Maple Sawdust -- Compost?

[ljb5]

I've got a lot of sawdust from silver maple. Can I put this in my compost pile?

I've heard some woods, like walnut shouldn't be composted. Is this true?

[Wayne Jeffers]

Black Walnut has a toxin (juglone). I know the juglone from leaves breaks down in a compost pile after several months. Not sure about sawdust. May take longer? Maybe Google can help.

I've never heard of a problem from maple. I think the leaves tend to be alkaline, whereas most other leaves are acidic. You could probably use the sawdust for mulch, except on acid loving plants such as azaleas.

Wayne

[Lurch]

I haven't heard anything bad about composting maple. Since its a hardwood it might take longer to break down. You probably should add a little nitrogen to the compost pile if you're composting sawdust of any kind. I know you definitely have to add nitrogen if you use sawdust for mulch, because it will deplete the nitrogen in the soil as it breaks down.

Don

[WWheeler]

I've seen the compost piles from horse farms that use shavings as bedding -- it can take a long long time for it to break down. I'd suggest mixing liberally with leaves, grass etc.

[huisjen]

Every ton of sawdust, spread on land, needs 23 pounds of actual N (meaning 230 pounds of 10-0-0 fertilizer) to avoid having it act as a nitrogen thief. I've been getting crab shells from a crab meat picking outfit and spreading them with sawdust, then disking them in.

If you don't mix sawdust in, you can use it as a pathway mulch and it will last a while, as it will react (rot) mostly at the soil interface and won't be such a N thief.

As far as composting it, you'll need a lot of nitrogen to make it go, and because it's so heavy, you'll have to stir it regularly to keep it aerated. Here's something else that's high in nitrogen, free, and also needs regular stirring to make it compost is hair from the barber. (It's all protien, and protien is 16% N) I've never done it myself, but I have done sheep wool tailings and trimmings (the bits with manure and crud stuck to them) and they'll compost just fine with regular turning. I did it with horse stall litter as the major carbon source.

However you add nitrogen, add some lime too. The calcium is an important nutrient to nitrogen fixing bacteria, so lime can make your N content go up as it composts.

Hope that helps.

Dan

[ 08-26-2005, 08:39 AM: Message edited by: huisjen ]

[TomF]

Poultry manure is also desperately high in nitrogen. If you've any sources nearby, it might be a good addition to a sawdust-heavy compost pile.