Can I go out to a nature preserve and get rotting wood and stuff?

Kind Sir

Kind Sir

Well-Known Member
So I live in the Midwest, there is a nature preserve that is full of dead trees, a long stream, prairies, a swamp type area... tons of different stuff that is probably awesome for an organic grow.

I was thinking about going out there and grabbing rotting wood,maby even some mud that’s in the stream,I really don’t know. Would that be beneficial?
 
anomalii

anomalii

Well-Known Member
Removing anything from a nature preserve, national park, historical site, or any other plot of land designated to preserve nature is generally frowned upon. Just think, if everybody took just a little something from a park, soon there would be no park left.
 
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youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
Rotting wood chunks are great in your soil mix. You're looking for spongy, wet, crumbly stuff you can break apart with your hands. Sometimes when I gather this stuff up I find a colony of ants, or some gross looking grubs or centipedes tunneling through the wood. If this happens, I don't gather up that wood! I move on looking for some bug free stuff.

Leaf mold that's super broken down, from around the base of big trees or old stumps is really great too.

If you're still concerned with bugs, leave your forest stuff outside, in a bucket for a week or two so any critters can crawl away. Or lay out a tarp and spread the forest litter out in a thin layer so bugs can't hide in there. Then give them a couple days to flee the scene. If that's still not enough, sprinkle some neem meal on top to drive bugs away.

You can mix these things in soil, use them for mulch or top dress with them like compost. If you're into aerated teas some leaf mold from the forest and some worm castings will make Double Dank stuff.

You don't necessarily need to go deep into a nature preserve to find this stuff. Any shady area with trees and wood on the ground will work. If you can find a nice sloping area facing away from sunshine it's sure to be moist and good for fungus. You could probably find some body with a fireplace or wood-burning stove and dig around for rotting wood under their wood pile.
 
Kind Sir

Kind Sir

Well-Known Member
youraveragehorticulturist said:
Rotting wood chunks are great in your soil mix. You're looking for spongy, wet, crumbly stuff you can break apart with your hands. Sometimes when I gather this stuff up I find a colony of ants, or some gross looking grubs or centipedes tunneling through the wood. If this happens, I don't gather up that wood! I move on looking for some bug free stuff.

Leaf mold that's super broken down, from around the base of big trees or old stumps is really great too.

If you're still concerned with bugs, leave your forest stuff outside, in a bucket for a week or two so any critters can crawl away. Or lay out a tarp and spread the forest litter out in a thin layer so bugs can't hide in there. Then give them a couple days to flee the scene. If that's still not enough, sprinkle some neem meal on top to drive bugs away.

You can mix these things in soil, use them for mulch or top dress with them like compost. If you're into aerated teas some leaf mold from the forest and some worm castings will make Double Dank stuff.

You don't necessarily need to go deep into a nature preserve to find this stuff. Any shady area with trees and wood on the ground will work. If you can find a nice sloping area facing away from sunshine it's sure to be moist and good for fungus. You could probably find some body with a fireplace or wood-burning stove and dig around for rotting wood under their wood pile.
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Ok maby I don’t even need to go to the preserve, there’s a local woods that’s slowly being chopped down (unfortunately,) that I’ll go check out. Thanks for the suggestions guys!!
For all you criticizing me, you better not support factory farming, better call people out for buying guano, even peat moss isn’t super sustainable, and you better recycle.
 
Kind Sir

Kind Sir

Well-Known Member
green_machine_two9er said:
Rotted wood. Of the dry rot variety. Lol it should crumble. It's not bad.

Silt can be important to some degree. But more so as a Sand/silt/clay/organic matter mixture for bottom bottom layer of raised beds.
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Like when you see a fallen tree and the inner layer (inside the bark) is crumbly? I remember seeing that all the time growing up. I was more so wanting to use whatever I got for the microbes and stuff rather than an actual layer... or would that not help me much? It would take a lot of that to have a layer of it.
 
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youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
There are all kinds of different categories of public land. Some preserves or reserves are supposed to be untouched and pristine. Other public land is managed specifically to be used for logging or cattle grazing, or to be used by people.

I'm sure you were just talking about grabbing some wood off the ground near where people camp out and stuff. I know you weren't planning to go out disturbing endangered wildlife.

Anyway, a spot where people have been cutting wood should be perfect. Logs or trees that were cut down then left behind, that have been laying on the ground for awhile are perfect. The soil and forest litter around an old rotting stump are usually awesome.
 
Kind Sir

Kind Sir

Well-Known Member
youraveragehorticulturist said:
There are all kinds of different categories of public land. Some preserves or reserves are supposed to be untouched and pristine. Other public land is managed specifically to be used for logging or cattle grazing, or to be used by people.

I'm sure you were just talking about grabbing some wood off the ground near where people camp out and stuff. I know you weren't planning to go out disturbing endangered wildlife.

Anyway, a spot where people have been cutting wood should be perfect. Logs or trees that were cut down then left behind, that have been laying on the ground for awhile are perfect. The soil and forest litter around an old rotting stump are usually awesome.
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Ya the county cuts down trees (probably dead trees,) for people to have free wood so I’ll check out the stumps. Absolutely perfect scenario, the stuff sits for awhile too because not a lot of people go there. It’s a really nice thing they have going on there, if this particular place was ever “deforested” it would be devastating. Thanks partner.
 
R

rmax

Well-Known Member
I live in city but there are some open creeks. Last Spring I thought about making a bunch of clones, getting a kayak then dropping into the creek and planting the clones along the creek bank. Meander down the creeks like Johnny Appleseed planting a couple clones every 1,000 feet.

The open nature area with rotted wood and everything you describe could make for a great psybicilin mushroom farm. Get a couple of syringes and juice all the logs.
 
Kind Sir

Kind Sir

Well-Known Member
rmax said:
I live in city but there are some open creeks. Last Spring I thought about making a bunch of clones, getting a kayak then dropping into the creek and planting the clones along the creek bank. Meander down the creeks like Johnny Appleseed planting a couple clones every 1,000 feet.

The open nature area with rotted wood and everything you describe could make for a great psybicilin mushroom farm. Get a couple of syringes and juice all the logs.
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I already grow them at home but that would be fun, I could see that having a nice flush. I’d love to plant clones but I live in a non rec state and would worry some
 
Kind Sir

Kind Sir

Well-Known Member
GrassBurner said:
I'd keep my eyes peeled for termites. I let a lot of bugs slide, termites in my house are not one of them :lol:
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Idk if termites are much of an issue where I live, never seen or heard of them around here before. I was thinking about letting it be cold for a few more days and then grab some.
 
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