Any uses for all the birch pollen?

Hi,

My birch trees just released all the long pollen carriers (don't know what they are called)... Are there any uses for these? Can i compost them?

If collected off the branch birch catkins can be used for a vitamin rich tea but it's bitter. Medicinally it depends on the exact species but the extract of some species is said to aid in the treatment of andropause.

All of the catkins that have fallen in my yard are from oak. I compost them or mulch with them. I try to keep the mulching on plants that already thrive under or near the oak. I might do the same with the birch. I believe the Calkins are higher in acid so in an attempt to not concentrate acidic biomass in another area I would mulch near where they fall or around acid loving plants like blueberry.

In the compost mine do just fine but I would try to add equal or more parts of other biomass like leaves scraps and grass waste. Usually when I add anything in mass the compost doesn't turn as fast.

Composting is an easy and inexpensive experiment though so try what's easiest for you and see what happens!

Good luck

Thank you so much for your advice. I have now mulched with one wheel barrows worth of them and will probably be able to fill it up again once or twice.

That looks like great feed-stock for small batch biochar. It wouldn't need a lot of crushing after quenching!

I have mixed pinecones with sawdust to make biochar and it has worked well.

There are lots of threads you can read about the process here: https://permies.com/f/190/biochar