic metres of fresh fir sawdust was just delivered to my garden site. The soil is basically clay and very hard to work with. I would like to use this sawdust to improve the soil structure. Should I compost the sawdust in a pile (or several piles), or can I spread the sawdust over my soil so it can compost "in place" (due to the large amount of sawdust)? As a nitrogen source, I am thinking of using urea. How long before this soil is ready for planting vegetables? Your best bet for soil conditioning is to rototill the sawdust into the soil rather than just spreading it on top. If you want to compost it you will have to mix some of the urea into the sawdust, keep it moist and turned for a few months. It will compost in place, but since sawdust has a large surface area (compared to an equal weight of chips or sticks) it will tie up nitrogen while it is decomposing. You may have trouble with some plants under these conditions. If you are direct seeding, watch the seedlings to see whether or not they are thriving. If transplanting, watch for yellowing leaves that could signal a nitrogen deficiency. If you see problems, get the soil tested rather than adding nitrogen blindly. Too much nitrogen can burn the young plants. You might have to put up with limited productivity this year. My vegetable garden will take up half the site, so I would like to prepare that soil ASAP. I would like to use the other half of the site for trying other ways of improving soil, eg. cover crops, etc. Can I start some cover crops now in the area I will not be using for my vegetable patch? Any suggestions on what a good combination of cover crops would be? Depending on where you are, and assuming you can see the soil under the snow, you can probably seed cover crops now. Most such crops will take some cold weather. Clover is good for breaking up soils. Get the field clover, not the low growing lawn type clover. Buckwheat can be a good summer cover crop, but don't let it go to seed or you will have it as weeds later. Late in the summer you might consider oats and hairy vetch. The oats will winter kill, but the vetch will fix nitrogen and provide some fertilizer as well as organic soil amendments when you turn it under. Again, don't let it go to seed. There may be crops which are particularly well suited to your area. Ask your state extension service for recommendations. After all, you're paying them through your taxes, so you might as well get some information out of them. |
Fresh sawdust as soil amendment???
As pointed, out, you should compost it ... you need relatively similar
amounts of brown matter and green matter for ideal composting, so some grass clippings would, as pointed out, be good. Incorporate the two well, wet them down, and turn often. Make sure the grass clippings don't have weed killer on them. If the sawdust happens to be willow, it is said that willow trees produce a natural herbicide. There's also a tree that can sprout millions of sprouts out of its own wood chips. But if you have lumberyard sawdust I think it's not an issue as it's not that type of tree. You'll have an excellent ammendment for clay soil. For this year, while you're waiting for the compost to cook down, you can add some peat and till it as best you can. Of the vegetables, carrots have a hard time in clay, so you can use the shorter fatter types. For melons you can enrich the soil around them and they will do well in clay. Everything else, from my humble personal experience, grows without major difficulties in a clayish soil as long as it has enough organic matter to support life, and some fertilization. A cover crop would be handy in the part you're not using, I take it the soil is fallow. If it already has something other than weeds growing there I'd tend to leave it there and turn it over when you add the compost. "Joe Jamies" wrote in message om... Hi, About 10 cubic metres of fresh fir sawdust was just delivered to my garden site. The soil is basically clay and very hard to work with. I would like to use this sawdust to improve the soil structure. Should I compost the sawdust in a pile (or several piles), or can I spread the sawdust over my soil so it can compost "in place" (due to the large amount of sawdust)? As a nitrogen source, I am thinking of using urea. How long before this soil is ready for planting vegetables? My vegetable garden will take up half the site, so I would like to prepare that soil ASAP. I would like to use the other half of the site for trying other ways of improving soil, eg. cover crops, etc. Can I start some cover crops now in the area I will not be using for my vegetable patch? Any suggestions on what a good combination of cover crops would be? Thanks Joe |
Fresh sawdust as soil amendment???
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