Hi chicken co2,

What makes you think that sawdust would help radishes to grow? Just curious. Sawdust might be used to "store" radishes long term.

Sawdust robs the soil of nitrogen. Please read the link below. Hope that helps~

Here is a link that might be useful: About sawdust

My radishes grow best when the weather is cool in the spring and fall. In the summer they get pretty woody or don't fill out very well. Baby radishes, greens and all, are great in salads.

I do a bed of radishes in the fall. After Labor Day. Radishes can be kept like carrots and beets in moist sand or saw dust through out the winter. We like our radishes sauted in butter so put in a couple packets of seed every fall. When it is cold you don't get the wireworm in them. Also works for turnips that are worm free.

My radishes do great in the spring, but summer and fall just dont seem to do any good at all.....Cheri

I've used a lot of sawdust. If applied to a soil already high with nitrogen, it can be a cheap and easy to spread mulch, and a good choice for building soil organic matter.

If applied to soil with even the slightest deficiency of nitrogen, it can ruin an entire garden for a season. I should know, I've done it myself and seen it done by others.

The problem is really related to the carbon/nitrogen content of the sawdust. It is practically all carbon, but no nitrogen. This is like 'fine bread' to the soil organisms, who will eventually convert the carbon into wonderful humus for you, eventually...... but when they go to work, they demand a portion of 'butter' to go along with their 'bread', and what they use will be whatever nitrogen is in your soil, thus setting you up for the deficiency.

The trick seems to be to not use it in excess. Over time, I found it best to reserve sawdust, even older composted sawdust, for specific uses. My favorite use is for covering seeded crops which are difficult to mulch with hay, straw, or other coarse material.

For example, when planting carrots, beets, or other small seeded crops, I prepare a 2ft wide raised bed and mulch the side slopes with hay. I then thinly broadcast the seed across the whole width of the bed, and then broadcast sawdust by double handfuls until the seed is covered the normal 1/4" deep. This method enables me to broadcast small seed, cover it evenly, and mulch to conserve water and guard against weeds. If you've ever struggled against small weed seedlings amongst broadcast carrot seed you know how tedious their elimination can be!

Many of my neighbors can never get carrot seed to grow in our clay soils, while I can reliably get beds full from edge to edge. Once the crops gain a foothold, they tend to crowd out weeds.

Some other things I've learned about sawdust:
- is troubling to wash off of greens and strawberries
-the secret to using sawdust seems to be moderation, use it sparingly, and only if you are sure you have a soil high in nitrogen.

Hope this helps.
Jay

I can not grow a radish to save my life... any other tips?