soot

[millie]

hi new to this forum ,please can anyone tell me how to use soot on the allotment, i think i have heard that it is good for onions. any ideas.

[nick the grief]

Hi Millie, welcome to the vine. You need to let soot weather for 12 months otherwise it could burn the roots of things - like fresh muck.

You can either put it in the bottom of your tattie trench (over the spuds when you plant then, supposed to deter slugs)

Sprinkle it as a top dressing or us it in a bag soaked in water (like compost tea) & is good for pot plants like Cinerarea's & Chrysanths.

[supersprout]

and it's useful to sprinkle it on in Spring, being black it helps warm the soil up

[burnie]

I was told to use wood ashes (and not coal ashes) as well as soot,especially on raspberries is also beneficial,any one else tried it?

[nick the grief]

It's a source of potash Burnie so will help with the fruiting. The only draw back is you don't know how much potash is in the Ash so it may vary from burn to burn.

[Mrs Dobby]

We've often used the ashes from the barbecue around plants, helps to keep the slugs down in our garden and also adds enrichment, or so we've been told, and it certainly seems to work for us!

[dexterdoglancashire]

Hello Millie and welcome to the Vine! as you can already see we are a friendly lot, with lots of useful tips and advice! best wishes Dexterdog