How to use sawdust to fertilize carrots?
Carrots grow well in loose soils. But the heavy soil must be prepared in advance. It is for this that sawdust is used. Added to the soil, they make it lighter and looser, improve water permeability.
Sawdust is also used as fertilizer for carrots (and not only), to increase the fertility of the land, which undoubtedly affects the yield. In the process of decay, sawdust increases the level of carbon in the soil. In their action, they are similar to peat fertilizer.
Soil that needs to be loosened with sawdust:
- peat;
- black soil;
- clayey;
- podzolic.
Not all sawdust is suitable as fertilizer. For example, coniferous sawdust is not suitable for all crops; moreover, they will only spoil the composition of the soil, increasing its acidity. It is also not advised to use sawdust from chipboard, oak and hazel.
Read also the article: urea fertilizer application in the garden in the fall!
Ways to use sawdust
Most often, sawdust is used as fertilizer and for drying the soil. Among the ways of using sawdust are:
- Sawdust fertilizer.
- During periods of spring floods, fresh sawdust will help save the garden from flooding if you fill the grooves around the garden with them.
- Sawdust is also widely used for mulching plants, including carrots, to prevent moisture loss in dry summers. This mulch will also serve as protection against weeds and pests.
- Sawdust can be applied before winter, so that they have time to rot before the time for planting carrots and do not acidify the soil, otherwise the carrot will not be juicy and not sweet.
- Spring application of sawdust is also allowed 3 weeks before sowing carrot seeds. The bed should then be dug up. When applying in the spring, sawdust must first be soaked in a special solution.
How to make sawdust fertilizer
To use sawdust as a fresh fertilizer, they must first be prepared and saturated with mineral fertilizers diluted with water (for 1 bucket of water - 200 g superphosphate, 200 g of nitrate and 50 g of potassium chloride). This solution is enough to moisten the sawdust in an amount equal to 3 buckets.
How to make sawdust compost
You can also prepare a unique fertilizer from sawdust in the form of compost... It will take a little time, two months, but the result is worth it. To make compost based on sawdust, they should be laid out in layers no more than 15 cm thick and poured with urea infusion at the rate of 1 bucket of water 200 g. Cover the top with film soaked sawdust. Once every two weeks, a heap is stirred up.
You can prepare compost from sawdust and freshly cut grass: mix sawdust with grass, soak well with manure infusion and cover for two months with a film for decay. Bird droppings are also used instead of grass.