MDF is Medium Density Fiberboard. All the woodworking shops that make kitchen cabinets, furniture and the like, use MDF and end up with huge sacks of the dust which they are glad to give you, because otherwise they have to pay somebody to take it to the landfill.
At first gardeners were hesitant about using MDF dust for composting, because it is NOT like pure natural sawdust: it contains 10% or more chemicals (gums and binders) which we gardeners were suspicious of. The main binders are U-F (Urea-Formaldehyde) and Melamine.
However! Researchers have found that the U-F and M break down completely and rapidly into nice Nitrogen (mostly in the form ammonia) and that quickly gets the sawdust cooking compost-wise. They record no production of toxins of any kind: everything breaks down into N, CO2, and water. The resulting crumbly compost has a nice texture and is a good soil amendment.
Would like to know what anybody else thinks of this. Has anybody checked this out? HOw did you use it?
I did some experimenting when a woodworking friend give me 4 huge sacks of the stuff, and I'm finding it's actually a great free soil amendment, side-dressing, compost cooker and bulker.
I know nothing about this, and have no experience with saw dust either.
Well thanks for that little education on MDF. Going to have to keep the eyes open to look for where to get it.
Currently on some Friday AM’s I scour the neighborhoods looking for some bags of recently green mowed lawns for mulch and some for the compost—free nearby nitrogen additions.