Woodash is in plentiful supply in hearths especially in rural areas where the use of firewood is in plentiful supply. Woodash, otherwise known as potash can be spread in gardens in place of lime which contains valuable nutrients which are absorbed by plants to aid in their growth. And it is absolutely cheap.
We have always used wood ash to advantage. We now have a rule here not to burn dry garbage. We will now put that dry garbage in our compost pits that were meant for wet garbage. We may have to get more pits as we get a lot of dry leaves
I know wood-ash was used for different purposes like pesticide and fertilizer to a great extent in the past but as the burning of wood has been banned and made a punishable offend as it increases smog. The wood in our country is a rare commodity which is used mainly for paper manufacturing unlike in the past when it was used as fire-wood in rural areas. Now most of the houses have natural gas. Incidentally the ash is a good additive used for manufacturing cement and roads.
Yes I understand that wood ash can serve as fertilizer to the soil. They form potash which is rich in potassium. Potassium is one the main elements of a very good fertilizer. There is this popular fertilizer NPK which is known to be the best form of fertilizer for plants. The K symbol there is the potassium in combination with nitrogen and phophorus
I had heard of it, but I never tried it. Is it really effective? Is there any special "trick" in the way you use it? I can't imagine wood ashes working normally in that case.
@Ray1 I didn't know wood ash is good to be used for pesticide. I have heard about the wood ash being good as fertilizer. Burning is banned in my country as well. I have read that sawdust is good for our garden too. So whenever I cut some woods, I just put the dust in the soil.
@kaka135 burning wood is banned for different reasons in most countries now. One, it increases pollution which causes smog 2. Burning wood for cooking purpose in rural areas cause health hazards, 3. Burning wood for any purpose causes jungle fires. In developed countries all spare wood cut from the trees is cut into very small pieces and spread on ground in city area which helps keep dust level down and reduce pollution.
@Ray1 I only knew it causes air pollution, but I can still see some people here doing so. I am not sure if there is no better way to get rid of the garbage, or they need the wood ash for fertilizing the garden. Jungle fires is a major issue to my country as well. I believe there are still many better ways to generate fertilizer for our plants.
There is a new rule here not to burn dry garbage. Gardeners and property owner are now left with issues to deal with. I have decided to add that to the wet garbage and make compost. The only problem is that I will have to have larger and many pits. There is no end to dropping of dry leaves in our property.
@Log In So you are not allowed to have chimneys and barbecue grill? Commercial charcoal is also a good source of ash. I use coconut shells as firewood. It is similar to wood but I do it in a barbecue grill with cover.
I never used Woodash, in fact, is the first time I'm hearing about this. Of course, it is cheap, we can find it to those who burn wood, most of my neighbors use a wood stove, and I am sure that if I will ask them they will give me some wood ash. I will try it the next year, thanks for sharing, this was a good info!
@Beast_Titan we are very much allowed and use chimney and BBQ but as far burning remains of plants in fields is concerned that certainly is not for the reasons best known to all, the smog. As far BBQ and chimneys are concerned the electric version has already outclassed coal and wood types besides very few now use those classical charcoal and wood type anymore.
The point of barbecue though is to have the smoky flavor. Electric grills cannot achieve the smokey flavor. Coconut shells can be used to produce charcoals. No tree is killed with that.
Coconut is not available in all parts of our country especially in North (Himalayan Area) where I come from so we depend mostly on coal while using BBQ outside in lawn. I agree with you ,BBQ is all about a unique taste that is not possible on electrical BBQ.
Wood ash is certainly a good source of potassium for plants, especially for fruit plants. It helps them flowering and set fruits. It also contains many micro nutrients that are required for its speedy growth. I usually mix it with cow dung which is a perfect source of almost all plant nutrients. Cow dung provides nitrogen and phosphorus and at the same time wood ash is an excellent source of potassium. So that makes it a complete fertilizer. If we put wood ash on plant leaves and stem it also keeps some pests away. So it can also act as a natural pest control medium. During rainy season just put some wood ash and during rain it blend quite well with soil.
