It also contains phosphorous as well as a catalog of micronutrients including manganese, iron, zinc and calcium. Younger wood, such as twiggy prunings, produces ash with a higher concentration of nutrients than older wood. Similarly, ash from hardwoods like oak, maple and beech contain more nutrients than ashes of softwoods. Ash from lumpwood charcoal is also good, but avoid using the ash from coal or treated timber, which could harm your soil and plants.
Wood ash is alkaline, so applying it to compost heaps helps to balance the tendency of compost to be more acidic. It also creates better conditions for composting worms, which will speed up decomposition. And adding loads of wood ash in any one spot is never a good thing. As always, use proper eye, face, and skin protection during application. A sprinkle of wood ashes can be added to your outdoor compost pile or indoor compost bin as one component of your household waste.
You can also make your own wood ash tea by soaking ashes in water for days, and then applying that product to plant soil as needed. Apply judiciously—a little goes a long way. Looking for a cost-free cleaner for glass and metal? Wood ashes, mixed with a bit of water to form a paste, can be used as a mild abrasive to buff up tarnished metals, clean dirty glass, and even remove adhesives and sticky residue.
Apply the paste with a cotton cloth while wearing gloves to protect your skin. Try in a small spot at first to test the results. The first soaps were made on homesteads by combining water and wood ash to make lye, a necessary component of soap.
Ashes from burned hardwoods such as ash, hickory, or beech are used for this purpose since they contain enough potassium to produce lye. The same goes for charcoal residue from BBQ grills, fake fireplace logs and coal. Those should go to the landfill. Wood ash can be used sparingly in gardens, spread thinly over lawns and stirred thoroughly into compost piles. Lawns needing lime and potassium benefit from wood ash — 10 to 15 pounds per 1, square feet, Perry said. Spreading wood ash on compost piles keeps the acidity level near neutral.
A chemical change needs to occur. You want to do that ahead of time before you put any plants into the ground. But many parts of the country—especially areas with heavy rainfall—have soils that are naturally down in that highly acidic range, which your regular plants do not enjoy one bit.
Normally people use lime to correct this, which is why soil test results often include a "liming recommendation", specifying how many pounds of lime per thousand square feet to add to your lawn or garden to bring the pH up to around 6.
Good quality hardwood ashes contain about half to two-thirds the"calcium carbonate equivalency" of lime, so you'd use one and a half to twice as much ash by weight to follow your soil test recommendations. In other words, if you're told to spread ten pounds of lime, you can achieve the same goals with 15 to 20 pounds of hardwood ash. But I suggest being cautious and applying the same amount of ash as lime was called for—you'll still be moving the pH in the right direction and adding those wonderful nutrients, but avoiding possible alkalinity problems.
Much easier to add a little more later than to try and take some out when you realize you went overboard. The best time to do this is in the Fall, which, of course, is also when you have the least ashes. Ideally, save up this year's ashes for fall use. Otherwise, try and spread them over winter. No matter what, don't plant seeds or seedlings until at least two weeks after ash has been applied, or wait until new plants are a few weeks old to spread it.
The smaller they are, the more dramatically plants may react to the sudden change in pH. Dust the ashes right onto the surface of your lawn , but mix it into the soil for best results in the garden.
Oh, and if you live in a naturally alkaline area, like some of our Oklahoma and Texas listeners, you shouldn't add any ash to your lawn or garden. Instead, try using large amounts to kill problem weeds like kudzu and thistle by raising their soil's pH to plant-deadly levels—horticultural vinegar in reverse!
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