wood ash.

[Tom_in_TN]

Smokes, you are right about the ash being alkaline. Trees pull up minerals into the wood tissue. We can then burn it or let it decompose slowly, either way the minerals are going to be in the ashes in a very accessible form to the plant roots.

 

[BarG]

"Trees pull up minerals into the wood tissue." .

Some woods you can actualy see the mineral deposits in the grain of green or dried lumber.

 

[Rayshields]

I found a website from Oregon State University on wood ash...can't post a link to it, but it said that the first patent issued in USA was for an improved method of making fertilizer from wood ash. It had the following information that ties to earlier discussions about wood ash...

The fertilizer value of wood ash depends on the type of wood you burn. As a general rule, hardwoods such as oak weigh more per cord and yield more ash per pound of wood burned. Hardwood ash contains a higher percentage of nutrients than ash from softwoods such as Douglas-fir or pine.
"Hardwoods produce approximately three times as much ash per cord and five times as many nutrients per cord as softwoods," said Sullivan.
Ash from a cord of oak meets the potassium needs of a garden 60 by 70 feet, he said. A cord of Douglas-fir ash supplies enough potassium for a garden 30 by 30 feet. Both types of ash contain enough calcium and magnesium to reduce soil acidity (increase soil pH) slightly.

 

[Chris A]

How much wood ash to mix in with each plant when transplanting into the ground? Sorry but I did not find this specifically posted.

 

[Boboro]

Ash Should be broadcast and tilled in to the soil. Dont put it in the hole with a seedling.

 

[DonH]

One thing to be aware of with wood ash is that it will raise the pH of the soil, so if you put a lot in you may want to add something to lower the pH.

 

[BigBonner]

I wonder what black walnut hulls ( soft outside ) will do for soil . My dads cousin used to buy and hull black walnuts in the fall . When they got a dump truck load , my dad would bring them to the farm and dump scatter them on the tobacco fields . That farm where I grew up , the soil was good enough to raise the dead . I often wonder if it was the hulls that made the soil rich .

 

[Randy]

Thats very opposite of what I was alays told about blackwalnuts..to keep them away from garden somthing abt the oil in them was bad for the soil in general??maybe they didnt know what they were talking about..I do know that we had a coal-furnce in basment growing-up my job every moring was to rake ashes into buckets pile behind garage then in fall grandfather would mix the ashes and alot of leaves into soil..that garden grew just about anthing you wanted

Randy

 

[Aaron]

The husks would be fine, I think its the leaves and the roots that can suppress other plant growth. The husks are also insecticidal . Check out the "other uses" section here for more info. http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Juglans+nigra

 

[Randy]

Thanks Aaron nice info on that site..thats good news because around here were I live seems like every-other person grows a Blackwalnut tree the neighborhod is full of them

Randy

 

[docfitch1]

Alright! I've been dumping the ash from my woodstove all over the place. Can you overdo it?

 

[leverhead]

Alright! I've been dumping the ash from my woodstove all over the place. Can you overdo it?

Probably not, but check your PH.

 

[DonH]

Probably not, but check your PH.

Especially since you're in a desert which I think has alkaline soil. Tobacco likes acid soil.

 

[docfitch1]

So what pH are we looking for?

 

[leverhead]

A soil PH of about 6.

 

[DonH]

A soil PH of about 6.

It'll do fine at 6.5 to 6.8 though.

 

[Mad Oshea]

Remember pot ash will burn the plants if you put to much. It melts plastic in water.

 

[bonehead]

i usually pick up my leafs in fall with my tractor mower attachment. i put them in the garden in fall and rotertill them in then add wood ash from my stove all winter long and rotertill again in spring and allmost all of the leafs are gone by spring because they were ground up pretty small to start with. some leafs are acidic and ash is usually alcaline so it helps ballance each other out to some extent and after a few years you will have very dark soil loaded with garden worms.

 

[skychaser]

That is exactly what I do. Wood ash also contains about 7% potassium by weight. It's good fertilizer and one of the reasons slash and burn farming works, for a short time.

 

[Smokin Harley]

wood ash....think potash,or potassium