Wood ash as liming agent?

[_Rich]

Does anyone use wood ash (residue from campfire or grilling charcoal) as a soil remediation agent or micro fert. additive via mulch top dressing? From what I've seen, it will deacidify soils.

For those with advanced soil requirement knowledge, which species may be harmed by lowering the naturally occurring acidity/PH level? My natural 'soil' is sugar sand - so would I be harming anything by applying slight amounts of wood ash?

Thanks,

Rich

[John Case]

Does anyone use wood ash (residue from campfire or grilling charcoal) as a soil remediation agent or micro fert. additive via mulch top dressing? From what I've seen, it will deacidify soils.

For those with advanced soil requirement knowledge, which species may be harmed by lowering the naturally occurring acidity/PH level? My natural 'soil' is sugar sand - so would I be harming anything by applying slight amounts of wood ash?

Thanks,

Rich

I would be highly cautious in using it alone. The high pH of wood ash can have some deleterious effects on roots.....as a part of a mulch, perhaps, but the best use would be a component of a compost.....

[_Rich]

I'm not speaking of copious amounts - my apologies as I should have qualified this. I was thinking of taking this in a handful and throwing it on top of the mulch in/around the bases of palms.

Looks as though I should stick to using it solely in the compost pile, however?

[_Keith]

I have used this on my property. Our soils are normally acid. I have planted a couple of alkaline loving trees on old burn pile* locations and they have thrived. Also, on the non-ash charcoal type material, by burying it, you can start to build your own Terra Preta. http://en.wikipedia....iki/Terra_preta. I have also done that to a very minor degree with good results.

*Burn piles. I live in the country. After hurricanes we generally have large amounts of downed leaves, branches and sometimes entire trees that would overwhelm any natural method of compost, so large burn piles (bonfire) it is. I spread the ashes around as best I can, but planting an alkaline loving plant right over the burn site is almost always magic.

[MattyB]

I throw all of my BBQ ashes on my bananas. I didn't know it raised the pH. I thought I was just adding Phosphorous for more productive fruit set. The bananas, which prefer acid from what I remember, don't seem to mind at all. I have lots of fruit growing well.

[DoomsDave]

Wood ashes contain a lot of potassium, and are the basis for grandma's lye soap.

But, it takes a lot of wood ashes to raise the PH by much, especially if there's lots of organics in the soil.

That said, don't spread them around, say, azaleas, leptospermum, etc, which really like acid soil. Most palms aren't that fussy (I'm sure some catty botanist will catcall with some notable exceptions! )

With my pyromaniac tendencies, I tend to end up with about three or four five-gallon buckets of ash from my fireplaces, and I spread them around my palms, then water and/or mulch over. Large plants get about 10-20 cups (16 oz. kitchen measurement) spread around the base, about a foot from the trunk. Smaller plants get less. I don't usually give ash to little bitty seedlings, since it can burn.

Palms, as a group, love lots of potassium. But, avoid getting ash on leaves and green, tender stems and crownshafts.

[Mark Heath]

Rich,

I keep my ashes from my fireplace and my BBQ and mix it in w/ my compost. I have read in the past that it raises the PH slightly but the biggest benefit is that it will retain nutrients for a long time period. W/ mixing it in compost, the nutrients will not leach out for a long time. W/ allready planted palms, i dig a hole close to the outer roots of the palm and burry about 10 gallons worth of my compost and bingo! I use alot of citrus in my compost which is very acidic, so the ash helps in two ways. I started doing this a cpl of years ago after reading a very informative post here on Palmtalk.

Hopefully others will keep chiming in w/ more detailed usefull information for you.

Mark

[amazondk]

The soil in Amazonia in general is quite poor. The nutrients leach out due to the high amount of rainfall. And, the forest recycles things quickly leaving a thin layer of top soil. So, when the forest is converted to agriculture after a few years the soil normally does not produce much as it becomes depleated quickly. That is without the addition of chemical fertilizers or organic fertilizers. Agrobusiness compensates this with chemials for example when they grow soybeans. But, the small landholder in the interior uses a time tested practice on their land. They have a rotation of parcels in their lots in secondary forest. The burning of the forest residues after it is cut releases nutirents which provide good conditions for local crops suh as cassava, corn, etc. This does not mean that they are out cutting down primary forest. Once an areas starts to get depleted the they let it regrow into secondary forest. After about 10 years the forest is pretty good sized and the soil has been replentished. My place in the country has an area which is a good expample of this. So, they cut down this parcel and let the other one regrow. I guess you could call this slash and burn. But, it is not the case normally where people move from one place to another. They stay put and recylce the forest on a continual basis. I mix the ashes from burned brush into planting holes as well.

dk

[Walt]

I've been using wood ash (tree limbs, palm fronds, pine needles and cones, etc.) for years. Wood ash (depending on species) has about a 50% calcium carbonate equivalency of lime. I use the ash both for the liming effect and mild fertilizing effect (it has reasonable amounts of potassium, magnesium and minor minerals).

Distributing wood ash can be messy so I only use it on palms away from my house (and I have lots of palms away from my house).

I wouldn't normally mess with wood ash but I have a 5.60 acre property with lots of trees which generate lots of litter. I have a large burn pile and the accumulated ash has to be disposed of, so I like recycling it, as it does reduce my fertilization and liming costs. My soil here in deep inland Florida is very acidic, so the ash does help raise pH some.

Lastly, I try to use generated wood ash 2-3 days after burning (when the ash has cooled) as, if it rains on the ash it will start to wash and leach the minerals out of it, plus cake up the ash.

[Central Floridave]

For years I've burned my yard trash and returned it to the soil for fertilizer. I have never put any yard trash at the end of the road for trash pickup. It all gets stacked up and when winter comes I have weekend firepits and burn it all. Its kinda fun. When the fire pit gets built up with ash, I will use the wheelbarrow and fill her up and use a shovel to spread it along on top of the mulch as a dressing. I'm careful not to use too much on the acid lovers (like mentioned above). I have one friend who was dumping his ash on a lychee and it turned yellow and it took three years for it to rebound. Using lightly isn't going to hurt anything, but he was using a lot and it obviously changed the PH level. Its got to be good fertilizer and like mentioned, woodash=potash=Potassium, not to mention any other heavy metals found in Oak droppings and palm fronds. As we know as palm growers we are left with a lot of brown fronds. Those are my favorite to burn as they go up quickly . I have a lot of live oak and dead baytree to burn also so its a good mix of fast and slow burning, coupled with beer and a guitar and you got yourself a party!

[DoomsDave]

One good thinga about wood ash is that, by raising the PH, it facilitates decay. When compost gets too acide it stops rotting or slows down dramatically. (People's bodies have been preserved in acid peat bogs for thousands of years.) click here for bog bodies link

Just don't use TOO much. Except around the alkalai junkies.

dave