sawdust leaches nitrogen from soil and everything turns yellow between veins on leaves;;;would compost/soak it for a few years if going to grow. Would be ok to mulch paths
kam04,
May 25, 4:01pm
Is Bluegum sawdust and mulch ok to put on the garden around shrubs, roses etc. We are having two gum trees dropped and have been asked if we want to keep the mulch.
desmodave,
May 25, 5:58pm
Would you be happy putting chain bar oil around the garden . There is an option of using bio chain bar oil now days . It is 1 of those things not all would think of . Grass still seems to grow no problem anywhere i have cut gum all the same .
tegretol,
May 25, 11:16pm
What's the problem?
My chainsaw uses about 200cc an hour and as that oil came out of the ground, I can't see what the problem is with those amounts being dispersed all over the ground again.
maclad,
May 26, 9:20am
The mulch will be the end result of chipping the trees probably and even with the small amount of oil from a chainsaw will be fine to use.
desmodave,
May 26, 11:38am
Little saw plus Bluegum =s long time getting job done . If you don't mind a bit of oil contamination , there is no problem for you . I am handy to an closed sawmill that has plenty of sawdust without oil so its not a hard choice for me to make .
kam04,
May 26, 12:10pm
I wasn't too worried about the chain bar oil but I can remember a few years ago someone telling me that gum tree sawdust and mulch weren't ideal for gardens due to the amount of resin contained and that it didn't break down as good if at all. Also the amount of resin present wasn't good for the soil. I can't remember who told me but at that time we were offered a lot of gum sawdust and was advised against it.
wasgonna,
May 26, 12:31pm
One of the Aussie garden programmes I saw showed the problem with gum mulch being used in the garden and everywhere the gum trees grow. What it does is waterproof the soil underneath with the resins so that any rain or watering is useless. They had a digger at work removing all the soil and replacing with new as the old cannot be fixed, it has to go.
kam04,
May 30, 10:01am
Have done more research and have found similar stories to yours. We have decided not to keep the mulch.
nzjay,
Mar 1, 9:18pm
Go to Aussie and see what grows under gum trees. apart from more gum trees. Not much!
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