Using wood ashes
Like lime and fertilizer, wood
and coal ashes can be used on your
garden, but they must be used
properly to be effective.
Wood ashes contain alkaline
elements such as calcium,
magnesium and potassium all
valuable plant nutrients. Because
of their high alkalinity, wood ashes
are also effective in neutralizing
acid soil, according to Extension
soil specialist Leo Cotnoir.
But there are some problems
related to using ashes also.
For one thing, wood and coal
ashes are different.' Coal ashes
have little fertilizer value and may
even leave undesirable residue
such as selenium, which could
accumulate in plants. So use coal
ashes in your muddy driveway, or
put a little in your clay soil to help
improve its physical properties.
Wood ashes are strongly alkaline
(pH 11-13) as compared to ground
limestone (pH ft-6.5). Also they’re
water soluble as compared to
ground limestone, which is water
insoluble and can be used even on
foliage without barm. For this
reason, wood ashes must always
be used on soil because they will
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injure plant leaves, as chemical
fertilizer does.
Just as you can use too much
lime especially on sandy garden
soils so you can get into trouble
with wood ashes. Their acid
neutralizing capability ranges
form nearly equal to ground
limestone when fresh and dry, to
only 50 percent as effective when
damp or stored exposed to air. But
keep in mind the difference in
speed of action. Wood ashes
behave like chemical fertilizer,
while limestone takes effect over a
year or more. Incidentally, says
Cotnoir, never use ashes around
acid-loving plants like azaleas or
rhododendrons.
Ashes vary greatly in com
position, depending on the kind of
wood burned, the type of stove, and
how they’re stored. Hardwoods
such as maple, hickory, apple and
even birch have more nutrients per
cord of wood. Airtight stoves
burning at higher temperatures
eliminate more of the carbon that
otherwise ends up as a dilutent in
the ash. Stored ashes pick up both
carbon dioxide and water vapor
from the air if left exposed. So it’s
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The general rules for using wood
ashes call for applying either 20
pounds of fresh dry ash or 50
pounds of open-stored ash per 1,000
square feet of garden. (Twenty
pounds of dry ash is approximately
five quarts.)
Don’t use ashes on your plot
unless a soil test indicates a need
for liming, cautions Cotnoir. Apply
them so they can be mixed with the
soil during seedbed preparation
This will dilute them for greater
safety.
Ashes can also be used around
cabbage plants, as you would
sidedress fertilizer, to help ward
off clubroot disease The same
practice may help keep cutworms
and slugs away from stems of
tomatoes, peppers, and other
transplants
Ashes are versatile and
valuable, says Cotnoir. In early
days they were worth 10 to 15 cents
per bushel and were sometimes
used in lieu of scarce cash. They
were refined into potash and pearl
ash for export to Edropc for
making soap. Ashes were also used
for glass making, bleaching and
probably for insect control. —DK
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An avid gardener and noted
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stitutes, municipalities, public
gardens and landscape architects.
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Massachusetts Horticultural
Society. In 1979 he received the
North American Lily Society’s
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plants. In 1977 he received the
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The Arthur Hoyt Scott Garden
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Hyde Bailey, plant taxonomist,
profile author, and former dean of
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John Wister, authority on her
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