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disposal of shavings

Steven Forrest

Steven Forrest

Joined
Dec 23, 2014
Messages
222
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Location
Sebastopol, California
I have an ever growing mound of shavings in my back property. A lot of what I turn is green wood, so the mound is pretty big (not professional turner big, but big for an amateur). I live in northern California, and you may have heard of our fires, epic drought, etc. I was wondering about what the best, most fire-safe way to manage the shavings might be, while hopefully limiting the time and expense it takes to deal with them. Spread thinly? Water? Mix into soil? Haul them to the composting facility? Happy to hear any suggestions. How do you all dispose of your shavings?
 
Find the local gardening club. They would be happy to pick them up for free. Useful for mulch on either paths or beds.
 
Garden club is a great idea. Or bag it and set out with a sign- Free wood shavings. Neighbor does this with his tree service- free firewood.
 
If you've already started a pile - just go to Starbucks or whoever makes a lot of coffee in your area. They generally give away the used grounds Starbucks calls them garden grounds. They're free. Scatter the coffee over the pile, wet thoroughly and cover with a piece of visqueen plastic. Turn once in a while and keep it wet. Makes great compost - but it takes a while to break down. Thats what the coffee is for - lots of nitrogen to get the process going.
I also put leaves and grass clippings in the piles - they also have lots of nitrogen to add. I keep about three piles going at a time.
 
You could easily compost wood shavings by mixing them with your grass clippings, the wood shavings will break down pretty quick when it is in the shavings and sawdust form. In a year or two you will have good compost soil to use in your garden or lawn. The nitrogen in the green grass clippings mixed with the shavings will speed up the decomposition of the wood shavings.
 
Not sure how much property you have but I have a fair amount that is wooded and mostly natural. Where my barn, log storage, tractor etc are and my wife doesn't venture out to. I spread them thin along where I walk, low spots, etc. They mat down and help keep the weeds down and the paths better to walk on after a rain. I take about a wheel barrow full a day out there and if spread thin you can make good use of them.
 
Thanks, folks. Alas, there's all kinds of wood out there, including walnut. In the future, I could sequester the walnut. No grass trimmings to speak of, but the Starbuck's thing was a new idea for me. I'll look into that. We do have a chicken-owning friend - I'll talk to her. And I'll look into the gardeners option as well. We also have a knowledgeable friend who said the stuff can be spread no more than 4 inches deep and left in place, too. Thanks for the suggestions - I'm sure I'll figure something out.
 
If you compost the shavings, it's all carbon (brown) and needs plenty of nitrogen to compost. Manure is one source of nitrogen and coffee grounds is another good source, even though neither are 'green' (to offset the brown). Also, if you spread the shavings around, as they break down they will suck nitrogen from the soil, taking it away from the plants growing nearby. You might want to add some extra fertilizer to offset that effect--regular lawn fertilizer without weed killer should work.
 
I can see then why shavings work well to keep a path clear.

Although it occurs to me that wood mulch doesn't keep landscape from growing (and needing an infernal lot of trimming).
 

Wood chip disposal

I generate a couple of 5 gallon buckets of wood chips every couple of weeks. How do I dispose of them? I have looked at a couple of previous threads which mention this in passing. I don't live on a farm, so mixing with manure and tilling into a field is not an option. I have only a small flower...
www.aawforum.org www.aawforum.org
 
Dean Center said:
If you compost the shavings, it's all carbon (brown) and needs plenty of nitrogen to compost. Manure is one source of nitrogen and coffee grounds is another good source, even though neither are 'green' (to offset the brown). Also, if you spread the shavings around, as they break down they will suck nitrogen from the soil, taking it away from the plants growing nearby. You might want to add some extra fertilizer to offset that effect--regular lawn fertilizer without weed killer should work.
Click to expand...

I mix mine with grass from mowin and throw in some chicken manure. I will then let that pile compost for a year or 2 (I've been using shavings from TSC in my chicken coups for many years, just getting started using my own shavings from my lathe). Makes for some pretty darn good compost for the garden. I mix in all the shavings, wet or dry as it will sit for a while. Straight wet shavings will by them selves get too moldy, as does the grass by it's self. I will lay down a couple inches of shavings, wet or dry between rows in garden to keep the weeds down, helps alot. Also throw grass clippings on top of that as I get them during the summer.
 
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