Wood ash

[Bal]

I have a wood pellet boiler that produces very little ash but what it does produce is apparently very good quality. I have decided to try it on my toms as fertiliser. I put half a teaspoon into each pot ( morrisons flower buckets) and watered it in well. Any body have any advice to give me will it work and do my quantities sound right. Thanks

[Bigmallly]

I put all my wood ash around the fruit trees/bushes. I just scatter it by the handfull. I've not tried it on Toms so good luck.

[muddled]

I put some wood ash around my potatoes last month thinking it would good for them...
A week later little brown dots appeared on the leaves.

I'm not certain by any means but a bit of book research identifies the brown spots to be magnesium deficiency...which can be caused be excess potassium....which is what you get from wood ash.

As I say, I'm not certain...each stage of this theory is based on information from different sources and so far the actual spuds have been fine when I've dug them up...worth watching out for though eh?

[Bigmallly]

Here you go Bal, make some Wood ash Tea for your Toms:

The benefits of wood ash in the garden - The Washington Post

[Bal]

Thanks for that Bigmally I will be brewing up a cuppa or two tomorrow

[Bal]

I put some wood ash around my potatoes last month thinking it would good for them...
A week later little brown dots appeared on the leaves.

If you check out the link that Bigmally posted it says that potatoes are acid loving so don't like the alkalinity that wood ash produces.
Had to type extra as it said post was too short��

[Coopers]

Wood ash from my pizza oven I just chuck in the compost. Once cooled though...

[Bal]

Made the tea today but forgot to put it in a tea bag. Will sieve it before I use it. Though I don't see why it can't go on as it is

[PyreneesPlot]

All of my veg plot plus the fruit bushes and trees get a thin sattering of wood ash through the course of the winter. Needless to say the closest beds get the most when the weather is grim!

[scarey55]

I do the same as Coopers and put mine in the compost bin. I did sprinkle some around my fruit bushes too but I wasn't clever enough to see if there was any difference the following summer

[4Shoes]

Just removed the ash from by pellet boiler. Now have almost a builders barrow of it in the byre. Going to bag and keep dry for moment.

so reading the postings, I can use it for the fruit trees and make tomato tea etc....

but reading from an other site on net : -
Regarding fruit, if you have only a little potash, it should go to dessert apples, redcurrants and gooseberries first, then to cooking apples, pears, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. Plums, apricots, cherries and blackcurrants appreciate a regular sprinkle, but don’t need it so much.

it can be applied to Raspberries.

But raspberries like a slightly acidic soil, so not sure now..... is the lime content low, so less of an issue?

[Snoop Puss]

We generate a lot of wood ash (wood burning range and a stove). I usually scatter a thin layer on the surface of all my beds (except potatoes) and work it in and then scatter a bit more on over the course of the season on everything except brassicas and potatoes. Brassicas don't really need it. The allium family and legumes love it. Toms do well as it also contains calcium, so it is great for combatting blossom end rot. I've not had any trouble with that since I started using it.

Don't use it on potatoes, as it makes them more prone to scab.

It's also good as soil conditioner for clay, apparently, not just for the chemical components.

I should add that this is hard wood ash from almond, olive and a bit of oak and a very small amount of pine. I have no idea what residues would be left from pellets. Do they contain some kind of binder? Perhaps that would all be burnt up in the combustion process, so not a problem.

Remember that ash from wood and pellets tends to be alkaline.

[WalterWhite]

The wood ash will provide a natural source of potassium for 1-2 months. The NPK is 0-1-3.

[Muddy_Boots]

All the stuff I've burnt on plot 3 so far (trees, Brambles, wood, anything else combustible found) I've bagged up to be used later on plot 2 this year, last year in the spring when I was clearing plot 2 I used all the ash produced from burning the rubbish on plot 2 back on the same plot. Lets just say I had a good fruit harvest last year.

[Bacchus]

I too have a wood pellet burner system for central heating (and a couple of open fires) but don't particually use the wood ash for anything, The pellets are pure spruce apparently. I have mixed in a few bucketfulls into general compost but was always a bit wary of doing so.

By far the better material I get from the whole wood pellet setup is the fine power that drops from the holes I drilled in the auger that takes the pellets to the burner - this reduces clogging on the burner plate. This material is fantastic for adding to grass or other green material to make compost in the first place - ie, the "brown". I also use it to line the chicken coup to absorb droppings etc. I also use it to line the paths in the polytunnel and around some of the raised beds outside - all to keep weeds down.

It's like the gaffer tape / WD40 of the heating world.