# Dry wall pieces in the garden?



## southrngardngal

*My step-father told my husband that dry wall added calcium to the garden soil. So Hubby threw some pieces of dry wall (sheet rock) into our garden. Is this stuff safe for the garden? 

I have never heard of dry wall (sheet rock) being used for compost. But then there are lots of things that I have never heard about. LOL 

I wanted to ask if any of you have ever used this in your garden. Thanks for the info.

Southrngardngal-Jan*


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## rwinsouthla

It's made from gypsum, or calcium sulfate. Yes, safe for the garden. If painted, you may want to stay away from it. What I have done in the past when I find some is lay it down first, wet it, then put leaves or grass clippings over it. I till it in at the end of the summer just before planting the fall garden. By then, you can't even pick it up because it crumbles too badly. Even tilling it in, you'll have marble sized chunks of it, but by next spring, even those are all destroyed. I use it especially in and around my tomatoes so I never need to lime and don't have blossom rot.


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## southrngardngal

rwinsouthla said:


> It's made from gypsum, or calcium sulfate. Yes, safe for the garden. If painted, you may want to stay away from it. What I have done in the past when I find some is lay it down first, wet it, then put leaves or grass clippings over it. I till it in at the end of the summer just before planting the fall garden. By then, you can't even pick it up because it crumbles too badly. Even tilling it in, you'll have marble sized chunks of it, but by next spring, even those are all destroyed. I use it especially in and around my tomatoes so I never need to lime and don't have blossom rot.



*Thanks a lot. The dry wall hasn't been painted. I will tell him to move it to the tomatoes. LOL. I appreciate the help.

SGG-Jan*


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## Labrat407

We have found it helps deal with the burnt patches on lawns from dog urine.


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## Guest

It will work a lot better if you soak the paper/glue off first then crush it up before mixing it into the soil. It's just gypsum (calcium sulfate). 

.....Alan.


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## southrngardngal

*Thanks ya'll. We will be having a good amount of the dry wall to add to the garden as we are doing some remodeling. It's good to know that the smallest pieces will be of use too.

I wanted to be sure that we weren't throwing something into our garden that was harmful as we have tried to be as organic as possible.

This week isn't a total waste. I have learned something today. Thanks again. 

SGG-Jan*


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## pookiethebear

Does that go for the drywall mud as well? I have a huge bag of the textured ceiling (popcorn) ceiling texture) that is essentially drywall mud, that we removed from our other house. Can I dump this on my compost pile or directly in my garden?


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## Guilt Trip

Yea! im in the construction business and i have lots of drywall , but the popcorn spray isn something I would like to know for sure, with those perlite little balls it may be the trick. Later Guilt trip


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## Rockytopsis

This was very interesting, I have some drywall in the barn that is in my way and now I know what to do with it. 
Thanks
Nancy


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## CJ

Next door to us, a new house is being built. They've put in a nice sized pond. It isn't holding any water, so they took all the scrap drywall and lined the banks with it. It rained heavily, the pond filled up, washed the drywall over the banks, and now it's laying everywhere, looking totally horrible. Bleh.


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## Rockytopsis

I was telling DH about this and he ask the question "Would all plants in the garden benifit from this" "Are there plants that would not be helped by this" So I thought I would comeback and ask. 

Thanks
Nancy


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## sammyd

Most gardens need a bit of liming yearly to get the Ph back to good levels so the drywall should be good for most of your stuff. I believe blueberries and such prefer a lower Ph so keep it out of the berry patch.
We have a local recycler guy that chips wood for mulch and also grinds the drywall for soil ammendments. 
This is what recycled sheetrock tests at according to the sheet the recycler guy hands out,

Recycled Sheetrock

%P-.02
%K-.11
%Ca-16.8
%Mg-1.13
%S-14.12
ppm Zn-22.43
ppm B-95.38
ppm Mn-68.06
ppm Fe-2470.22
ppm Cu-6.87
ppm Al-1992.47
ppm Na-430.72

ppm=mg/kg
1%=10,000 ppm

Right from UW Madison soil test lab


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## Paquebot

sammyd said:


> Most gardens need a bit of liming yearly to get the Ph back to good levels so the drywall should be good for most of your stuff. I believe blueberries and such prefer a lower Ph so keep it out of the berry patch.
> We have a local recycler guy that chips wood for mulch and also grinds the drywall for soil ammendments.
> This is what recycled sheetrock tests at according to the sheet the recycler guy hands out,
> 
> Recycled Sheetrock
> 
> %P-.02
> %K-.11
> %Ca-16.8
> %Mg-1.13
> %S-14.12
> ppm Zn-22.43
> ppm B-95.38
> ppm Mn-68.06
> ppm Fe-2470.22
> ppm Cu-6.87
> ppm Al-1992.47
> ppm Na-430.72
> 
> ppm=mg/kg
> 1%=10,000 ppm
> 
> Right from UW Madison soil test lab


Those figures show why it can be used with any type of soil, acidic or alkaline, without affecting the pH. There is close to the same amount of calcium and sulfur which balance each other. That's why gypsum or drywall is a great source of calcium when needed in alkaline soil. You can add all you need and the pH will not go higher.

Martin


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