So --- What do you do with the ash?

[velotocht]

I have a 5 gallon metal bucket in which I collect the ash from the trays in my Whitfield. I average about two buckets (10 gallons) per tone of pellets. I expect this is about the normal accumulation rate. ?

But here's a question: What shoudl I do with the ash?

My neighbor suggested that I just spread it on the lawn - which is what I've been doing for the last 5+ years. He said ash is bascially caustic ... and therefore good for the grass around pine trees. So I did some experimentation - dumping around the pines one year and on the open (healthy) grass another year -- in the shaded areas a third year and, after all my testing, I concluded the ash does nothing good or bad for the lawn! BTW, I live in Dutchess county NY, where we've had record snow fall this year.

Anyone else done this kind of testing? What do you do with your ash?

RonB

 

[B-Mod]

Lawn...........

 

[imacman]

Garden/lawn/compost pile

 

[ivanhoe]

on my snowy inclined driveway!

 

[emmelch1]

I fill in sink holes in My back yard.

 

[soupy1957]

good idea emmelch1...........never thought of that.

-Soupy1957

 

[hossthehermit]

Driveway slope

 

[wazilian]

I take mine up to my wife's grandmother's farm where they use it for fertilizer for the fields.

 

[tinkabranc]

I spread the ashes out in the flower garden in the spring.

 

[DBCOOPER]

I'm not to far from the coast, maybe 70 miles straight line, so I take them in my airplane and release them out over the Atlantic after saying a few words.

 

[velotocht]

Cooper: Spreading over the ocean ... how very serene of you!


So does anyone know the good - or bad - effects of dumping them on the lawn? I have seen no effect either way.

RonB

 

[Heaterhunter]

Driveway slope

Hoss,
Does it melt the ice as effectively as salt? How about the mess? Probably just a driveway thing and not so much a walkway thing huh? :-/

 

[ChrisWNY]

Stove ash more or less acts like sand in a driveway, but it does help melt snow when the Sun is out due to its dark color. I use my stove ash for fertilizer around ornamental trees, gardens, and on the lawn, so I've been dumping it outside every couple of weeks.

 

[Turbo-Quad]

Fill in the holes in the yard that they mutt dug.

 

[nailed_nailer]

I dump mine on top of the compost pile.

I Turn it over each year and it gets mixed in.

The Compost makes my tomatoes and cucumbers happy .

---Nailer---

 

[Xena]

There's a hole in the 3 feet of snow in the approximate
location of the flower bed in my yard. That's where the
ashes go.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

I just hurl the stuff out into the woods behind the house.

Also depends on which way the wind is a blowing.

Snowy

 

[save$]

I have a 5 gallon metal bucket in which I collect the ash from the trays in my Whitfield. I average about two buckets (10 gallons) per tone of pellets. I expect this is about the normal accumulation rate. ?

But here's a question: What shoudl I do with the ash?

My neighbor suggested that I just spread it on the lawn - which is what I've been doing for the last 5+ years. He said ash is bascially caustic ... and therefore good for the grass around pine trees. So I did some experimentation - dumping around the pines one year and on the open (healthy) grass another year -- in the shaded areas a third year and, after all my testing, I concluded the ash does nothing good or bad for the lawn! BTW, I live in Dutchess county NY, where we've had record snow fall this year.

Anyone else done this kind of testing? What do you do with your ash?

RonB

Wood ash is Alkaline, and "Wood ash should never be used on acid-loving plants." Pine trees are acid loving plants as are most any other evergreen. from http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/woodash.html This university article will explain wood ash's useful purpose in gardening. Here in the north east, we have very acid soil. One of the reasons blueberries do so well. The wood ash help adjust the soil's PH to Neutral, which is 6.6 to 6.9 Test your soil, less than 6.6 is acid, more than 6.9 is alkaline, sweet. So for most circumstances, adding ash in the north east will help bring the soil back to neutral which is a good mix for most plants. Wood ash has a good combination of other minerals good for plant growth and needs to be replenished where harvesting is done. Open soil has its nutrients easily leached out. Soil testing kits are available where most garden supplies are sold. Testing for Ph alone is usually inexspensive. Remember that soil is slow to respond to Ph adjustment, so don't over add ash or your PH may continue to climb and the soil become toxic to some plants. It is doubtful that the ash from one stove will have more than a modest impact on your soil's PH unless you dump your ashes in the same area each time. I like to spread a ring of ash aound newly planed seedling. Many stem and leaf chewing insects and slugs don't like abrasive ash. Just rememer, following a rain, put another light dusting around your plants .

 

[hossthehermit]

Driveway slope

Hoss,
Does it melt the ice as effectively as salt? How about the mess? Probably just a driveway thing and not so much a walkway thing huh? :-/

No, it doesn't melt ice as well as salt, don't give as much traction as sand, and don't use it on the walk close to the house, it sticks to your boots and tracks in worse than sand, if you're a married man you won't be much longer. All that bein' said, ya got it right there, it's free, ya gotta get rid of it somewhere, it doesn't hurt the environment, it does help the meltin' 'cuz it's dark, and if ya put it in the driveway ya don't hafta walk thru the deep snow. Spread it thin, just kinda dust it on.

 

[velotocht]

Wood ash is Alkaline, and "Wood ash should never be used on acid-loving plants." Pine trees are acid loving plants as are most any other evergreen. from http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/woodash.html This university article will explain wood ash's useful purpose in gardening. Here in the north east, we have very acid soil. One of the reasons blueberries do so well. The wood ash help adjust the soil's PH to Neutral, which is 6.6 to 6.9 Test your soil, less than 6.6 is acid, more than 6.9 is alkaline, sweet. So for most circumstances, adding ash in the north east will help bring the soil back to neutral which is a good mix for most plants. Wood ash has a good combination of other minerals good for plant growth and needs to be replenished where harvesting is done. Open soil has its nutrients easily leached out. Soil testing kits are available where most garden supplies are sold. Testing for Ph alone is usually inexspensive. Remember that soil is slow to respond to Ph adjustment, so don't over add ash or your PH may continue to climb and the soil become toxic to some plants. It is doubtful that the ash from one stove will have more than a modest impact on your soil's PH unless you dump your ashes in the same area each time. I like to spread a ring of ash aound newly planed seedling. Many stem and leaf chewing insects and slugs don't like abrasive ash. Just rememer, following a rain, put another light dusting around your plants .

Save$
THanks for the pointers on soil treatment. Please note, I don't use the wood ash 'on' the pine trees - but sprinkle it on the grass around the pine trees. The grass does not like the acidic nature of the pine needle that - so I'm expecting the higher PH of the ash to offset some of the soil impact of the acidic pine trees. As I said, I tried sprinkling the ash under one group of pine trees but not the other. So far I haven't noted any difference.

Take care.

 

[forya]

I dump it into a backyard fireplace pit, and the rain/snow wash it into the lawn. My neighbor just dumps it into the road and lets traffic spread it into the world.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Wood ash is Alkaline, and "Wood ash should never be used on acid-loving plants." Pine trees are acid loving plants as are most any other evergreen. from http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/woodash.html This university article will explain wood ash's useful purpose in gardening. Here in the north east, we have very acid soil. One of the reasons blueberries do so well. The wood ash help adjust the soil's PH to Neutral, which is 6.6 to 6.9 Test your soil, less than 6.6 is acid, more than 6.9 is alkaline, sweet. So for most circumstances, adding ash in the north east will help bring the soil back to neutral which is a good mix for most plants. Wood ash has a good combination of other minerals good for plant growth and needs to be replenished where harvesting is done. Open soil has its nutrients easily leached out. Soil testing kits are available where most garden supplies are sold. Testing for Ph alone is usually inexspensive. Remember that soil is slow to respond to Ph adjustment, so don't over add ash or your PH may continue to climb and the soil become toxic to some plants. It is doubtful that the ash from one stove will have more than a modest impact on your soil's PH unless you dump your ashes in the same area each time. I like to spread a ring of ash aound newly planed seedling. Many stem and leaf chewing insects and slugs don't like abrasive ash. Just rememer, following a rain, put another light dusting around your plants .

Save$
THanks for the pointers on soil treatment. Please note, I don't use the wood ash 'on' the pine trees - but sprinkle it on the grass around the pine trees. The grass does not like the acidic nature of the pine needle that - so I'm expecting the higher PH of the ash to offset some of the soil impact of the acidic pine trees. As I said, I tried sprinkling the ash under one group of pine trees but not the other. So far I haven't noted any difference.

Take care.

It will take quite a while and likely a lot of the ash to affect a well established tree and normally one would consider applying ash around a tree as using the ash on the tree (it is a very old, even if imprecise, use of the language).

 

[Don2222]

Garden

 

[perchin]

So—- What do you do with the ash?

clean it out of my stove.

 

[jtakeman]

Lawn, garden, flower beds, driveway die icer, compost pile and spreading on the moss that appears. Burns it like lime.