Ashes for lime???

[Goose]

I was recently told that you can use your ashes from your wood burner as a substitute of lime.
We are gonna be putting in some small plots this spring and I was thinking of trying this.
I get plenty of ashes because we heat our house with wood and if I can utilize them I'm thinking why not?
Anyone else heard of this?
 
P.S.- I was also told to keep a bucket of ashes in the back of my truck because it is a great traction tool if you get stuck.

[msbadger]

Yes goose it does decrease the acidity of soil at about the same rate as lime per ton....you need to keep the ash completely dri before appling due to it's rapid leaching when wet....remember it's the same # to #......50# of wood ash is alot of wood ash[;)]

[shaman]

There are problems. msbadger said it-- 50# of ash is a lot of ash.

You've got a lot of bulk. You also  have a lot of reactivity-- water + ash = lye. It also is light and flies away as you spread it. You need a lot to do a plot. 

It's also a good source of . . .well, potash (Potassium).  I spread it in my yard at the dripline of my trees.  They seem to love it.  I have a couple soft maples and a catalpa that have been rejuvinated as a result of a diet of ash in the winter.  I also have a pin oak that's turning into a monster.     I haven't thought about it before, but I could probably feed the oaks around my stand with it too.

The other big DIY fertilizer is extremely close at hand and is a ready source of nitrogen.  It also gives a whole new meaning to "DIY."  Again, if you saved enough of it and spread it on your plots, the results would be spectacular.  The problem with this, as well as the ash, is that they're both a little icky to handle.  I pipe mine straight out into the pasture behind the house and  you can see the results in all the green forbes that grow at the end of the pipe. I just wish I could figure an easy way to pipe it out to my clover plots.

[Goose]

Thanks, i suppose it would be a lot of work for little reward. Makes sense and thanks for your input maybe Ill use it on our flower beds instead!

[danesdad]

I cant imagine how much wood you would need to burn to generate 50 pounds of ash.

[vipermann7]

sometimes farmers are more than happy to spread a little "natural" fertilizer if you have an area that they can access. they use it for their crops, but they usually have plenty to spare. a farmer down the road does that for me, he's really nice about it, and I barely know him. they gotta spread the stuff anyway, so many dont mind. the guys that empty septic tanks are always looking for places to empty their trucks, i'm sure you can hit one of those guys up and they can spray a couple truck loads on a plot area, again, assuming they can access it.

[shaman]

vipermann7:
Are you sure of that?  I'm not trying to dispute you, but I had always figured the EPA and the County would get after both you and the owner of the honey wagon. I figured that would be dumping.  I had to work fairly closely with the safety director at the last place I worked; everything down to dirty mop water had to be disposed of properly. I always figured the honey truck had to discharge at the local sewage treatment plant or treat it themselves.

As I said, I'm just asking.  If it is the case, I'm sure I could get one of those guys to use my place and dump in one of my pastures every once in a while and then just not go over that direction for 6 months or so.

What I was always looking for was either a pig farmer or a chicken farmer-- now that's intense stuff!  Smelly, but good.  I used to hunt a farm where the guy would empty his pig pens out into a field.  One day I went out to hunt and their was a 10 foot pile of hog out in the middle of the field. It was in the low 30's and that pile was steaming like it was on fire. I was about 200 yards away and the wind shifted.  Yikes!!!-- enough to knock a buzzard out of the sky.

[Goose]

Vipermann7 is right. One of the spots I hunt gets regular dumping's if you will from septic tanks. maybe I ll ask him the next time I run into him.

[howhill1]

weve used "natural" fertilizer from our corn and hay fed cattle for as long as i can remember and much longer.

[shaman]

Thanks guys.  Us recycled city guys don't know how all the rules translate once you get outside the beltway.