Sawdust for the garden: benefits and harms

Wood waste, in other words sawdust, is widely used in agricultural work. With their help, the soil is mulched both in the summer season and for warming for the winter, the sawdust is laid in compost, dug up with the soil in order to achieve the best air permeability. You can also use sawdust as a decorative element, filling the aisles and garden paths with it (although tree bark is probably more suitable for this). But before using sawdust for the garden (by the way, this also applies to any other material), it is necessary to study not only the useful properties, but also to foresee the possible harm that the thoughtless use of this material can bring to your garden.

Sawdust for the garden: various material properties

Sawdust for the garden: fertilizer photo

It is very common to mulch such berry bushes as raspberries and gooseberries with sawdust for the winter. Their roots are relatively shallow, so in areas with severe frosty winters, these crops often freeze.

In this case, it is recommended to use fresh sawdust as mulch, mixing them with an alkaline material (ash, lime, dolomite flour). This is to ensure that the sawdust does not draw out the nitrogen needed by the plants from the soil.

If you have clay soil or loam in your area, then with the help of sawdust, you can significantly improve the air permeability of the soil. Digging up the soil and adding sawdust at the same time, you will make it looser, and facilitate the access of oxygen to the roots. This means create a more comfortable environment for growing garden and horticultural crops.

Sawdust in the garden and vegetable garden absorbs water very well, so they can be used as a sponge. Mulching the soil in the fall months after watering will prevent water evaporation and provide shrubs and trees with enough moisture until spring.

In some cases, it is recommended to use rotted sawdust for the garden, since they have a very high content of elements vital for plants. In addition, after overheating, sawdust ceases to affect the level of soil acidity, which is also very important.

By mulching planting plants (such as garden strawberries) with sawdust during the summer months, you will prevent slugs and snails from infesting the material.

Sawdust in the garden: application and use in the garden

Sawdust for the garden: fertilizer photo

Before using fresh sawdust in the garden as mulch or fertilizer, you need to know that they tend to acidify the soil. A minimum number of plants can grow well in acidic soil, and all of them do not belong to garden crops. These are conifers, as well as some flowers (azalea and hydrangea).

If you, for example, dig up a place for potatoes with a lot of sawdust to loosen the soil, then you can forget about the harvest. The sawdust will take all the nitrogen out of the soil. This applies not only to potatoes, but also to all other vegetables.

And the level of acidity of the soil will have to be restored for more than one year, adding calcium in one form or another (chalk, dolomite, ash or calcium nitrate).

Sawdust in the garden and in the garden is a popular material for mulching the soil, but they must first be prepared according to the following recipe:

Spread out a plastic wrap and put a bucket of sawdust on it.Then add 0.2 kg of urea, pour water on top (10 liters) and cover with the free end of the film, leaving in this form for 14 days. Then add ash, chalk or other alkaline material and mulch the soil.

In this case, there will be no harm to the plants, and the benefits of mulching will only increase. But if you have rotted material at your disposal, then you can not resort to such "pickling" and use it as it is.

Sawdust for the garden: benefits and agricultural applications

Correctly prepared sawdust for the garden according to the above recipe will be a good fertilizer, but in order not to “pickle” them every time, you can install a compost heap specifically for roasting the sawdust.

Compost

Sawdust for the garden: fertilizer photo

There are different ways to prepare sawdust-based fertilizer. As additional components, be sure to add dry foliage, straw or hay - that's what you have. This is necessary so that the compost "breathes" and ripening occurs faster.

In addition to sawdust, the second main component for compost will be manure, chicken droppings, food waste or mineral fertilizers.

When using fresh manure, 100 kg will be required per 1 cubic meter of sawdust. This mixture will be ready in a year. When using food waste (cleaning and remnants of vegetables and fruits), 5 kg of ash, a little more than a kilogram of carbamide, 100 kg of sawdust and 25 liters of water must be added to 50 kg.

If you are composting using minerals, you will need fluff lime, phosphate fertilizer, and ammonium nitrate.

Whichever option you choose, it is extremely important to understand that heaping everything does not mean composting. The pile should be covered so that the important nutrients are not washed out by precipitation, the irrigation system should be adjusted so that the compost does not dry out and the moisture level is the same anywhere in the pile.

But even straw and leaves are not enough to fully ensure air access. Once every two to three weeks, it will be necessary to shovel the compost so that microorganisms and bacteria can multiply and process the raw materials faster.

Mulching

As we said, sawdust in the garden is a very common option for mulching garden strawberries. In addition to protecting it from some pests, protecting the soil from drying out, they also prevent the berries from sinking to the ground, keeping them clean.

If you add a small amount of manure to the sawdust and cover the plantings in the spring, this will not only save you from frost, but also increase the number of earthworms, which are of great benefit to the soil.

Experts assure that with this use of sawdust, the harvest this year will be much higher. But in this case, keep in mind that one of the components must be rotted - either sawdust or manure. It is impossible to use both of them fresh.

Also, wet sawdust in the garden can be used as a substrate for germinating seeds. But as soon as the seeds "hatch" they must be removed from the sawdust and transplanted into the ground. Otherwise, they will not have enough nutrition for growth and development.

Needles

Sawdust for the garden: fertilizer photo

The most nutritious are sawdust from deciduous trees. Coniferous material loses somewhat in this matter. But this does not mean that coniferous sawdust cannot be used. Prepare them using the same methods.

For mulching, you can use coniferous sawdust, mixing them with litter (crumbling pine or spruce needles). Spread this mixture over the site and leave it until spring. Sawdust will prevent moisture evaporation, litter will disinfect the soil, due to the high content of phytoncides in the needles.

The mixture will attract and increase the number of earthworms. In the spring it will be much easier to dig up the soil and the yield will increase markedly.

If you plan to put coniferous material in compost, then keep in mind that it will take more time for such sawdust to decompose. So it is better to keep them outdoors for 6-12 months before laying.

Birch

It is birch sawdust or shavings that can not only be used to create compost, but also for growing mushrooms. This material is considered especially valuable and suitable for the mycelium of oyster mushrooms or honey agarics.

You will need thick plastic bags (the size depends on the scope with which you get down to business), which must be filled with birch sawdust, previously prepared according to the following recipe. The sawdust should be boiled for about two hours to completely disinfect, then dried thoroughly to avoid the development of mold.

After the bags are full, you can add mycelium. Make holes so that the substrate and mycelium receive oxygen and do not die. And be sure to keep an eye on the humidity. With too much moisture, you will be able to grow the only fungus - mold.

When checking the humidity, squeeze the sawdust into a fist - at the optimal level, only 2-3 drops of moisture should stand out.

Sawdust for the garden: how to use in a greenhouse?

Sawdust for the garden: fertilizer photo

Since the microclimate in a greenhouse or greenhouse is different from the rest of the garden, sawdust in this case can be used as a heater.

By mixing them with manure, you start a chemical reaction with the release of heat, which will create comfortable conditions for seedlings in the spring before the warm weather finally settles.

Preparation for this must begin in the fall and lay in the greenhouse a layer of dry leaves, straw or hay, as well as freshly cut green grass. With the onset of spring on top of this already rotted layer, distribute sawdust mixed with manure.

Then turn over the layers so that they mix and lay a layer of soil on top with the addition of ash and complex mineral fertilizers. Under the soil layer, the processes of sawdust overheating will go much faster, the presence of manure in the mixture will attract a large number of earthworms.

The ideal option would be to wait a year, and plant in a prepared greenhouse only next spring. By this time, an extraordinary nutritious soil will have formed and believe me, the harvest will exceed all your expectations.