Use For Lathe Shavings?

[MichaelMouse]

Just went out to start the tractor for mowing and caught her moving across the garden. Every year we've had at least one batch of young'uns hatch in the shavings. She's medium size, about four-four and a half. Used to have a seven-footer out there, but she didn't appear last year.

So put your shavings beside the garden, and keep the small critters under control!

 

[Mike Cunningham]

Right you are Michael

My huge shavings pile, wood pile and wood shed are home to any number of snakes and reptiles. Rarely do I see any furry pests in the area.

Mike

 

[JimVH]

Great post - It's refreshing to see you guys presenting snakes as beneficial. It really annoys me when I see someone freak over a little corn snake and chop it into pieces with a shovel. They're usually the same folks complaining about the mice.

Bring on the shavings.

 

[Jake Debski]

Now wait a minute

Great post - It's refreshing to see you guys presenting snakes as beneficial. It really annoys me when I see someone freak over a little corn snake and chop it into pieces with a shovel. They're usually the same folks complaining about the mice.

Bring on the shavings.

I don't like folks speaking ill of me Mum.

 

[JimVH]

Ouch. I guess that would include my mom, too. So sorry.

 

[Rob Wallace]

Michael:

Is this a bull snake? More melanistic than I've seen, if it is. The brown head is interesting too. Do the lathe shavings heat-up with decay? What is your location?

Just as a reminder..... wood shavings and sawdust from WALNUT should NOT be placed in your garden if you expect to grow anything there. The soluble chemical juglone leaches from the walnut shavings and kills seedlings and growing plants. In Nature, this compound functions to kill-off competing seedlings, allowing walnut seedlings to become established [allelopathy]; you don't want your desirable plants killed or their growth stunted by walnut shavings.

My shavings are used by my neighbor as stable bedding for horses. In this use, walnut must also be avoided since the shavings are toxic to horses.

Really neat snake!

Rob

 

[Jim Stoppleworth]

Just as a reminder..... wood shavings and sawdust from WALNUT should NOT be placed in your garden if you expect to grow anything there. The soluble chemical juglone leaches from the walnut shavings and kills seedlings and growing plants. In Nature, this compound functions to kill-off competing seedlings, allowing walnut seedlings to become established [allelopathy]; you don't want your desirable plants killed or their growth stunted by walnut shavings.

An exception being garlic. I have 6" of walnut shavings under the picnic table to do just that, keep the weeds down. It is the same table I clean the garlic on in the fall and the little bulblets fall through the gaps in the table top and grow like crazy the following spring.

Jim

 

[Ken Grunke]

I wonder if they can keep rabbits and groundhogs out of the garden?

 

[Frank Kobilsek]

Jim & Rob,

I use the walnut under the honeysuckle hedge I have. Slowing growth of that mess is a good thing. Everything else goes on the garden.

Rob as our resident botinist (Spelling, sorry) would the walnut be OK on the asparagus patch? I've lost control in there the last couple years to grass and some strange smooth thisel like weed.

Frank

 

[MichaelMouse]

"Pine Snake"

That's what they call 'em here. The shavings are mostly cherry, which is not used for horse bedding, because the horses find it appealingly sweet. I try to segregate my shavings so as to have a supply of used returns from my horsy people.

Not much problem with walnut shavings and foundering, as walnut doesn't become common until about 200 miles south of our latitude. The cherry and red oak is the basic weed control stuff here. Acid enough, semi-durable, and of course it takes nitrogen out of the soil as it decays, denying leafy stuff like weeds a vital component. Good under the electric fence.

I have not had much problem with groundhogs since the big gal took up residence. Apparently they figure there are safer neighborhoods for raising pups. Free advice, don't think of a .22 Hornet as a varmint round. At fifty yards the pieces are fairly small.

 

[Rob Wallace]

Be a turner, not a weeder....

Jim & Rob,

I use the walnut under the honeysuckle hedge I have. Slowing growth of that mess is a good thing. Everything else goes on the garden.

Rob as our resident botinist (Spelling, sorry) would the walnut be OK on the asparagus patch? I've lost control in there the last couple years to grass and some strange smooth thisel like weed.

Frank

Frank:

I routinely put walnut shavings in sidewalk and driveway cracks in the cement and rarely have a weed grow there from seed....glad to know that it is working under the honeysuckle.

You asked about using walnut shavings on the asparagus patch..... the compound probably is not too selective and will effect plants differently. The allelopathic chemicals (such as the juglone from walnut tissue) function most efficiently during the germination process, so this is why competition from tree seeds of other species is reduced under walnut trees. This also explains why the bulbils from the garlic/onion mentioned earlier seem to grow very well despite the presence of walnut shavings....these are vegetative propagations, and not seedlings. Competition is reduced for these young garlic clones, so they grow, ....well....., like weeds....

If the asparagus patch is really that overtaken by weeds, I would suggest a more aggressive management practice than using walnut shavings. If it were mine, I would allow the asparagus to continue to grow in the company of its 'invaders' until mid-summer to allow the asparagus plants to store as much starch as they can for the over-winter period and for next Spring's growth. I would then carefully remove ALL of the aboveground asparagus leaves (the "fern-like" fine leaves and any other above-ground parts of these plants) cutting these back to soil line, but leave the undesirable weeds intact. I would then spray the entire patch with a contact herbicide, such as Round-up (tm) [glyphosate] at least twice at several week intervals (to kill re-sprouts and new seedlings), making sure the application is done while the ambient temperature is within the effective range (i.e. usually above 50^F and below 90^F). It may also be helpful to add a "spreader-sticker" or other surfactant to be sure of good coverage and contact with all undesired plant leaves/stems. It is important that you follow up next spring by applying a pre-emergent germination-suppressing chemical [e.g. trifluralin, or something like Preen(tm)] to the soil to allow only the desired growth of the asparagus stems in the spring, and to stop germination of weed seeds. From there, careful control at appropriate times should keep your asparagus bed productive for many years. (Hopefully you have super-male cultivars.)

I doubt walnut shavings would touch these readily established (tenacious) weeds, and could possibly stunt the growth of your desirable asparagus plants. Sorry for the off-topic gardening diversion which has little to do with woodturning, other than having well-nourished, happy woodturners out there who should be turning rather than weeding overgrown asparagus patches!

Rob Wallace

 

[Rob Wallace]

"Pine Snake" That's what they call 'em here. The shavings are mostly cherry, which is not used for horse bedding, because the horses find it appealingly sweet. I try to segregate my shavings so as to have a supply of used returns from my horsy people.

OK - I wasn't too far off.... Bull, Pine, and Gopher snakes are all closely related (same genus [Pituophis], different species), and not knowing where you were, the bull snake made a good guess - I also can now see why it's darker than I expected.

All of these snakes enjoy burrowing in leaf litter and other organic material, so it is not surprising that they take up residence in piles of wood shavings. I'm also happy that they choose to breed there for you. Pine snakes and bull snakes are very effective, important predators of rodents, and very likely keep your local mouse, rat, mole, vole, etc. population controlled.

Thanks for sharing the images!

Rob