Wood ash good bad or for the garden

I have always heard wood ash is good for the garden so today I cleaned out my shop wood stove and spread the ashes on the garden. So with the mix of lime and manure and wood ash maybe this summer my garden might grow better I hope. I know last summer the garden did not do well

I am trying the same except my wood ashes replace the lime. I am being careful not to over do it. With free horse manure and bedding I have over done it a times and had a hard time getting things up. Some veg. like acid soils so I selective avoid those areas of the garden.

(quoted from post at 18:35:44 12/10/13) I have always heard wood ash is good for the garden so today I cleaned out my shop wood stove and spread the ashes on the garden. So with the mix of lime and manure and wood ash maybe this summer my garden might grow better I hope. I know last summer the garden did not do well

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ike so many things, it depends. Acidic soils (pH less than 5.5) will likely be improved by wood ash addition. Soils that are slightly acidic (pH 6.0 to 6.5) should not be harmed by the application of 20 pounds per 100 square feet annually, if the ash is worked into the soil about 6 inches or so. However, if your soil is neutral or alkaline (pH 7.0 or greater), find another way to dispose of wood ash. Crop tolerance to alkaline soil also should be considered. Some plants, such as asparagus and juniper, are more tolerant of slightly alkaline conditions than "acid-loving" plants, such as potatoes, rhododendrons and blueberries. Wood ash should never be used on acid-loving plants.

I have always spread my ashes in the garden. Soil tests show I do not have to add lime ever.

I added the lime this fall due to the fact I put on a lot of chicken goat and horse manure and the lime helps it break down better. I only had 2-5 gal buckets of ash so not a whole lot if it

I remember when the barn burned in 1964,they told Dad to spread the ashes on the fields. They said there was a lot of potash in it,but I don't know if it was from the wood or from the hay that burned.

I have been buying wood ash by the ton since 2006. I use it on my hay fields as a lime substitute, it also contains a significant amount of potash, a small amount of potassium, some trace minerals, and hopefully nothing nasty. I get it from a wood fired electrical generation plant, pay mostly for the trucking.

I know here in the south the old timers spread it around the pecan trees

Wood ash is also an excellent traction enhancer on ice.

What about nails ? mark

Old,
I put my ash in piles, then when I get angry, I go to the garden and kick some ash

I used a post hold digger and made 12 inch diameter holes. Planted my tomatoes and peppers in the holes about 8 inches below grade. It takes a long time for water doesn't soak in to soil. To I fill the holes with water, like having a water barrel. Had a good garden, even though we had an extended dry spell.

I would add a little fertilizer and lime every few weeks.

If I'm not mistaken, pot ash is in fertilizer. I would add potash to mulch pile and mix it in with loader. Then use a little mulch around new plants.

George

Be careful not to over do it. My neighbor put all his ashes on his garden for years, got his Ph too high, and his garden hasn't been good for the last few years. Eventually the Ph will come back down and he'll be ok.

If that is true tell me why that when we burn brush piles that the corn and beans look and produce better than the rest of field. I spread all my wood ashs over my yard for 35 years and has had no effect on yard.

I mix our wood ashes into the spreader. Soil test called for 4 tons of the high quality local wood ash per acre or 8 tons of the poor ash per acre. Don't think my 50 lbs from the stove will over do it.

Yep, there good for the garden old, they add potassium to your soil. I get alot of ash over the winter, some goes in the garden, some in the cats litter to kill the urin Oder, some for traction on ice and the rest in the manure spreader to spread on the hay fields. Lol

"I have been buying wood ash by the ton since 2006".

I hadn't thought about it until you stated that, but I wonder for how long before the EPA starts sending out "...cease and..." warnings. My job takes me into power plants frequently. Was in two of them today. These power plants are coal fired, so they generate fly ash. They used to sell off their fly ash to concrete companies that used to add it as harder for concrete until the EPA stepped in a year or so ago and told them no more. Trust me, fly ash is a hardener. I had to fish about a 10' section 1" conduit that had filled up with a mixture of fly ash, pigeon crap, and moisture over years. Took me all day. Like concrete. Anyway, since the EPA says no to flyash now, now the power plants have to pay people to haul it off as toxic waste. I wonder how long before wood ash from fire places and everywhere else is deemed to be...toxic waste by the EPA.

Hey, unrelated but related, was a story in my local paper just today about our local health department sending notices to a church and another local institution that held a bazaar to benefit the poor, that they were in violation for allowing "homemade" items such as peanut brittle, cakes, and pastries to be sold because they didn't have their stamp of approval. So back to my point, how long before the EPA weighs in negatively on...wood ash? The glue on the back of stamps? Where you can pile your shoveled snow?

Mark

Generally when you spread ashes you don't need lime. Since it is only mid Dec. you may yet get some more ashes to spread. Whenever I have had a load of bulk lime delivered, and dumped in a hayfield, it has never killed any grass, and the grass grows the best for the next few years where the pile was dumped so I don't think that you need to worry about putting down too much.

The issue with flyash from coal plants is generally the mercury content... If you got a plant that's burning petcoke... well... that's just a whole other ball of wax. Our local plant burns coal and petcoke and has a limestone fluidised bed... so the lime that comes out would be an excellent soil amendment if not for the crap that's captured within...
IIRC, the tests that have been done indicate that if they were only burning coal the metal levels would be acceptable for land application... but the petcoke has such a mixture of stuff in it that the tests are never consistent on the ash. Long story short, they store the ash in a second generation type of lined ash cell that is capped over as they fill it....

Rod

I don't think I'd be too worried about using wood ash for as much as you'll have from one stove/furnace...
I can show you fields in this area that were cleared from woods and the stumps burned. I can show you were ever pile was because the crop is always better where the ash was left...

Rod

Nope, about 320 lbs garden plot 30x60/ac

Old, two words: soil test. Cheers!

That was before we even had a loader. They threw it in the spreader with a fork or shovel. I would imagine they were pretty careful. I remember Dad spreading it across the road on a light spot in a field though.

I always heard that you should not put ashes where you are going to grow potatoes because it will cause scabbing. Don't know if it's true, but Mom insisted.