Ashes by the Bucket Load

[Benchwrench]

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to get an idea of how much ash some of you guys go through in a burning season.
I know it's all relative.
Today was the first time emptying a stuffed 33 gallon galvanized ash can.
Expecting at least that much again before the season is over come March '17.
Roughly 75 gallons of ashes last year
Mainly burning white Ash, however this year I've got lots of oak ready for Jan and Feb.

 

[BrotherBart]

Not excessive for here with oak. Neighbor remarked when I was dumping the ash bucket back close to his property line the other day "You just piling that stuff out here?". I replied been doing it for 31 years. Please point out where I did it before? Crickets.

Of course in the "state of confusion" your mileage may vary.

 

[begreen]

Same with doug fir, very little ash. This year though it's mixed with ash so a bit more.

33 gal can is really heavy to move. I use an 11 gal can instead which handles about a year's burning.

 

[rwhite]

Wait till you try elm. I think I emptied the stove every other day the last time I had a load of that.

 

[jetsam]

I get about five gallons a month burning all pine, maybe three gallons a week burning oak and maple.

I don't know how my stove does with elm because I split a lifetime's worth of that stuff as a kid, and now I am done.

 

[jkazak]

Not sure if it has to do with the moisture content of the wood or not....or how hot you run the sove but ,yes, burning elm leaves lots of big ash chunks in my stoves. Hedge, locust and mulberry not so much ash. Also I clean out my stoves pretty much after every burn... is there something I don't understand..?

 

[webby3650]

I have a 35 gallon metal can outside the door. Once it's ful I haul it out the sink hole with the quad. I only dump it once annually.

I only clean out my stoves when there's a warmer day, typically every week and a half or 2.

 

[logfarmer]

My ash bucket is the size of a 5 gal bucket, I dump it 4x a heating season so maybe about 20 gallons of ash! I dump it in my row crop fields.

 

[wildbill7145]

Interesting thread in terms of the differences everyone experiences. I pretty much have to clean out our stove after every burn, dump ash pan every three or four days.

I've always tried to find something useful to do with the ashes, but haven't ever found anything. A friend of mine said he dumped his for a year in a particular spot in his garden. Literally nothing has ever grown in that area since. Not even weeds.

Thus, mine end up in the garbage every month or so. I put ours in an aluminum garbage can off the back deck until disposal.

 

[Lloyd the redneck]

I wonder about that ash in the garden. I'm so tempted to do it but I don't want to over do it and screw up my garden. I just put ash in the skid steer bucket and when it snows it all just gets mixed in in the piles or scattered around the driveway!

 

[velvetfoot]

I have a plastic bag in my 33 gallon metal can that I dump in cold ashes. I still have torn a bag yet when lifting it out, but that day will come.

 

[Coyoterun]

I wonder about that ash in the garden. I'm so tempted to do it but I don't want to over do it and screw up my garden. I just put ash in the skid steer bucket and when it snows it all just gets mixed in in the piles or scattered around the driveway!

Wood ashes will raise the soil pH and potassium levels. So it depends where those start out at. If your soil is low pH and low potassium then spreading wood ashes will help plant growth. If your soil starts out at high pH then you really don't want to be spreading wood ashes. And even if your soil would benefit from wood ashes, it doesn't need too much. 1-2 ton/acre will have an effect. That's only 50-100 lbs/ 1000 sq ft. That's not a lot. It's easy to see how dumping an entire season's worth on maybe 10 sq ft would come close to sterilizing that spot.

 

[Benchwrench]

Been using a 6 gal. galvanized pail (like this one) to transfer ash from the stove to just out the door. Nifty handle.
By the time it gets dumped into the main 33 gal. can, of course by that time all is cold.
Once full, it weighs roughly 150 pounds.
The 6 gal. pail is good for at least 3 good stove clean outs.
I also found modified 5 gal. paint screeds are pretty good at separating ash from embers.

 

[Poindexter]

Iget about 4 gallons of ash per cord of spruce.

Have a 35 gal galvanized trash can to catch the buckets coming out of the stove. Half full is plenty heavy for me.

As above, wood ash is very high in potassium, i use about 1/2 cup per plant when transplanting tomatoes, but they want some calcium with that.

 

[begreen]

You're growing tomatoes in Fairbanks! I'm impressed. Are they in a greenhouse?

 

[jetsam]

Not too many climate change deniers left in Alaska. That'll be where we get our peaches from someday.