woodturning shavings for mulch

Hi all,

I have recently taken up woodturning and am amazed at how much wood shavings it produces. After putting bark mulch down on the fruit patch I thought about using some of the turning shavings.
Does anyone know if this will be a problem?

Many thanks in advance, Simon

 

Wood shaving makes a great mulch. Just use it as much as you can,.

 

You can use your shavings on their own, but ... to be effective a mulch needs to be quite deep and that depth of wood (even as shavings) is going to take a 'helluva' long time to rot down. It may also be worth remembering that wood shavings can rob the soil of nitrogen as they do rot, so you may want to think about the longer term feeding of any plants and finally, all those lovely little spaces between the individual shavings provide a nice snug little home for snails and slugs etc.

I use some of my husband's wood shavings which I mix in with other materials, but as you say, since wood turning generates such a great deal of waste we use the residue either as pet bedding or to augment cat litter, but the bulk we put into black bin-bags for each of which our local pet shop is happy to pay us a nominal amount.

 

I'm with Fidgetsmum. I've used the coarse sawdust produced by chainsaws cutting up live wood both as a mulch and a "brown" ingredient for my compost bin. Both worked well.

Wood shavings on the other hand, particularly from seasoned hardwood species like iroko, will last a long time and IMHO, not look very good. On a day like today, they would get blown everywhere.

Why not try them out in a small area of your garden first before you spread them everywhere? If you've got the woodturning "bug", you'll be producing many, many sackfulls of shavings for years to come so will have plenty of opportunities to use them as a mulch later on!

 

I agree, wood shavings that have not been rotted down is not good as a mulch.

It does rob the soil of nitrogen and it can get a bit cloggy in wet weather.

I'd say mix a small amount in with your compost if you want to, but, it should not be used on its own.

If there was a good compostable use for the stuff I'm sure my boss would not be burning it, just to get rid of it.:skp:

 

Ok I will have to rethink that idea then.

Many thanks for the help, Simon

 

have a look at this, i still think U can use it, depends under what plant of course, that was never a question
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulch

 

From that link Wikipedia,
"Organic mulches decay over time and are temporary. The way a particular organic mulch decomposes and reacts to wetting by rain and dew affects its usefulness. Organic mulches can negatively affect plant growth when they are decomposed rapidly by bacteria and fungi, which require nitrogen that they remove from the surrounding soil. Organic mulches also can mat down, forming a barrier that blocks water and air flow between the soil and the atmosphere. Some organic mulches can wick water from the soil to the surface, which can dry out the soil."


Seasoned wood shavings are definitely in that category.


Wood chips are a slightly different proposition, they break down slower and dont get compacted.

 

:cnfs:ok, i never tried it. anyone any experience? or no1 uses it cause its useless