What to do with sawdust, noodles, wood chips, n smalll twigs.

[half]

splitter rubbish

Saw dust I don't know other that burning. Twigs would probably best be included. But the the little pieces left from the splits, I'm piling those in boxes for kindling. Those little frayed pieces dried, I've found nothing I like better to start my fireplace ti burning. If I have one piece of coal left, those pieces will start up every time.

I considered one of those "round house" piles but right now I don't have a place dry enough that size. Everything now would be piled on leaves. Around here that's termite food.

I put all my splitter falls into a big jute bag, in the shed, and use it for kindling too, once dry it is great, and it keeps 'her indoors' from moaning about no kindling to light the woodburner.when I.m at work. The sawdust gets spread over the vegie garden, as it is not treated ,it is fine for compost

 

[FLHX Storm]

You put twigs and rotten branches, etc in your compost pile

If you can have two garden spaces, just rotate, use one for a garden then allow the other to lay fallow and rot the compost stuff out. Just alternate then., Put all your splitter trash and twigs there, leaves, whatever, let it rot. Just depends on your area and pile, might be one year is good enough, maybe two years, then rotate.

I tried last year heaping up old hay and manure in a garden space, then covering with heavy plastic over winter, that worked well too. Just rotted down and had one buhzillion worms. I didnt put any little branches, etc there but I could have.

My intention is to eventually spread all the good dirt that pile produces over the area where all the round piles are and end up with a decent veggie garden. I do have a regular compost heap behind the garage which seems to have done well. I've been using that to amend the soil for when I put in trees n various plants (shrubs n flowers). I intend to plant at least another 40 or 50 trees yet this year.

I've got one area that I recently covered with black plastic which is a thick layer of chips from my last run with the chipper. I also added coffee grounds, egg shells, sugar, and nitrogen to the mix before I covered it. In about a month I'll uncover it and add a mix of compost and dirt over the top and depending on the decomposition of the chips will depend on whether I just plant flowers or start a veggie garden.

My next run with the chipper on two rather large piles of small branches and brush will be used around all the trees I have been planting. See, I'm not wasting a thing! :msp_w00t:

 

[Preston]

You must be a young tweert to have all those plans. Most of can't plan that far ahead. Chances we won't make it.

 

[FLHX Storm]

Storm you are a stacking fool ... I mean that in a good way. I keep a burn pile, two actually, and set them off once a year. Our "compost" pile is wood shavings and horse manure. It takes about a full year for it to decompose to the point of use. Great to use in the grow boxes and the worms love it. Covering your pile should accelerate things. Are you going to use clear plastic or black plastic?

I'd like to use clear plastic, but I really think for my purpose the black plastic would be more efficient. What I need is a nice pile of horse or cow poop to mix in with the works. Even sheep or chicken poop. Heck, I could spread a nice thick layer of the various poops all over the yard to keep visitors away. :msp_biggrin: So far the only ones I've seen offering any manure are too far away and I've been too busy to get to know anyone locally but then maybe next year.

As far as how long it will take for my round rot pile to decompose, if it takes upwards of a few years, I'll still be happy. I have plenty to do until then anyway. :msp_w00t:

 

[FLHX Storm]

I like the looks of your set up. Your idea with the black plastic will work in time. I still do some of that with the old plants that I remove from my garden in the fall but found that here in Minnesota I need to turn the mulch over a few times and keep it moist..

Several years ago I started planting on what would be called a mound system. It’s a lot of work at first but worth it in the end. For my garden rows I dig trenches and fill them with old hay and manure, saw dust and wood chips and then cover them with the dirt and plant on top of the mounds. Between the rows and throughout the growing season, I’ll put down my sawdust, small chips, old manure and ashes. This seems to work as mulch; it keeps down the weeds and retains the moisture and by planting on mounds,. Because I water the garden between the rows and not on the plants, my plants seem to have a stronger root system and go down to the moisture. In the late fall (after the growing season) I reverse the process. I take the dirt from my mounds and put that between the rows over the sawdust and old mulch. Our area is mostly clay type soil so I had to mix in a lot of sand and the decomposed sawdust, chips and manure really improved my soil.

I figure if I seal the pile all the way to the ground there will be minimal moisture loss. Otherwise I could open the top a bit and add water that way. I'm hoping to make the pile some 6 feet in height so turning it really won't be an option.

I think I'm going to have to steal your idea of a mound system and use it myself. Whoever originally graded my property where the yard is pretty much scraped all the top soil off leaving heavy clay and sand. So this place needs lots of TLC. Grass does grow but needs encouragement though the weeds seem to thrive. I have been trying to form a nice layer of soil for grass to grow, but it is taking a lot of time. Some of the area I have been spreading around just sawdust and noodles to try to help. One area is where I have been processing the majority of my firewood which was one of the reasons I chose that particular spot. My place is a work in progress all the way around. :msp_scared:

 

[FLHX Storm]

Thems are some nice stacks ya got there. If only I could get my brother on the same page as me. I like the wood to be all the same length so it stacks nice and fills my woodstove. He still cuts short ones. The bigger the rounds the shorter he cuts em. :bang: My brother and I do it all together from cutting to splitting. I enjoy it that way so I'll put up with his flaws.

I wish I had a sister to help me with mine, but she is one of those prissy girly girls. She couldn't swing an axe or break a trig if her life depended on it. But doing it all, and doing it alone has it's advantages. Then I can try to cut everything the same length n if something goes wrong, the only one I have to blame is myself. :msp_scared:

 

[FLHX Storm]

Sawdust soup, mmm. Probably good for the ole digestive system.

Extra fiber you know, and everyone needs fiber, or at least that is what I've heard. :msp_biggrin:

 

[FLHX Storm]

Nice stacking in the shed, any more shed pics?

Well, I'm not sure what your looking for but .......

The first couple of pictures are of the shed when I first purchased the place. It had plenty of dry rot along the bottom and up the sides, some places worse than others.

The wood and other stuff leaning up against the shed are the doors from the garage (replaced with a home made pocket door) and the burgundy piece as well as the one with siding was part of the porch which I replaced with a railing. BTW, that's a deer hunters cabin behind the shed which is about 75 feet away.

After removing part of the shed that had the chicken coop and salvaging whatever lumber I could I made repairs to the rest and raised the shed to get decent air flow underneath. Then scraped, primed and painted it. Yes, that is pink trim! :msp_w00t: I also added a rain gutter to the back which I had take off from the house (replaced) and fixed and leaks n stuff in the roof.

I will be putting in a few vents towards the top even though there is plenty of air circulation with it being open at the bottom and smallish gaps all the way around. I had at least a cord to cord n a half of pine in rounds that seasoned nicely in the shed as it sits now.

Aren't you sorry you asked? :msp_w00t:

 

[FLHX Storm]

One last picture.

 

[FLHX Storm]

If you have splits and rounds in your pile don't expect it to rot in a year. Ever wonder why a forest floor is littered with debris and stumps? Decay takes time, back home one can still find chestnut logs left from when the blight hit 80+ years ago.

Actually, most of the splits I have around the pile were already well on their way to rotting. There are a scant few splits inside the pile. Any rounds I had I split even if they were soggy, n knotty, n crotch heavy with an axe. I will also be accelerating the decomposition of the entire pile with the addition of coffee grounds, egg shells, nitrogen, and sugar thrown in. Then in a month or so I'll toss in a few hundred worms to help things along. Add to it, I will also be covering it tight with heavy black plastic all the way to the ground n adding water as needed. Since that area gets full sun, I think it will cook down nicely in a year or three. :msp_w00t:

 

[FLHX Storm]

How do you drag your wood in? If you say your harley with a trailer or a choker cable, thats cool...

What, you mean I'm supposed to use a trailer behind my Harley? Dang, now you tell me! :msp_w00t:

Actually what I do is I put a leash on the logs (4 to 10 feet long depending on their diameter) and drag them by hand to the processing area. :msp_w00t: If they're just too big to drag, I'll roll them and use a 2x4 n a small log for leverage to turn them when necessary.

The strap I use as a leash is actually a piece of strapping they use to tie down loads on those big tractor trailer rigs. I found it on the side of the road one day and decided too make use of it. I used my sewing machine and made a look on both ends which left a strap of about 6 feet in length. I used a close zigzag stitch and went over it several times to insure the loops wouldn't come apart.

When I attach it to a log, I just feed one end through the loop at the other end, cinch it up tight and go. When I'm taking logs off the hill, I generally just roll them or flip them end to end until they reach an area where I can finish rolling them off the hill.

I do joke with my friends saying I'm taking my wild logs for a walk! :msp_biggrin:

 

[FLHX Storm]

You must be a young tweert to have all those plans. Most of can't plan that far ahead. Chances we won't make it.

Young? Me? :msp_w00t: I'm a 61 year old grandmother of 5! I will make it all happen in my lifetime!

N no, I don't look 61. Most when they find out how old I am are floored. They think I'm in my low to mid 40's MAYBE! :msp_w00t:

 

[FLHX Storm]

Flux you need to read up on composting a bit because you have some wrong ideas. Your coffee grounds and egg shell should be mixed with much more rapidly decomposing materials like leaves, grass clippings and wasted garden plants, but no diseased plants. This kind of compost pile can be ready to use in as short a time as two weeks if you follow the Indore method of composting.

Woodchips have no place in such a compost pile but instead should be piled with other high carbon woody waste that are going to take a year or more to decompose. I turn my wood chips with a Bobcat front end loader and it takes 4 years before they are finished enough to be added directly to garden soil. To be used as mulch is one thing.....but working into the soil is another thing altogether.

Stu ????? has a great book on composting different materials and it's called 'Let it rot'.


Here is a method you can use to grow vegetables utilizing your wood waste this very gardening season:

Hugelkultur Beds

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...oV42m25V6N28BopuaUXzhNg&bvm=bv.43828540,d.eWU

Thanks for the input. That will help a lot. Especially that link! :msp_biggrin:

 

[stihl023/5]

Very nice sheds, they dont have to be new or look new to be usefull and priceless.

 

[FLHX Storm]

Very nice sheds, they dont have to be new or look new to be usefull and priceless.

Thanks, but actually it is only one shed I did all that to. (I'm getting creative in my old age) you should see what I've done with the house! Oh hwck, here are a couple of pictures.

Before (I had lived here for about a year)

During (I'm still working on it)

 

[stihl023/5]

Excellent! Nice work.:msp_wink:

 

[Preston]

Those cedars look a tad close to the shed to me. When they start growing they'll be all over the back. Won't they?

 

[FLHX Storm]

Excellent! Nice work.:msp_wink:

Thanks! :msp_w00t:

 

[FLHX Storm]

Those cedars look a tad close to the shed to me. When they start growing they'll be all over the back. Won't they?

My original intention was to tear down the shed and build something else out of it someplace else on the property. Like a combination shed, greenhouse, and gazebo. But I changed my mind! Those cedars should be fine where they are from what I've read. They'll adapt and not do any damage to the shed. I hope both the shed and the cedars work out.

And who knows, maybe sometime in the near future I'll get bored and change my mind again. (it's a woman's prerogative you know )

 

[Gologit]

Thanks, but actually it is only one shed I did all that to. (I'm getting creative in my old age) you should see what I've done with the house! Oh hwck, here are a couple of pictures.

Before (I had lived here for about a year)

During (I'm still working on it)

Nicely done.