Sawdust Decomposition

Cheap Woodworking Secrets

How to Get Cheap or Free Hardwood Lumber

Get Instant Access


Red Cedar 3.9

Douglas Fir 8.4

White Pine 9.5

Western White Pine 22.2

Chestnut 33.5

Yellow Poplar 44.3

Black Walnut 44.7

White Oak 49.1

Average of all hardwoods . . .45.1

Wheat straw 54.6

The lower the number, the slower the decomposition rate. Hardwood sawdust decomposes faster than softwood sawdust.

Source: Haug, Roger T. (1993). The Practical Handbook of Compost Engineering. CRC Press, Inc., 2000 Corporate Blvd. N.W., Boca Raton, FL 33431 U.S.A. as reported in Biocycle - Journal of Composting and Recycling. December, 1998. p. 19.

That's also why humanure and urine alone will not compost. They contain too much nitrogen and not enough carbon, and microorganisms, like humans, gag at the thought of eating it. Since there's nothing worse than the thought of several billion gagging microorganisms, a carbon-based material must be added to the humanure in order to make it into an appealing dinner. Plant cellulose is a carbon-based material, and therefore plant by-products such as hay, straw, weeds or even paper products if ground to the proper consistency, will provide the needed carbon. Kitchen food scraps are generally C/N balanced, and they can be readily added to humanure compost. Sawdust (preferably not kiln-dried) is a good carbon material for balancing the nitrogen of humanure.

Sawmill sawdust has a moisture content of 40-65%, which is good for compost.18 Lumber yard sawdust, on the other hand, is kiln-dried and is biologically inert due to dehydration. Therefore, it is not as desirable in compost unless rehydrated with water (or urine) before being added to the compost pile. Also, lumber yard sawdust nowadays can often be contaminated with wood preservatives such as chromated copper arsenate (from "pressure treated lumber"). Both chromium and arsenic are human carcinogens, so it would be wise to avoid such lumber — now banned by the EPA.

Some backyard composters refer to organic materials as "browns" and "greens." The browns (such as dried leaves) supply carbon, and the greens (such as fresh grass clippings) supply nitrogen. It's recommended that two to three volumes of browns be mixed with one volume of greens in order to produce a mix with the correct C/N ratio for composting.19 However, since most backyard composters are not humanure composters, many have a pile of material sitting in their compost bin showing very little activity. What is usually missing is nitrogen as well as moisture, two critical ingredients to any compost pile. Both of these are provided by humanure when collected with urine and a carbon cover material. The humanure mix can be quite brown, but is also quite high in nitrogen. So the "brown/green" approach doesn't really work, nor is it necessary, when composting humanure along with other household organic material. Let's face it, humanure composters are in a class by themselves.

Was this article helpful?

0 0
Organic Gardeners Composting

Organic Gardeners Composting


Get My Free Ebook


Post a comment