Turning wood ash into liquid feed, is it possible?

[Leeds_lad]

Anyone ever had any success with diluting wood ash into a suitable and effective feed?

Is it even worth it? I read it's high in calcium and other goodies but contains little to no nitrogen. Room for an experiment maybe?

[Kleftiwallah]

Experiment away. But I normally just kick the ash from my bonfire about the plot then rake in. Cheers, Tony.

[rustylady]

Bonfire ash is good sprinkled around fruit bushes. High in potash I believe.

[di]

I always sprinkle it round my onions.

If you're bored and feel like an experiment, I'll let you, but don't really see the point.

[Leeds_lad]

Well it's mainly because i have a massive amount of it

[WendyC]

Is ash soluble? I have never tried but can't imagine it is, in which case all you'd end up with is wet wood ash which I would have thought was harder to apply than when it is dry. If you were worried about it blowing around you could damp it down with some water afterwards. Just a thought.

[Leeds_lad]

Is ash soluble? I have never tried but can't imagine it is, in which case all you'd end up with is wet wood ash which I would have thought was harder to apply than when it is dry. If you were worried about it blowing around you could damp it down with some water afterwards. Just a thought.

Well iw as thinking of filtering it, getting all the goodness into the water and throwing any slush that is left

[solway cropper]

A lot of the 'nutrients' in wood ash are soluble which is why it should be used fresh and when needed, rather than as a slow release fertilizer. Because they are soluble they are soon leached from the soil by rainfall. A liquid feed might work but, like others, I don't see why you can't just apply it straight to the ground. Try it and see but I would test the pH of your solution before applying it to anything than might not appreciate the alkalinity.

[rustylady]

Well it's mainly because i have a massive amount of it

I'm curious as to why you have a massive amount of woodash.

[Florence Fennel]

^^^^^ ooh, so am I RL, so am I

[Leeds_lad]

Been doing a major garden make over. Been burning old broken trellises, woody dried dead stuff etc and there were a lot of it, still getting through it. Filled and emptied 4 burn bins so far

[jacob]

I put quite a lot mixed into the compost I do pot veg in (tomatoes, chillis, peppers, aubergines). A bit goes into the plot, any left over gets sprinkled about the fruit bushes.

[planetologist]

If you have more wood, and can't heat your house with it, I'd make charcoal. It adds carbon to your soil, and is said to act as a slow release nutrient buffer.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Not treated timber I hope?

Colin

[solway cropper]

I was just about to say that PTD. If it was old trellis it probably was treated and the chemicals they used in the old days were not exactly beneficial to living things. The volatile components would obviously be burned off but the residue could well contain concentrations of copper, arsenic, etc. Not that I'm trying to worry you.