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Post by Alan on Mar 17, 2009 20:31:55 GMT -5
 Got hold of several tons of 10 year old rotten, hardwood sawdust, that appears to be termite free today and fully composted. Got two more dump truck loads coming too! Last Friday my father and I cleaned out a neighbors barn and came out with four spreaders full of mixed horse, cow, rabbit, goat, and chicken manure! Terrific stuff! And today I put my call in to the neighboring Chicken houses for 5 tons of composted chicken litter! All the fields have be ploughed, some disced down, some spots have even been planted! Spring is here.....Thus my absence from the board and my blog.
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Post by paquebot on Mar 17, 2009 22:46:13 GMT -5
Remember that aged hardwood sawdust has slightly less nutrients than fresh hardwood sawdust. When fresh, it had just over 2 pounds of NPK per ton. (100 pounds of leaves may have more than that.) When tilled in next year, don't mistakenly assume that you're putting a lot of nutrients into the soil.
Martin
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Post by johno on Mar 17, 2009 23:07:42 GMT -5
We found a source of rotten sawdust/horse manure just up the hill about 1/2 a mile. I mixed in about ten cubic yards, and hope to get another ten for mulch over spring break (when my nephews have time). I doubt it has much nutritional value, as it has been accumulating for ten years and is mostly very well rotted. But the texture is great, and best of all, it is very acidic, which is a plus for this ground.
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Post by paquebot on Mar 18, 2009 9:53:11 GMT -5
Are you certain on the acidic part? If so, there is some other ingredient involved. Wood chips and sawdust have no appreciable effect on soil acidity, according to J. I. Rodale, founder of the organic gardening movement. On the other hand, fresh horse manure is highly alkaline at over 8.0 pH and will never become acidic no matter how long it ages.
Martin
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Post by johno on Mar 18, 2009 13:35:01 GMT -5
Hardwood mulch/sawdust generally is somewhat acidic, and that appears to be the primary ingredient. But the reason I'm relatively sure (my philosophy background assures me that I'm never 100% certain about anything lol) is from the litmus paper test. Judging by the color code, the pH is approximately 5.5.
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Post by paquebot on Mar 19, 2009 11:08:23 GMT -5
Hardwood mulch/sawdust generally is somewhat acidic, and that appears to be the primary ingredient. But the reason I'm relatively sure (my philosophy background assures me that I'm never 100% certain about anything lol) is from the litmus paper test. Judging by the color code, the pH is approximately 5.5. You've got something else causing your soil to be acidic unless you have found some really exotic wood. When wood is burned, the aftermath is highly alkaline. If your soil were 7.0 and you wanted to make it 5.5, you'd need an awful lot of pure sulfur to do that and you're not going to find much sulfur in wood. Martin |
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Post by johno on Mar 19, 2009 15:47:24 GMT -5
Maybe I was unclear - the hardwood sawdust/manure compost is acidic, the soil here is neutral. I hope the acidic compost helps bring the soil pH down a notch. Hardwood ashes are alkaline because the organic acids have been burned out of them.
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Got hold of several tons of 10 year old rotten, hardwood sawdust, that appears to be termite free today and fully composted. Got two more dump truck loads coming too!
