Does anyone add wood ash to compost?

mlayser 4/25/2012, 3:53 pm

Does anyone add wood ash to compost?

**camprn** 4/25/2012, 4:55 pm

Sometimes I sprinkle a LITTLE BIT onto my beds but generally I don't add it to the compost.

As a side note to all who read this thread, never, ever put charcoal briquette ash into compost or the garden.

plantoid 4/25/2012, 6:01 pm

I've saved up wood ash from the chimerea and when the bucket was half full I used it to sprinkle in the rebuilds of my seven composting bins at every four inches of refilling

GWN 4/25/2012, 6:03 pm

So would it be the acid loving plants that you sprinkle the ashes around?
Potatoes?
I have a lot of ash and would like to spread it where it will do the most good.

tomperrin 4/25/2012, 6:29 pm

Wood ash is interesting stuff. In the 19th Century, it was reduced by soaking in water to make pot ash, and with the addition of lime, further reduced to pearl ash. Potash was the primary cash crop of my ancestors and their neighbors. The pot ash was used as a source of potassium fertilizer and fetched fancy prices at the time. Antique ash pots are still to be found, tho most that I have seen have been used as gigantic plant pots and consequently rusted out. Watered down wood ash also makes lye, which when added to a few other materials, makes soap.

Yes, I add wood ash to my compost. I don't have much of it. I'm careful to only burn hardwood & paper in my wood stove. No garbage, metals, chemicals, etc.

Tom

plantoid 4/25/2012, 6:33 pm

One of my old gardening books says wood ash is alkaline and should be weathered for a few months before being used then water it in well .

It gives average nutrient values of , Nitrogen - N = 0 " , Phosphorous - P = 0.5 % , Potassium - K = 10 %

I was always advised to sow rows of carrot seed mixed with dry ash to make it easier to sow the seeds and space out the seeds as well as to prevent carrot fly attack and help the carrots grow.

So on the above any plant that has a high potassium need should benefit if given the ash at the correct time & watered in .

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