Composting sawdust question

[gregory]

A few months back I was looking for a closer source for horse manure.
I thought about the sheriff and police stables which they share. I was told to bring my trailer and they have a front end loader. So when I got there and they started loading it I realized it was a great deal of sawdust and not shavings.

My yard isn't large and I picked it up in the furthest back corner. I noticed it was maybe 15-20% manure. So I found a local stable that has a lot of horses and I scoop up fresh manure in the fields. This was back in December and it heated up to around 130-135 plus it was cold. It didn't stay that hot for long, and each time I tried to add coffee grinds and other kitchen wastes the balls of manure fall out. I added a great deal hoping it would start cooking and speeding up the composting.

I was at a feed and seed store and I was asking how long they think it will take for it to compost to where I can use it in my garden. They didn't know, but they suggested adding lime to help it in breaking down.

Has anyone tried this?
Btw I have done a lot of research on the net & there is a lot of bad advice and some good. I don't think I want to add ammonium nitrate although when the grass starts growing definitely add that.

[Redbaron]

Actual saw dust as opposed to wood chips has a VERY high carbon to nitrogen ratio and is VERY hard to break down. I have seen ratios as high as 300-400-500:1 or higher! (depends on the tree used) You may find that urine is needed. Lots of it. But if you don't want to go that route, remember to compost hot you need around 30-40:1 or less, 25:1 would be ideal.

So for example lets say you want to heat up the sawdust with a manure that has a 15:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio. If you mix it 50/50 with manure that would be 415:2 or 207:1. Still way too little nitrogen. So you would need at least 20 times more fresh manure than sawdust or 700:21 or ~35:1

That's of course to do fast hot composting. Slow composting works a bit differently.There are things that fix nitrogen from the air like methanotrophs that feed on the methane produced by decay and have nitrogen as a waste product that will eventually rot that sawdust. But it takes much longer, sometimes years.

[Worth1]

Might sound crazy but add stump remover to it.
It is potassium nitrate.
The same stuff you cure meat with and make black powder out of.

Without nitrogen or mushrooms it will take forever to break down.

Worth

[Tracydr]

I would think tha urine from stall cleanings would be enough. I have been adding lime and a bit of organic fertilizer to the shavings I'm composting from my horse trailer. It's been about 8 months and is nearly finished. I have it in a tumbler and added lots of kitchen scraps,too.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

I would think tha urine from stall cleanings would be enough. I have been adding lime and a bit of organic fertilizer to the shavings I'm composting from my horse trailer. It's been about 8 months and is nearly finished. I have it in a tumbler and added lots of kitchen scraps,too.

It is usually enough for slow compost. What I wrote above is for fast (hot) compost. The kind that reaches 160 degrees and is finished in 28 days.

[beeman]

Why not use it as a 'brown' source? I usually add it to my grass clippings and it really gets that stuff steaming really quick.

[4season]

When I was a kid, my sister had a horse and used wood shavings for bedding. The cleanings were about 1/2 shavings and piled about a foot and 1/2 deep back of the garden. A couple of years we were amazed at the great soil where the stuff had been piled. It may take a year or two but should make great compost.

[gregory]

I figure it might be best to toss as much excess as I can today. I am going to try to sift out the manure and get rid of the sawdust if I can. I really don't want to add nitrates.
I like thin shavings from the stalls those seem to break down much quicker.