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Ohio

I just read that its good to put gypsum in your compost pile.This is the first I have heard of this.
Does it help your compost to break down better? Or would this be like adding egg shells . Does any one eles do this?

Brooks

2/9/2005 12:17:39 PM

Puyallup, WA

Where did you read this?

2/9/2005 12:43:38 PM

Montoursville, PA

It is rarely mentioned in healthy soil advisories. I have seen it clearly identified as a product organic leaning growers do not need....after perhaps a basic effort to clean up and purge salts from chemicals used in the patch.

What one must consider is the so called balance of gypsum. It is true it is balance and will not affect your PH but that is not the whole story at all. What is it balanced with and how much of the sulphur mainly can you safely dump into a patch?

If you are using average amounts of manures up to four and six inches these days per year your manures when converted to humus will achieve all, of the qualities most seek, in good soil, without the use, of inorganic elements.

Gypsum is a very much over used product that may not even be needed in healthy soil management.

2/9/2005 3:23:45 PM

Ohio

Stan, its on the (nutrasoft)gypsum Bag that I bought.

2/9/2005 3:59:59 PM

Ohio

Doc , what kind of soil usually holds Salts? would it be a clay soil or sandstone type soil? Sandy soil wouldnt hold salts that well would it?

I often get confused on types of soil,like sandy soil, and clay soil, To me clay soil has a orange,light brown type color and when wet sticks to your shoes In clumps. Now sandy soil, Is that like a soil that hardens like concrete when it dries and is it known to have alot of sandstone in it?

What kind of soil usually has alot of sandstone in it,clay or sandy?

My soil has a good bit of sandstone in it. I was wondering if anyone that lived close to my area if they had a soil test done and what there PH was for their soil that had a lot of sandstone init. I know it wont be the same as mine but im just trying to get a rough idea.
I just sent my soil test out this morning.

2/9/2005 4:15:49 PM

Phoenix, AZ

Brooks, I think what Doc is talking about with salts is Na. Ca is very commonly used to either flush out (when water is used) or minimize the impact of Na. Gypsum itself puts salts in the soil in the form of SO4 but folks in your area don't care too much because of all the rain you get up there to flush those anions out of the soil.

Although salts come in the form of cations and anions, normally with CEC, the cations are inherently scooped up and mostly the anions are left in the water contained in the soil. These anions limit water uptake in our plants if they become excessive.

2/9/2005 9:49:40 PM

Follansbee, Wv

Hey Brooks,
Our soils are very similar, and both are clay based. It's true that manures can be high in salts. My research into composting over the years has revealed that hog, beef, chicken, sheep and dairy are the leading salt manures, in the order given. While composting does not eliminate all of the salts, you can expect some leaching. The addition of calcium in the form of gypsum is merely a way to help the salts leach from the compost pile by improving drainage. Another way to help salts leach from compost is to unbalance the C:N ratio slightly, in favor of the browns. In other words, add more browns than you normally would. This increases the time for decomposition to be completed, but will produce a lower salt level. Over all, I wouldn't be too worried about it. We get plenty of rain and snow melt to help leach out salts. Of course there is no harm in adding gypsum to your compost, but to answer your question, no, it does not aid or speed up decomposition as far as I know.

2/10/2005 7:31:44 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Clay holds salts. Manures do contain salts. Gypsum disturbs the properties of clays so that salts can leach.

2/10/2005 8:18:25 AM

Ohio

Well, then would it be a good idea to add gypsum to a new manure and compost pile, saying that the manure is only 4 months old and you plan on using it in 2 months? Wouldnt Gypsum be good to use to take the salt out of the very fresh stuff that you plan to use that isnt that old? Maybe?

thanks,
Brooks

2/10/2005 4:50:56 PM

Follansbee, Wv

It doesn't matter how much gypsum you add to fresh manure Brooks. If it isn't composted, the salts will be the least of your worries.

2/10/2005 5:51:50 PM

Montoursville, PA

A few hundred or thousands of worms depending on size and condition, of the pile, will provide the holes and pathways for drainage therefore leaching too. Those worms will not soak up and hold anything either. The worms move up and down, accross and through all levels depending on temperatures of the pile. When you need drainage and oxygen pathways is anytime. They do it for you. Unless you would add a heavy dose of nitrogen they time their movements to your needs moving, to different levels, in harmony with temperature changes and their needs.

Finished compost is loaded with worm casts to boot. There is nothing you can more safely add to your garden or pumpkin patch. It is naturally right in tune with the PH of 7.0 most of us try to achieve while it improves anything else about the patch we might wish to consider.

A little corn meal and some coffee grounds will really feed those squiggley critters and net you maximum worm action per any condition I am aware of.

2/10/2005 8:17:07 PM