jointer mulch??

I started using it for that very purpose a couple of years ago but my old man told me I was a fool because it would suck all the nutrients from your plants. Yet… I have some pretty big tomatoes already this year?

Depends on the species I think. My next door neighbors saw me getting ready to dispose of volumes of maple lathe shavings, and they mulched their flower beds with it. So far the plants are thriving, but I think if it were walnut their soil's nutrient balance may have gotten screwed up. From what I understand the high acidity (and possibly other factors) of certain woods isn't so helpful.

So I would say mulch all the poplar, maple, basswood, pine, sassafrass, ash, etc… that you want. But after years of mulching oak, walnut, and exotics you might run into issues.

Of coarse, I could easily be wrong.

Hutch

I've done it for years and have had no problem with it. Cedar really works good and helps keep the bugs away.

As Hutch said, be careful of Walnut. I, too, have heard it is not good for plants and trees.

I would compost it first.

I thought about using my sawdust as mulch one time, but I started to worry if that might attract termites also. In my area, they can be common. Do you think that may be something to consider?

I know of a fellow who killed his garden spot for several years with wood chips. Now sure of the species, but it was probably pine in eastern WA.

I do it all the time. I just hate having to toss it out and, since we have a heavy clay soil in our yard, it looked like a win-win situation when I started putting the shavings on the landscaped areas. I have been doing this for years now and not only is a good mulch but it also helps amend the soil.

I think it was in "Mother Earth News", or a similar mag that I read that it takes more nitrogen out of the soil to break down the wood than the wood will give back to the soil. IIRC, they were talking about chips rather than sawdust.
We don't use either around plants as our soils are nitrogen poor, to begin with.
Composting it first would probably work but, I wonder if it might slow the process???
Gene

I agree with the others, I'd compost it first along with your lawn waste.

Black walnut is TOXIC to other plants so is some Cedar,
All wood dust shavings will suck the nitrogen from the soil if not composted, because the composting process uses nitrogen to compost, but if you compost first, the best free stuff you can get.
NOW that is wood NOT ply or mdf ect.

Mark said:
"Black walnut is TOXIC to other plants so is some Cedar,
All wood dust shavings will suck the nitrogen from the soil if not composted, because the composting process uses nitrogen to compost, but if you compost first, the best free stuff you can get.
NOW that is wood NOT ply or mdf ect."

Some friends learned the hard way that walnut shavings are toxic to horses, as well.

It's o.k to use around garden paths but as Gene points out, it ties up a lot of nitrogen as it breaks down.

There are several studies on this if you want to google them.

Bob

wont adding extra fertilizer help then?

The last report I read suggested adding 40 lbs per 1000 lbs of sawdust.
They are talking 40 lbs of nitrogen.
The highest number fertilizer around is 46-0-0 which means 46% nitorgen ( by weight).
You would need quite a bit of it. and it's not all that cheap
Personally I just compost mine in an separate pile and use it after about 5 years to add into my usual compost pile for bulk.
For what it's worth Trees are the most efficient store houses of Carbon on the planet.
We should try to plant trees where ever possible in our cities and towns.

Bob

I compost mine first. Coffee grounds have a lot of nitrogen. I pick those up from the coffee houses and put both in a plastic composter along with clippings, food waste, etc.

The sister site Garden Tenders has alot of info about composting.

wow, that's a lot more than i expected. well, i've been using my shavings/chips for chicken nesting anyway!

Shouldn't make any difference. My father's composted his woodchips and sawdust for years. All different types of wood and species. It's worked great as a compost.