Upon whom can I offload my sawdust?

[Michael Peet]

I just dump mine in the yard and spread it around using a rake. In a couple days you hardly can tell where it was dumped.

Robert

This right here. Into the yard it goes, and it disappears.

[glenn bradley]

We have "trash", "recycle" and "green" trash cans. My sawdust goes in the "green" can per the waste folks instructions. I use species that are bad for plants so, no mulch. I have been reusing the same bag for I don't know how many years.

[Michael Stein]

I use Heavy Duty Drum Liners that I pick up at Home Deport (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ultrasac-...+hd+trash+bags). Although not as thick as the 5 mil bags they do work for disposal. When the thick bag on the DC gets to about 2/3-3/4 full I place the drum liner over the DC bag, turn both over gently to empty the sawdust, let the dust settle before removing the DC bag, tie off the drum liner & dispose of it at the landfill. This works well & only costs about $0.40/bag.

Exactly as I do. Not very messy at all.

[Max Neu]

Joe,
I get mine from Edward Mueller co. In Cincinnati Ohio,I pay $129 for 50 in a roll.They are made for dust collectors and clear so you can see how full they are.For $2.50 each,they aren't worth saving,I figure I got my money's worth by the time they are full,plus you are likely to get a tear in them dragging them around trying to empty them.Nothing worse than a dust cloud after starting up the DC.

[Prashun Patel]

I dump mine in the woods.

Mulch can be detrimental to grass as it decomposes so I would be leery of putting large amounts in the yard

[Max Neu]

I have also heard it can kill plants in flower beds,I think due to the high acidity levels of some woods.

[Prashun Patel]

I am uncertain if the acid is toxic. I do know that as it decomposes, it robs the soil of nitrogen. So, if your plant (like grass or flowers) require lots of nitrogen, You could have issues.

Also, the tannic, acetic, and butyric acid levels vary wildly between woods. I mean, you can SMELL it. I've used fresh, oak mulch on boxwoods and holly beds with no ill effect.

[Joe Craven]

Thanks for all of the great advice, everyone...go to bed and wake up with answers!

I think I'm going to try the cheap-bag-inside-expensive-one route and keep it to a half-bag or so in order to keep the waste management guys from grumbling.

Also, FWIW and as it has been mentioned above, I was told by a guy at the local Rockler that it's great for mulch...unless you have walnut in there, that is...kills the plants. I have padauk, walnut, teak, and about 5 other flavors in most of these bags (centralized dust collector) so I think it's best to keep this stuff away from (currently-)living things.

Thanks again everyone!

[Chuck Saunders]

composting will eliminate the detrimental effect of walnut

[Yonak Hawkins]

We got some cheap u-line trash liners, dump the heavy collector bags into these, a farmer picks them up for animals bedding.

I put the thin bags inside the heavy bags. There's no need to transfer .. just take the inside bag out and replace.

I have a local horse boarder who buys all my shavings for $1.00/44 gal. bag .. enough to cover the bags and a bit for labor to load his truck. We have plenty of horse owners around. I could easily sell four times the amount.

Like Peter, I don't sell dust. I had a buyer for the dust who used it to stuff toys, until recently. Now I'm trying to find another solution for the dust.

[Yonak Hawkins]

composting will eliminate the detrimental effect of walnut

Agreed. Juglone is dissolved by water and leaches fairly quickly.

..Also, there's very little juglone in the shavings. The juglone is mostly in the buds, nut hulls and roots.

[David C. Roseman]

composting will eliminate the detrimental effect of walnut

Agreed. Juglone is dissolved by water and leaches fairly quickly.

..Also, there's very little juglone in the shavings. The juglone is mostly in the buds, nut hulls and roots.

Both of these comments are interesting to me, as we have many black walnut trees on our property in Great Falls. My experience is that while the wood chips have less juglone than the branches, roots and nuts, they are indeed toxic to many plants, including lawn and pasture grass. Also, while composting does break down the toxicity of all of the above, it takes weeks, of real composting, not just spreading. YMMV. Don't want to over-dramatize the effects (see this piece on "the killer tree!") but the OP is asking the right questions. https://www.extension.iastate.edu/ne...jul/070701.htm

[Brad Shipton]

I believe the male way would be to buy one of these http://www.felder-canada.ca/ca-us/pr...b3ae31c1428e2b . Haha. Mine goes to the garden.

[Bill Adamsen]

I dump it in the woods and it decomposes completely in a year or so. As someone else mentioned, decomposition of wood consumes a great deal of nitrogen, so best to keep out of the garden or off lawn until most decomposition is complete.

[Chris Padilla]

I mix mine in with the leaves for the green bin we're supposed to use for yard waste. They don't want sawdust in there and I've been flagged for putting it in so now I mix it. Sometimes I'll dump it in the park across the street and mix it in with the all the leaves there. However, I empty my bin about twice a year so I don't have a lot to deal with.