North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[tanis grif <tanisgrif@yahoo.com>]

I probably missed parts of recent list discussions on the topics of sawdust &
woodchip use, but I didn't see any mention of these as possible disease 
vectors. 
For example, I think it's verticillium wilt which survives & moves around to 
new
locations in fresh woodchips, but not if the chips sit in a pile for 2 or 3 
years. 


--- Michael Dossett <> wrote:

> There are lots of different kinds of sawdust but I think most use what they 
> can
> get easily without having it be super expensive.  If the sawdust is on the 
> surface
> it shouldn't need much extra nitrogen (breaks down more slowly) but that 
> depends a
> little bit on how old it is and what the C:N ratio is.  Interestingly a lot 
> of
> growers here were incorporating sawdust in the soil at planting time as 
> well but
> recent research has shown that, at least in good blueberry soil, this has a
> negative effect partly because of tying up nitrogen but also because the 
> plants
> needed significantly (3x or more) water, and even more when they were 
> planted on
> raised beds (now becoming the norm for machine harvest plantings in the 
> PNW). 
> Sawdust on the surface should be beneficial but be careful of what you're
> incorporating and how it might effect the plants.
> 



      
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