We're building a house , and I find myself with small pieces left over . Are these any good as a soil amendment ? Gypsum iis the main ingredient , and I don't know if it acidic or basic . I don't really have any other way to dispose of this stuff , if I can add it to my compost heap that'd be a double plus .
Gypsum is calcium sulfate. You can google up use in the garden but don't think there is any advantage to use it.
Well , looks like it goes to the landfill then ...though the addition to clay soils is intriguing ... ours here is best described as clay and silt with rocks .
We put gypsum through the fertilizer spreader twice a year here. This is actual raw gypsum, comes in small pellets in bags from the local big box stores. It does help to turn the Houston gumbo we have under our property into something other than clay that gets hard when dry and slick when wet. Started doing that at our Corpus Christi, TX house back in the seventies, doing it now in this Houston area house. This house has five feet of gumbo clay under it and about a half inch of sand on top of that. At my age I may never get it all turned into something useful. That's why our vegetable gardens are all in raised beds.
Digging holes in this gumbo to plant anything just turns the hole into a swimming pool or water reservoir every time it rains. I used a large, long pry pole in these holes to make more holes in hopes I could get down deep enough to drain the swimming pool. So far so good but lots of labor.
Going to pull the cuke vines this evening if it gets a little cooler, also the squash plants are coming out and the crowder peas. What the bugs haven't eaten or pooped on is just dying anyway. The sweet chiles are doing great as are the tomatoes. Tomatoes need pruning, they're growing so wild the sunlight can't penetrate. Hopi lima beans are blooming like crazy and the bees are working them over really good but no beans as yet.
My herb garden looks like a jungle. We have been harvesting and dehydrating herbs since May and there's ten times more than we started with. Nearby neighbors are mostly young people with at least two jobs and they don't want any fresh herbs as they don't know what to do with them and mostly eat fast food anyway. Even the flowers are going crazy.
Picked the last of the figs today, got every bit of a quart of figs this year. Not bad for a four feet tall tree that was planted last year. The Meiwa kumquat is covered with blooms, if they all come to fruition I will have to prop the tree up, it too, is only about four feet tall. At least all this stuff is trying so I'm happy.
Already put up thirty packages of chopped chiles and have no idea how many packages of chard are in the freezer. I'm getting tired and hope everything starts slowing down soon.
George
Gypsum is calcium sulphate and is close to neutral acidity. It will not alter soil pH.
It would only be of value if your soil would benefit from it. It is often used to break up clay and it does work but it takes time and quite a bit to do so.
The problem with plasterboard is that it is in chunks where agricultural gypsum is a fine powder. Assuming there is enough to do any good the board will take very much longer to work (if at all) as gypsum isn't very soluble and needs to be finely divided to get into the soil. This is exactly the same problem as those with marble chips wanting to raise pH, it's too coarse.
Use it for mulch! then plow it in next spring. It really helps break down the clay plus adds calcium to help prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes.
Within two years you won't be able to find a chunk anywhere. I've done this many times on clay gardens.
Hi, Terry. Used to seeing you on the metalworking news group. I recently subscribed to this one also.
My brother has tilled scrap drywall into his garden many times and it works wonders, here in the desert. Last Spring I bought 100 lbs of powered gypsum and hand broadcast it on our garden.
We have volcanic sand for soil and have added manure. leaves, straw and all kinds of material to make the soil hold moisture. It works, but turns the soil acid. Beets, carrots, potatoes and other root vegies like neutral or slightly basic soil.
After the addition of the gypsum, all the vegetables are growing better than they ever have. I will add more next Spring!
So, yes, use you tiller to break up the old drywall and improve your garden.
Good luck, Paul in Central ORegon
Try the MSDS - trivial to get in the age of the internet. No need for FUD.
Unless it's foil backed, it's:
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