Pellet_OilBoy
New Member
learned not to spread it on my driveway. The dog and I track it back in. Ive started dumping it in the storm drain by the road in front of my house
So --- What do you do with the ash?
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Save it in plastic bags outside (as I don't have an official compost pile) and then in the spring spread it in my garden.
I put it in a clear vase in my kitchen, and when people are visiting I point to it and say "Grandma likes to watch me cook".
Blow it towards the neighbor you don't likes house....what else are you supposed to do with them?
arnash
New Member
You could probably use the ash as a cement additive. The Romans added volcanic ash to their cement to make hydraulic cement that was water-proof and would even set underwater to build harbors. But that ash was as fine as talc. Still, stove ash might be very chemically compatible with cement but I don't know anything about the chemistry involved.
I feed mine to my chickens and they lay little wooden eggs. 
Little do most people know that pellets come from bunnies.
Little do most people know that pellets come from bunnies.
The ash on white snow spead evenly will make it melt a lot faster. Try it! It really works....and great for the garden.
SAVE$ is on target here.
The ashes are acidic and should only be placed where acidic plants fluirsh.
My Blueberries love it!
The 'overall' garden does not.
Think soil, think plant.
Does your grass seed, plant or whatever growth of choice like acidic soil?
If yes, drop it there.
If not, you have lime to buy next year....
What we're burning is an acidic product.
Use it accordingly.
You have an Alkaline predominate area, you're going to love the ash!
It's going to balance out the pH!
If you live where I do, well, you spread it where it works.
Sorry it's not a simple answer...
Check your soil, see where it's needed to balance the pH.
What plants are you growing that what the extra acidity .
Spread it out!
Do it right, great results!
The ashes are acidic and should only be placed where acidic plants fluirsh.
My Blueberries love it!
The 'overall' garden does not.
Think soil, think plant.
Does your grass seed, plant or whatever growth of choice like acidic soil?
If yes, drop it there.
If not, you have lime to buy next year....
What we're burning is an acidic product.
Use it accordingly.
You have an Alkaline predominate area, you're going to love the ash!
It's going to balance out the pH!
If you live where I do, well, you spread it where it works.
Sorry it's not a simple answer...
Check your soil, see where it's needed to balance the pH.
What plants are you growing that what the extra acidity .
Spread it out!
Do it right, great results!
Pellet_OilBoy
New Member
olddawgsrule said:
I grew a 1200 pound pumpkin with lots of ashes involved last year. Ashes leach readily from the soil. You are fear mongering.
I grew a 1200 pound pumpkin with lots of ashes involved last year. Ashes leach readily from the soil. You are fear mongering.[/quote]
Pumpkins like acidic soil!
Most like neutral to slightly acidic.
See, do it right and you get great results!
Have a feeling that 1200 pounder had some other help as well..
Nice job!
Pumpkins like acidic soil!
Most like neutral to slightly acidic.
See, do it right and you get great results!
Have a feeling that 1200 pounder had some other help as well..
Nice job!
all organic...a 60 pound cabbage as well. The web has lots of people saying that ashes are bad. Sure,if you put them all in one pile. They are the people that keep the ferltilizer people in business(which may or may not contain ashes).
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/woodash.html
Again wood ash is a liming agent, too much and it interferes with plants getting their required nutrients.
Pumpkins grow best with a soil PH between 6.5 and 7.5 and will tolerate PH as high as 8.0 so pumpkins actually like neutral soil.
Adding ash to soil in New Brunswick would tend to change the PH towards a neutral state from their normal acidic state.
I don't normally grow pumpkins but I do grow squash.
Again wood ash is a liming agent, too much and it interferes with plants getting their required nutrients.
Pumpkins grow best with a soil PH between 6.5 and 7.5 and will tolerate PH as high as 8.0 so pumpkins actually like neutral soil.
Adding ash to soil in New Brunswick would tend to change the PH towards a neutral state from their normal acidic state.
I don't normally grow pumpkins but I do grow squash.
A quote from your linked article:
"Applying small amounts of wood ash to most soils will not adversely affect your garden crops, and the ash does help replenish some nutrients. But because wood ash increases soil pH, adding large amounts can do more harm than good. Keep in mind that wood ash that has been exposed to the weather, particularly rainfall, has lost a lot of its potency, including nutrients".
Are we learning anything yet? I've never seen a bunch of people who want to argue and nit-pick...and for what????
"Applying small amounts of wood ash to most soils will not adversely affect your garden crops, and the ash does help replenish some nutrients. But because wood ash increases soil pH, adding large amounts can do more harm than good. Keep in mind that wood ash that has been exposed to the weather, particularly rainfall, has lost a lot of its potency, including nutrients".
Are we learning anything yet? I've never seen a bunch of people who want to argue and nit-pick...and for what????
arnash
New Member
Ash is rich in carbon, the element that organic matter is composed of. Carbon in liquid combines with oxygen creating carbon-dioxide, which in liquid is in the form of carbonic acid, -hence the acidity. That's why carbonated beverages are so strong before they lose their carbonation as the carbon-dioxide evaporates. I wonder if you put ashes in a jar and sealed it good, would it carbonate? I suppose it would, but only to the limit of the amount of oxygen in the water
As for rain neutralizing ash sprinkled about a garden or lawn, that's what one is supposed to imitate by watering the lawn/garden when using fertilizer, so that it gets diluted and soaked into the soil.
As for rain neutralizing ash sprinkled about a garden or lawn, that's what one is supposed to imitate by watering the lawn/garden when using fertilizer, so that it gets diluted and soaked into the soil.
SmokeyTheBear said:
Interesting that the ash 'lowers' your pH.
Yet seems right if your soil pH is higher than the ash.
I've been burning wood for years and work the ash in were it's appropriate.
Mostly my berry plants and a few other wild bushes.
I'm new this year to pellets so haven't done a pH test yet to the ash.
My assumption is that it should still be close due to the same main product is being burned.
Nice to see an active forum and information being spread so freely!
olddawgsrule said:
Wood ash will raise your pH (decrease its acidity).
(broken link removed to http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/184ph.html)
The largest component of wood ash (about 25 percent) is calcium carbonate, a common liming material that increases soil alkalinity.
SmokeyTheBear said:
I happily stand corrected and thank you for the information.
I ran my pH tests and found my pellet ash neutral (slightly less than 6.8).
Not at all what I expected and contrary to last years cord-wood test.
Again, thank you for sharing the information.
Looks like I have more areas to use the ash!
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