Sawdust is wood waste that a good owner will always use. Someone does not take this material seriously, while someone considers it to be the most valuable material for use in the country and in the garden.
Gardeners have found a large number of useful qualities and properties in sawdust. This material is an excellent soil loosening agent. It makes the soil breathable and prevents crusting on the surface of the earth. A soil mixture containing sawdust absorbs and retains moisture well. And sawdust is a natural organic top dressing.
This wood waste can be used not only to protect and fertilize the soil, but also to disinfect, insulate and decorate your site and home.
How to avoid problems when using sawdust in the country
So that when using sawdust, summer residents do not have additional problems, it is necessary to take into account some of the features of this material. For example, in the process of decomposition of sawdust in the soil, the nitrogen content decreases, and fresh sawdust in the beds contributes to an increase in the acidity of the soil.
You can use fresh sawdust, but only for growing those crops that can thrive on acidic soils. Their list is very large: fruit and berry plants (blueberries, quince, barberry, viburnum, honeysuckle, cranberries, dogwood), conifers, herbs and spices (sorrel, spinach, rosemary), vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, radishes, potatoes , carrot).
Fresh sawdust can be eliminated from the ability to oxidize the soil with one of the alkaline materials that neutralize acid. These materials must be mixed with sawdust, and only then added to the beds. It is recommended to use both organic additives (eggshells, wood ash, chalk powder, dolomite flour) and various mineral fertilizers containing phosphorus, potassium, calcium, saltpeter, etc.
To prevent sawdust from absorbing nitrogen from the soil, you need to mix them with a nitrogen-containing fertilizer. Two hundred grams of urea dissolved in water must be added to a full bucket of fresh sawdust. Wood waste is well saturated with the required amount of nitrogen. Instead of mineral fertilizers, organic components can be added: herbal infusions (for example, based on nettle), freshly cut grass, bird droppings or manure.
In practice, rotted sawdust is obtained as follows. You will need a large piece of thick plastic wrap on which you need to pour prepared fresh sawdust. The prepared liquid (from 200 grams of urea and 10 liters of water) must be thoroughly watered with all wood waste.Pour the same amount of solution onto one bucket of sawdust. Wet, saturated with moisture, sawdust should be folded into large garbage bags made of dark material, tied tightly and left in this form for roasting for 15-20 days.
Ways to use sawdust in the country
1. Sawdust as a mulch layer
Mulching is carried out only with rotted sawdust. The thickness of the mulching layer is about five centimeters. Most often, this type of mulch is used for berry crops (raspberries, strawberries and strawberries), as well as for garlic. It is advisable to apply the sawdust layer in May - June, so that by the end of September the sawdust has time to rot. Later mulching will adversely affect the preparation of plants for the winter period, as it will prevent excess moisture from evaporating from the ground.
2. Sawdust in compost
Compost with fresh sawdust can be prepared in two ways.
The first way is classic. The compost contains plant and food waste, cow dung and bird droppings, and sawdust. With their carbon content, they will help to prepare an excellent organic fertilizer in a short time.
The second method is longer. To prepare the fertilizer, you will need a pit (about one meter deep), which needs to be filled by eighty percent with sawdust. From above, wood waste must be covered with lime and wood ash. The decay process will continue for two years.
3. Sawdust as a substrate
To germinate plant seeds, you need to take a small container and fresh sawdust. They are poured in a thin layer on the bottom of the container, seeds are spread on top, and then again a small sawdust layer. Covering with a thick film, the box with seeds is placed in a warm darkened room until the first shoots appear. Further development of seedlings should take place in a well-lit place. The upper sawdust layer is sprinkled with a thin layer of earth. The picking of young plants is carried out immediately after the formation of the first full-fledged leaf.
It is recommended to germinate potatoes in the sawdust substrate. First, ten centimeters of wet sawdust is poured into the prepared box, then potato tubers are laid out and sawdust again (about three centimeters). Until the appearance of full-fledged seedlings (about eight centimeters long), regular water spraying is carried out, after which the tubers can be transplanted into the beds.
4. Sawdust in warm beds
To build a warm bed, various organic waste is suitable, including sawdust. But with their help, you can not only "warm" the bed, but also raise it. Approximate order of work:
- Prepare a trench about 25 centimeters deep.
- Fill the trench with a mixture of sawdust, ash and lime.
- Spread a layer of soil from the trench on top.
The sawdust layer will be an effective component for retaining excess moisture and as a nutrient layer for plants.
5. Sawdust paths and aisles
Covering sawdust between the beds in the garden or dacha makes it possible to move around the land even after rainy days. Shoes will stay clean, no lumps of dirt or adhesion of garden soil are scary to you. Such coverage looks neat and even attractive on the land plot. When the sawdust layer is compressed, not a single weed will germinate. Sawdust is not only protection against weeds, but also moisture retention in the soil and organic fertilizing.
6. Sawdust as insulation
If vegetables and fruits (for example, apples, carrots or cabbage) are stored indoors in a tall box with sawdust, they will retain their freshness and taste for a long time. You can also save your harvest on the balcony in a specially made thermal box. Sawdust will be a kind of insulation in such a container.
7. Sawdust in the seedling soil
The soil for growing seedlings of vegetable crops such as tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants and cucumbers also contains rotted sawdust.
8.Mushroom cultivation
For growing mushrooms, fresh sawdust is used, which undergo special training, consisting of several stages. It is recommended to take only hardwood sawdust for the substrate. Sawdust of birch, oak, poplar, maple, aspen and willow are ideal for breeding oyster mushrooms.
9. Sawdust for tree insulation
Fruit trees need insulation for the winter. Sawdust must be placed in dense garbage bags and tied tightly so that moisture, frost and rodents do not penetrate them. Then you need to put such bags over the young trees around the trunk. This method of insulation is proven and reliable.
The vine can be insulated in another way. To do this, you need a wooden frame, hammered from small boards. It must be placed on top of the plant, filled with fresh sawdust to the very top and tightly covered with foil.
It is very important that the sawdust does not get wet when used as a heater, otherwise at the first frost they will become a frozen lump.
10. Sawdust bedding for animals
Sawdust and wood shavings from fruit trees make excellent cage bedding for rabbits, goats, piglets, poultry and other animals. This material can provide double benefits: minimal costs (or no financial costs at all) and organic fertilization. With the help of woodworking waste, you can insulate the floor and not worry from a hygienic point of view, since sawdust perfectly absorbs all excess moisture. As it gets dirty, the old litter will still serve as a natural fertilizer in the beds.
11. Use of sawdust in the smokehouse
For smoking meat, bacon, fish, as well as vegetables and fruits, wood waste is used in the form of shavings, chips and sawdust of some types of trees. The most commonly used are alder, juniper, fruit trees, as well as oak, maple, ash. The aroma of the smoked product depends on the type of shavings and sawdust. Professionals in this business prepare sawdust mixtures from several trees at once.
It is recommended to use only the branches left after the spring pruning of trees for smoking.
12. Use of sawdust in construction and finishing works
Construction specialists use sawdust to make sawdust concrete. Such a mixture of concrete and shredded wood waste is used for the production of building blocks and bricks, as well as plaster for finishing country houses and closed gazebos. You can also make a mixture for plastering from sawdust and clay.
Since sawdust is a material that retains heat and is natural, they can be used to insulate floors and walls in any room.
13. Sawdust in the classroom for the development of creativity
Creative fantasy and imagination has no boundaries. Real craftsmen use sawdust both in pure form (for filling pillows or toys) and in color. A little bit of gouache and colored sawdust will make great appliqué materials.
