I spread it out in the garden. Lime, potassium and some other trace minerals. I don't think it's a terribly strong fertilizer and yet if you leave a rather heavy dusting it can actually act like a pre-emergent herbicide. Chickweed doesn't like it. Might be the lime but that's a WAG. I've tried it in the lawn because moss isn't supposed to like the lime but I must have used too little on it.
Good on ice to improve traction in the winter.. also good at absorbing the sun’s energy when spread on snow to help spring come earlier... One thing to be mindful of is the potential for harmful substances in the ash... I visited the wood fired power plant in Westminster, MA in the mid 90’s. They were burning wood chips from Maine to New Jersey. They used to mix the ash with chicken manure and sell it as fertilizer. At some point the ash was tested and it was discovered that the ash had a high lead content. What they figured out was that the chips coming from New Jersey had somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 times as much lead in them as those coming from Maine. They deduced at the time that decades of burning leaded gasoline in more densely populated state caused the forests to be contaminated with significant amounts of lead. Instead of making money selling fertilizer, they ended up having to pay $100 per ton to send the ash to a landfill... Now that we are on the subject, different plants take up lead from the soil at different rates. If you’re burning wood from an area that has been developed for quite some time, you might think twice about whether or not you want to use the ash as an additive to your vegetable garden..
I dont have a garden, and only two trees on my actual property. Ashes either get tossed into the seasonal brook out back, or once cooled, I dump them into a sealed up box and bring em to the transfer station
Hardwood ashes are great source of potash with other trace minerals. Spread on lawn, garden, around trees,
All good advice above! Another use is to sprinkle liberally around the base of your house/outbuildings, helps keep ants and other critters away. Also good where slugs congregate.
I am not having the usual slug problem in the garden I spread all last Winter's wood ashes that I have in the past. I do have slugs this year though because some pots I grow some lettuce and radishes in and that are usually pest free were ravished by slugs. Always something.
We have dumped a bucket full into the chicken run, to make a dust bath for them to roll around in. Havn't made up our minds if we like it or not..
Thought I posted this yesterday. Guess I forgot to click on Post Reply. Senior moment? We use it in our gardens and food plots as poor man's fertilizer. Here is a website devoted to wood ashes. 60+ Uses for Wood Ash
