Thursday 13 November 2014

Wood Ash: Natural Fertiliser for the Ecological Garden/Farm

In this blog post, we will explore the benefits and uses of wood ash as a natural source of potassium fertilizer and pH raiser for your garden. Wood ash is an excellent way to keep soil pH at optimal levels and provide essential nutrients to your plants. We will also provide some tips on how to use wood ash effectively in your garden and things to consider before applying it to your soil. So if you're looking for a natural and affordable way to improve your soil quality, read on! 

Wood Ash: Potassium Fertiliser 

Ash from wood fires, such as bonfires or wood burning stoves, provide a natural source of potassium (K) and other trace elements. Potassium is a major plant nutrient associated with flowering and fruiting. The levels of potassium in ash will vary depending on the age of the wood that was burnt; young wood from pruning will have higher potassium content than older, thicker branches.


Wood Ash: Raising  pH

Soil pH is the measure of the acidity (sourness) or alkalinity (sweetness) of a soil. A simple numerical scale is used to express pH. The scale goes from 0.0 to 14.0, with 0.0 being most acidic, and 14.0 being most alkaline. The value, 7.0 is neutral - i.e., neither acid or alkaline.

Applying wood ash to your soil will raise the pH, reducing the acidity of soils. The majority of vegetables grow best in soils with a pH of 6.5, so testing the level before adding the ash is recommended so as not to raise the pH too much (greater than pH 7.0). However, where club root is present, wood ash can be used to raise the pH to as much as 7.5 to inhibit this disease and still provide good conditions for plant growth.
Intensive vegetable production tends to push soils to the acidic side of the scale, so the addition of ash can help to keep pH at optimal levels whilst providing essential nutrients to your plants.

Most fruits perform best in slightly acidic soil so be aware of the current soil pH and optimal pH of your fruits before applying ash. High pH can be detrimental to acid loving fruits such as blueberries and cranberries. Below is a list of optimal pH ranges for some common fruits and vegetables.  

Table showing optimal pH range for Fruits and Vegetables 

Want to learn more about Regenerative Landscape Design? Join The Bloom Room!

The Bloom Room is designed to create a space for more in-depth learning, for sharing projects and ideas, for seeking advice and discovering opportunities.

Ultimately, it aims to build a more intimate, interactive, and actionable relationship between members, a way for the Bloom Room community to support each other’s projects and learning journeys, and to encourage and facilitate the design, build, and management of more regenerative landscapes across our planet.

What you can expect as a member of the Bloom Room

As a member of the Bloom Room you can expect;

  • Access to an interactive forum where you can ask questions,  direct what type of content you would like to see as well as share your own content and projects.

  • Monthly live session featuring general Q&A and tutorials on design software for creating and presenting polycultures.

  • Live session every month for members to showcase your projects, plans, designs, and gardens, with guest speakers from the community.

  • Full Access to all of the content on Substack

  • Future opportunities to join our Global Regenerative Landscape Design and Consultancy Service, with potential roles for those with the will and skill to join our design team.

  • An opportunity to take part in the group ownership of a Regenerative Landscape. You will find more details on that here.

Become a paid subscriber to our Substack to join. The annual subscription is currently $70 and the monthly subscription is $7 (monthly subscription excludes discounts for products and services) . You can join herewe look forward to meeting you!


When to use wood ash

If applying wood ash directly to soils, do this in the winter and rake or dig it in lightly to allow the compounds in the ash (which could scorch plants) to react with the moist soil and be rendered harmless before spring sowing or planting.

You can use wood ash in your compost piles at anytime of the year, applying a sprinkling on top of every 15 cm of material. Heavier use risks the presence of high levels of alkalinity and soluble salts which could damage both plants and the soil.

Wood ash can also be used to reduce the acidity in a worm farm. Worms dislike acidic conditions and prefer neutral pH (7). They will stop breeding and start to migrate from the farm if acidic conditions persist. How much ash you use is determined by the size of your worm farm  and the current pH. Having a pH reader and experimenting with quantities of ash is a good way to maintain optimal conditions in the worm farm.  

Welcome to our Online Store where you can find Forest Garden/ Permaculture plants, seeds, bulbs and Polyculture multi-packs along with digital goods and services such as Online Courses, Webinars, eBooks, and Online Consultancy.  We hope you enjoy the store and find something you like :) It's your purchases that keep our Project going. Yuu can also find our full list of trees. shrubs and herbs for forest gardens on our website here 

How to use wood ash

Wood ash can be spread directly on soil in the vegetable garden in late winter at a rate of 50-70 g per sq m; Fork in, rake over or add to chicken tractors and the chickens will work it into the soil for you. It may be useful to sieve the ash before use to remove debris.

Where wood ash is applied frequently to the vegetable plots, it is worthwhile to use a pH test kit to monitor changes in pH and prevent levels rising over pH 7.5
Never leave wood ash in the rain, as the potassium (a useful plant nutrient for flowers and fruit) is in a soluble form and is easily leached out
Apply wood ash in small amounts to the compost heap where, once mixed in, it will blend readily with other materials. As a general guide, you should not be able to identify it after mixing it into the compost.

Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course 

Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes?  Join us on our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course. We look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity.

You can find the course details here and at the moment we have a $350 ( 20%) discount for full enrollment to the course. Just use RLD2024 in the promo code  section of the registration form to receive your discount. 


Things to consider 

  • Avoid using too much wood ash as an excess in alkalinity can be detrimental to some plants.
  • Avoid using ash from treated timber as they may contain potentially harmful residues.
  • Avoid using wood ash on areas where potatoes are to be grown the following spring, as the alkaline conditions can encourage potato scab
  • Ash from coal or anthracite has little or no nutritional benefit and is potentially harmful to soil, plants and consumers of edible produce. 
  • Ash from lump wood charcoal can be used as recommended for wood ashes.

Support Our Project 

If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.

  • Become a member of the Bloom RoomA $70 annual or $7 per month subscription to our Substack provides you with access to live sessions, design tutorials, a members forum and more, see details here.

  • Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Nursery or Online Store 

  • Joining us for one of our Practical Courses or Online Courses

  • Comment, like, and share our content on social media.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture, forest gardens and regenerative landscapes including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March. - Give a happy plant a happy home :)


Our Bio-Nursery - Permaculture/Polyculture/ Regenerative Landscape Plants