Homemade fertilizer question; wood ash...

[nao57]

So according to the link below, a lot of tree wood ash, or wood ash would be a basic fertilizer of (0-1-3)N-P-K ratio. This is very interesting. It means, you can use campfire ash as a fertilizer. And you make up the difference with grass clippings which are mostly N, but nothing else. So you have them together and it works out.

https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2279e/#nutrients

However... I just wondered... if grass is mostly N and nothing else, and tree wood is 0-1-3 then other plants would have different ratios. Therefore; would evergreen trees and normal deciduous trees have different NPK ratios (for fertilizer usage when turned to ash)?

Curious what you think on this. I'm guessing its slightly different but maybe not completely different.

 

[Debbie292d]

I wondered too so went searching and found something that could be relative...the soil beneath these trees. According to this study, there's not much difference.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22834386/

 

[Chris2018]

Wood Ash has been used as a soil amendment for thousands of years and the available nutrients can vary for tree and from species to species but generally, wood ash contains less than 10 percent potassium, 1 percent phosphate and trace amounts of micro-nutrients such as iron, manganese, boron, copper and zinc but it also contains trace amounts of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, nickel and chromium. The largest component of Wood Ash (about 25 percent) is calcium carbonate and increasing the alkalinity of the soil does affect plant nutrition uptake. Nutrients are most readily available to plants when the soil is slightly acidic (6.5). As soil alkalinity increases and the pH rises above 7.0, nutrients such as phosphorus, iron, boron, manganese, copper, zinc and potassium become chemically tied to the soil and less available for plant use. With that being said I do use Wood Ash as an amendment (not a fertilizer) and with Wood Ash having such a high pH content I use it mostly when the soil pH is blow 7.0 and along with Langbeinite, Azomite, Garden Gypsum, and Dolomite Lime.

 

[nao57]

Wood Ash has been used as a soil amendment for thousands of years and the available nutrients can vary for tree and from species to species but generally, wood ash contains less than 10 percent potassium, 1 percent phosphate and trace amounts of micro-nutrients such as iron, manganese, boron, copper and zinc but it also contains trace amounts of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, nickel and chromium. The largest component of Wood Ash (about 25 percent) is calcium carbonate and increasing the alkalinity of the soil does affect plant nutrition uptake. Nutrients are most readily available to plants when the soil is slightly acidic (6.5). As soil alkalinity increases and the pH rises above 7.0, nutrients such as phosphorus, iron, boron, manganese, copper, zinc and potassium become chemically tied to the soil and less available for plant use. With that being said I do use Wood Ash as an amendment (not a fertilizer) and with Wood Ash having such a high pH content I use it mostly when the soil pH is blow 7.0 and along with Langbeinite, Azomite, Garden Gypsum, and Dolomite Lime.

Thank you both for posting.

A few years ago there was a japanese researcher who posted findings that sunflowers would absorb nuclear radiation in an area, and contain it. I believe that accounts for why you'd find trees with heavy metals under them. They probably absorb some of it as a natural process in nature. Its kind of cool to think about, how nature has a specific process for how the land heals itself. At least, it would work that way as long as the chemical contamination, etc doesn't reach a critical point.

 

[Sally PB]

The largest component of Wood Ash (about 25 percent) is calcium carbonate and increasing the alkalinity of the soil does affect plant nutrition uptake.

I have a wood stove, and we burn a lot of wood for heat. I always have ashes available.

One year, I decided to spread them around in my garden. I was scooping them out of a bucket and flinging them around in what I thought was a fairly even broadcast. Nope.

I had planted alfalfa or rye that fall as a cover crop. The next spring, I could see lines of lighter green in the plants when I stood on the hill and looked down at the garden. The alfalfa or rye in the places where the ash was thicker never grew as well.

I use a small amount of ash when I mix up my own potting soil. About a dry quart in what ends up being 1/4-1/3 cubic yard.

 

[Chris2018]

The alfalfa or rye in the places where the ash was thicker never grew as well.

Thicker in what way, as in the leaves were thicker?

 

[Sally PB]

Where I'd spilled too much ash, there were fewer alfalfa plants, and they didn't grow as well.

 

[Chris2018]

Where I'd spilled too much ash, there were fewer alfalfa plants, and they didn't grow as well.

Most likely it raised the pH of the soil to an unfavorable level of seed germination.

 

[Chris2018]

Thank you both for posting.

A few years ago there was a japanese researcher who posted findings that sunflowers would absorb nuclear radiation in an area, and contain it. I believe that accounts for why you'd find trees with heavy metals under them. They probably absorb some of it as a natural process in nature. Its kind of cool to think about, how nature has a specific process for how the land heals itself. At least, it would work that way as long as the chemical contamination, etc doesn't reach a critical point.

Trees and plants in general can have resilient to the intense radiation and this can be seen at Chemobyl. A plant takes in radiation through its Leaves, Roots and Tissue and then the radiation is seen in the chlorophyl of the plant, although most plant has this ability some like the Sunflower, Aloe, Fiddle Leaf Fig, Mustard Greens do it me effetely.

 

[nao57]

Trees and plants in general can have resilient to the intense radiation and this can be seen at Chemobyl. A plant takes in radiation through its Leaves, Roots and Tissue and then the radiation is seen in the chlorophyl of the plant, although most plant has this ability some like the Sunflower, Aloe, Fiddle Leaf Fig, Mustard Greens do it me effetely.

Interesting. I didn't know that mustard greens and alooe also could do it! What happens when the radiation is in the chlorophyl? What would that look like? I don't know about fiddle leaf figs but Mustard Greens and Aloe are in my area.