O.T.-hardwood sawdust acidity longevity

Rkh · Aug 5, 2016

Got a truckload of hardwood sawdust for my blueberry's & was wondering if the acidity will be there next year?
would like to use some now & next spring. Is there a way to check acidity in the sawdust?

MSM · Aug 5, 2016

You may want to wait before applying around live plants. Let it go through a heat and turn it occasionally same as you would fresh mulch. If it is not "cured" and put around plants it gives off methane gas which is toxic.

Steve in VA · Aug 5, 2016

My grandfather, who ran a sawmill on the side of farming, wouldn't put sawdust down on any plants for a year. I would think that simple litmus paper would tell you the acidity if sampled in a variety of places. Alternatively you could soak some of the dust for a day or 2 and sample that liquid. You would want to have a control water sample to make sure you weren't reading the natural acidity/alkalinity of the water carrier.

chuck machinist · Aug 5, 2016

Grind up a stump and plant some grass. Watch nothing grow. Nuff said.

D beatty · Aug 5, 2016

Depends on what your putting it around. I put oak saw dust around about three young oak trees for ten years ago and they grew better than the ones I didn't put it around. Black Walnut is one saw dust you don't want use it kills a lot of stuff.

Steve in VA · Aug 5, 2016

I agree. Oak leaves generally run a pH of around 4.5 and most oaks prefer an acidic soil. So, putting acidic sawdust around acidic preferential plants is a pretty good practice.

Steve in VA · Aug 5, 2016

I believe wild cherry contains compounds that retard growth. Based on that, I've chipped wild cherry directly into the fence lines to keep the weeds down through both physical mulch and growth inhibitors. It seems to work.

FBH44 · Aug 5, 2016

I banked up 4" to 6" of fresh new hot sawdust around my BB plants, and they thrived. OAK sawdust. In fact they grew roots in the thick layers of sawdust.
BUT!!!! Get a soil test before you plant BB's, because they are very specific about soil pH, moisture, calcium, iron , and etc. Only after you have the soil amended correctly, do you plant and mulch.
If you have planted and not done a soil test, go ahead and get it tested now, there are acidifiers you can add.
Seriously, get the test. YOu do not want to wait 3 or 4 years, only to discover the BB's are not doing well. You waste too much precious time.

sms · Aug 6, 2016

Since my dad had a mill we used to mulch the garden with sawdust but we did add lime every spring.

showcrop · Aug 6, 2016

(quoted from post at 16:22:21 08/05/16) Grind up a stump and plant some grass. Watch nothing grow. Nuff said.

Not 'nuff. Grass likes "sweet" high pH soil, blueberries like acidic. The acid is produced by the decomposition of the sawdust, so testing before it is pretty much all rotted down would not be helpful.

Geo-TH,In · Aug 6, 2016

I have wild raspberries. Tree trimmer dropped off pine chips and lots of pine needles. I put them about 4 inches thick around the berries to kill out the poison ivy. No more Ivy, and berries look better. No lime. No idea if acid is good for berries.

O.T.-hardwood sawdust acidity longevity

Rkh

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MSM

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Steve in VA

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chuck machinist

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D beatty

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Steve in VA

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Steve in VA

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FBH44

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sms

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showcrop

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Geo-TH,In

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