![]() Wood ash is high in calcium and helps to supplement the soil to prevent this issue. Add about 1/4 cup of wood ash to each tomato planting hole and scratch it into the soil before setting out transplants.Ī tomato with blossom end rot from calcium deficiency. Eggshells and bone meal are often added to tomato planting holes to provide them with calcium, but wood ash can do the same job. Those ugly black spots on tomatoes are often the result of calcium deficiency. Our garden is always packed or undercover early in the season so I tested this method, but it might be worth a try. It makes sense, as the mineral salts in wood ash would lower the freezing point of water without harming the plant tissues as other types of salt might. I’ve heard that dusting plants with wood ash before an early light frost can help prevent frost damage. Use some rough math to calculate the volume of your pond, and then add about 1 tablespoon per 1,000 gallons of water. That in turn, slows the growth of algae in a pond. The potassium in wood ash can boost rooted aquatic plants in a pond, making them better able to compete with algae. Since wood ash contains micronutrients that plants need to thrive, it can also help strengthen aquatic plants. Stick a hand into the middle of the pile, and you’ll come out with a palm-full of hard-working worms actively converting everything into nutrient-rich compost. We’ve found that dusting a bit of wood ash on top of the pile helps keep bears and other large omnivores from digging in the scraps as well.Īfter we started adding wood ash to our compost, we noticed that it was markedly more healthy. Boost CompostĪ small amount of wood ash can help give compost piles a boost. While birds may be beautiful around a backyard compost pile, in rural areas open compost can attract bears. Since wood ash will raise the pH of soils, it’s not good for acid-loving crops like blueberries or potatoes. The University of Vermont recommends about 5 gallons of wood ash per 1,000 square feet of garden. While it doesn’t contain carbon or nitrogen, those are in ready supply from compost. ![]() Wood ash contains all the trace minerals from inside a trees wood, which are the building blocks needed for plant health. The minerals from the wood are restored to nature where they can be reused again. Using up wood ash in your yard and garden is a natural solution. That’s way too much for any single-use, so we’ve had to find creative ways to use what would otherwise be a waste product. Still, cold Vermont winters mean that we burn roughly 4 cords of hardwood each year, or 6 to 8 cords of softwood which has a lower BTU.Ī cord of hardwood produces roughly 5-8 gallons of wood ash, so that means we have around 30-40 gallons of wood ash in the spring. To save on wood (and work), we only heat our house to around 62 degrees day and night. Our homestead is relatively small by modern standards (~1200 sq feet) and the walls are nearly a foot thick and super-insulated. Looking for free garden fertilizer? Natural pest control? Stain and odor removers? Wood ash can do that! While some of these uses are merely a historical curiosity, many are still incredibly useful in our modern world. Our ancestors wouldn’t have invented soap without wood ash lye…the list goes on. Long before baking soda was discovered, wood ash based leveners allowed for holiday cookies. Wood ash was a precious asset, used for food preservation, gardening, pottery, pest control, and even cosmetics. While you may be hard-pressed to think of uses for wood ash in a modern home, historically it was used in many different creative ways. ![]() ![]() If you’re heating with wood, there’s always plenty of wood ash to go around.
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