Any reason why joint compound can't be worked into the soil to add in nutrients, like calcium, or as a way to control the ph of the soil? I have about 3 lbs of the stuff from a previous drywall project and didn't want to toss it out, when I could toss it on the compost pile or toss it in the dirt to break down.
Joint compound as fertilizer/conditioner
Aug 22, 2007
59 Replies
I can say that old gib board is reprocessed to get the gypsum out of it & then sold as a soil amendment.
rob
Here is the URL for an MSDS page for drywall compound.
It's mostly gypsum, here we buy that to add to our soil. It depends where you are and the condition of your soil whether it would be good or bad. In any event, nothing bad will happen if you mix it in with the soil.
Oops, forgot
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its sold by the gram round here, or the bullet, not the pound.
rob
You're kidding me! The smallest amount I can buy is about a pint....
C
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"The compound is a complex combination of water, limestone, expanded perlite, ethylene-vinyl acetate polymer and attapulgite."
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"EVA is one of the materials popularly known as 'expanded rubber' or 'foam rubber'."
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"It is one of the types of fuller's earth." "Until 2003, it was the active ingredient used in Kaopectate,"
I appreciate the links, I actually already knew what it was made from, but it was how those ingredients interacted with plants that I was unsure of.
Really the EVA is the only thing that concerns me, but I wouldn't expect it to be a large amount of the joint compound. Perlite is another potential problem, don't have any real knowledge of that stuff and what its good for.
>
about the EVA portions, but looking at the concentrations they're far too small to matter in the amounts I'm looking at.
So what is Perlite good for anyway? (so far as plants are concerned anyway)
Perlite's the easy one.... It's probably not expanded in joint compound, but it is a common ingredient in potting soil. If you're determined to use this stuff, fill your bucket with water for a thin slurry and let it sit overnight. Skim off anything that floats and that may get rid of the vinyl/plastic/rubber crap. But, I wouldn't bother.
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"In horticulture it makes composts more open to air, while still having good water-retention properties; it makes a good medium for hydroponics.
Nothing much. It is used in potting mixes to open the mix, to let air down with the roots. It's a high volume, low mass filler.
I didn't read the other replies yet, but I can deduce it is a reference to "joint" compound being the stuff which gets rolled up in rolling paper.
snipped-for-privacy@sakajawa.org expounded:
No, V, joint compound is used in wallboarding, it's what you smooth over the joints (yet another reference! ).
thats a heck of a lot of oil. You'd need a BIG knife.
rob
I can be so naïve..... C
Well I know that! But the double entendre was too hard to resist!
tee hee. Actually, I haven't smoked a joint in decades. The stuff they have now would probably help me OD. They've really perfected the product.
Hey, naive is a good thing. I wish I was. Unfortunately, I can't unring the bell of life.
v
What makes this all so funny is that DS managed to stretch hard enough (pre cast) to put a hole in the wall. Which I now need either mend myself or hire someone to do the job and I was thinking it would be a clever use of any scraps if I really could compost them...
CJoin the Discussion
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