Topic: Wood shavings on the compost heap

[peterb43]

Hi, does anyone know if it's a good idea to put oak wood shavings on the allotment compost heap ? . I am doing a little job in my workshop ( when it's raining ) and find that I have created a lot of shavings and seems a waste to take them to the tip

[Melbourne12]

Personally I'm all in favour.  They make an excellent soil conditioner.  The disadvantages are that they take a long time to rot, and are said to fix some of the nitrogen in the compost, lowering the N in the NPK balance.

An alternative is to pass them on to a poultry keeper for his or her chicken run, perhaps getting some of them back well mixed with chicken poo, in which state they're ideal for the heap!

ETA: Oh, and welcome to Allotments4All, by the way.  I've just noticed that this is your first post! 

[Digeroo]

Welcome to 4AA.

Use them to smoke some food. 

[gavinjconway]

I'd put them on - no probs.. It's not as though you have tonnes of it!! If you did have tonnes you'd have to add loads of other green stuff and some nitrates as well..

[clackvalve]

I use wood chippings mixed with grass, make sure that you have a lot more green than brown and make sure that you let it rot down before putting it in the ground.It wont take Nitrogen out of the ground once rotted but may well do it you put it on to the soil direct without giving it time to compost
 If you do not want to do that you could always put them down as paths

[davee52uk]

We get wood chips delivered to the allotments so that everyone can help themselves. This has been in a pile for a few years as new material gets added to the top. Underneath it is brown rather like peat. I have added this stuff to the compost bins and it seems O.K.

I also use shredded newspaper and cardboard.

[Unwashed]

Welcome to A4A Peter.

If you have a considerable amount of wood waste I'd think about making a separate heap just for wood waste because it doesn't break down in the same way as compost, I have a feeling it's quite a different set of fungi that break down wood, in the same way that you'd make leaf mould separately from compost.  I think I'm right in saying that compost is broken down mainly by bacteria which work best in a warm heap, but it's wood-eating fungi that you want to work on chippings and shavings, and they need it cool and damp.

[cornykev]

I'd put the odd handful in but not too much as said a seperate pile or under any fruit bushes you may have.