What to do with Ash..

[Jay H]

I've got a ton of ash from my wood fires running around. I've heard that they can be useful (to some degree) in a garden but I obviously have way more than I could use in my plants... Is it bad to toss them in the woods? Right now, I'm tossing them with the regular trash, but open to ideas to what all of you do with the ashes... Maybe I'll put it on Craigslist... people give away anything..

Jay

 

[tw40x81]

Thus far I've been spreading it on the lawn. It raises your soil PH, so it good fertilizer if you have acidic soil and it needs to be raised. At least that's what I've read so far. I've got acidic well water, so I'm thinking the soil's a bit acidic too. The area that I'm adding it to is god awful nutrient poor subsoil that was removed when I had the septic redone. This is the first year that I've been putting it on the lawn like this, so I'll let you know if my grass is brown, and my trees are dead in the summer.

 

[Homefire]

Seem you could store it trash bags and mix it in the soil
in the spring as you tend your lawn or garden.
Do you get more than 4 or 5 galons of ash per cord of
wood burned?

 

[burntime]

I end up dumping mine on the side of the road on the snow after they are cooled. Ends up a win/win. More traction and I don't need to deal with them. I should add I live in a rural community so no one complains. I used to dump them in the garden until I found that the soil balance was way off and the tomatoes were getting dark spots and would rot before they ripened. This is very common with (acidic?) soils per the garden gurus at the local colleges.

 

[Roospike]

Some goes in the garden , some goes in the flower beds the rest of the bulk go to the wood lot where i cut wood.

 

[Jay H]

I don't know how much ash per cord I'm getting, it's my first season with my stove. I've always just chuked the ash in with the trash but I got a large cat liter bucket that I put cold ash in and yesterday I dumped the full can into a garbage bag. I sprinkled some on my "garden"* but without proper measuring tools of the pH, I'm reluctant to just go willy nilly and dumping ash here and there.

Jay

*Garden is a loose term, I think I have some flowers growing there but I'm no green thumb, I much rather be out hiking, climbing, or kayaking than spend time in my "garden" so whatever grows....grows!

Jay

 

[stoveguy2esw]

tossing it in the woods (if you have more than you can use elsewhere is a sound practice (provided you are certain its cold and out) figure it this way, forest fires do the same thing , and the forest when it comes back is better off for the nutrients put back in the soil from the origional fire

 

[wg_bent]

I toss mine on the front lawn. Just make sure it's cool. Hot coals can stay burning for days.

 

[Roospike]

Some goes in the garden , some goes in the flower beds the rest of the bulk go to the wood lot where i cut wood.

Just to elaborate on the ash in the woods .........

I put all my ash in a 55 gallon drum through the winter and i wait 1 month after my last wood stove fire before loading up the drum of ash and out to the woods , i toss the ash around per a 2 gallon bucket over a wide area until the 55 gallon drum is empty.

 

[sgcsalsero]

My wife told me putting down ash at the base of plants cuts down on slugs . .

 

[Jay H]

tossing it in the woods (if you have more than you can use elsewhere is a sound practice (provided you are certain its cold and out) figure it this way, forest fires do the same thing , and the forest when it comes back is better off for the nutrients put back in the soil from the origional fire

Hey, sounds reasonable.. I, myself, don't have a lot of property (1/3 acre) but I am next to a county park with woods and stuff, I can spread it out in there... I hate tossing them in the trash as it's not doing much in some landfill....

Jay

 

[Gark]

Ashes-
Living on a country road (or a long driveway) in snow country solves that problem. Just today I spread 2 sheetrock pails of the stuff on the icy gravel road for traction. It also thaws the ice/snow somewhat. Found that a little goes a long way in the garden. Too much at once seems to shock the soil and some vegetables (tomatoes, gr.peppers) hurt for a year although broccolli loves it. Go figure.

 

[tnroadkill]

people use to make lye out of ashes to make homemade soap
mine goes in garden

 

[cbrodsky]

I was reluctant to put it out in the woods as those soils tend to be somewhat naturally acidic, and I didn't want to disturb that. However, when you then add acid rain in the northeast, a little ash to raise the pH back up to where it should be is a great thing. At least that's what someone convinced me last year, so I took my 5 grocery bags full of ash and tossed them around an acre in a giant cloud of ash dust during a light rain.