Sheet rock in compost?

[Alexander Bourdaniotis]

I was talking to my cousin who is a landscaper and he uses an almost black "vegetable blend" soil from a specific supplier with fantastic results. He uses this blend straight and does not till it in. His veggie garden is raised about 24" and he changes the soil every other year. He told me the secret is that the supplier adds sheet rock which contains gypsum into the blend and his veggie garden and plants seem to always be blooming and fruiting.

Anyone else do this or hear of this? New to this site so looking for lots of pointers..thanks.

Also, if you're doing your own compost, how much sheet rock goes in there? Is there a formula for this?

[CharlieBear]

Why not just add the gypsom, you can get it in 50 lb sacks, no need to let the paper etc rot away. If you have near neutral ph close to 7 then adding gypsom adds calcium with out raising the ph. If you have acidic ph then usually you add lime with or without dolomite lime which will also add magnesium to the soil as well. I know people who garden in mushroom compost with great results for up to 5 years, when he organic matter runs out. When making your own compost it is best to vary what you put it as much as possible, but leave the sheet rock out unless you are hot composting and have experience including it.

[toxcrusadr]

My city solid waste division composts yard waste collected curbside, and they also accept clean (unpainted) lumber and drywall scrap for a reduced rate and this is added to the compost. Everything is run through a shredder first. I'm not sure what their recipe is (I can find out if you're interested), but I've used the compost and it's good stuff. If you don't have a shredder, you're going to have chunks of sheetrock, which might not be that much fun to look at.

[Gary350]

Research has been done for many years that shows the addition of gypson can double and triple plant growth.

I have friends that put sheet rock scraps in their garden and it does excellent.

I have had an ad on craigslist many times wanting free sheetrock scraps but so fare I have not gotten any.

[gumbo2176]

Research has been done for many years that shows the addition of gypson can double and triple plant growth.

I have friends that put sheet rock scraps in their garden and it does excellent.

I have had an ad on craigslist many times wanting free sheetrock scraps but so fare I have not gotten any.

Man, just stop by any construction site and it's free for the taking. I've done a lot of remodeling jobs over the years and I'd let anyone that wanted it, take it. Getting rid of old sheetrock that was torn out and scraps after newly installing it in a job can be a good days work for me, plus paying to dispose of it in the local dump.

I'm sure there's some construction going on somewhere in your area of Tennessee. Perhaps they are busy rebuilding the Tennessee Vols Football Program.

By the way, I'm from La. and LSU rules down here, and all over the SEC this year. Just funnin!!

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah, I think if you are going to use soil additives like gypsum, they do better added to your soil, rather than your compost pile.