Here is a link to many previous discussions on the question. You might want to browse through them.

Wood ash is highly alkaline and contains no nutrients per se. Limited use of it IF you know for sure that you have very acidic soil can be beneficial in temporarily altering the soil ph for a brief period thereby making other nutrients in the soil more available to the plants.

But too much of it in the garden soil or in the compost is detrimental and potentially problematic for the plants as most benefit from growing on the slightly acidic side of the line.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: wood ash discussions

My parents have a wood burning stove and all of the ashes go on the garden now. It seems to benefit most of her plants. Especially her tomatoes. Obviously you need to know if your garden needs to be more alkeline first; because it has a similar although less of an effect as calcium carbonate.

Here is a link that might be useful: link

By weight wood ashes have about half of the liming value of agricltural lime. Caution must be exercised in their use as wood ash has different chemical characteristics than ag-lime and it's overuse can drive the pH of the soil or compost to toxic levels of alkalinity. Used in excess it can also present some micro-nutrient problems. Ashes are a source of potassium. I live in the mid-Atlantic region and use my ashes by spreading them lightly on the turf as we must periodically lime as a consequence of acid rain and the normal leaching of cations due to rainfall rates. It also counters the acidification caused by using synthetic sources of nitrogen.

I rarely put wood ashes in my compost. I believe a lot of the nutrients leach out quickly into the surrounding soil. I apply it directly to my gardens and yard. I have 5 acres and slightly acidic soil, so here it is a good thing to add IN SMALL QUANTITIES. I think the calcium and potassium in particular are quite valuable nutrients for my tomatoes. I also fling it on my gravel driveway when it is icy, it helps to melt the ice and provide traction.

Marcia, who needs to put more wood in the stove right now

Wood ash, depending on the tree species, does contain some Phosphorus, Potash, minor amounts of several other necessary nutrients, and some unneeded and unwanted heavy metals, but mostly wood ash is calcium carbonate and is highly alkaline and that can temporarily change the pH of whatever you put that wood ash on enough to cause serious problems. Very small quantities applied over large areas of your lawn, if it is acidic, would be okay, but not on the garden and not in the compost pile.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wood Ash in the Garden

patrick -

Let me start out by saying I have not used ash in my garden or my compost....yet. But I plan to. After reading all the advice on this forum and reading all the links, I have decided to use it. I am going to have ash this next spring and summer and wanted to have a way to get rid of the ash. You too will have to form your own opinion.

Here a couple of more links that have been posted on this forum in the past in which you can read and judge for yourself.

North Carolina Cooperative Extension

On the above link there is a paragraph at the bottom about using wood ash.

York County Home Gardner

The above link is a whole article about using ash.

Just thought I'd throw some more info at you :-)

Val

I have said this before, but the issue keeps coming up concerning ashes from wood burning. I have a neighbor who has likely dumped 20 times as much ash on one end of the garden as any of you are likely to do.
This end of the garden is lush. Is it because of the ashes or in spite of them? More likely it is because of the ashes as the other end of the garden is not as lush though it is lower ground. Perhaps there is Terra Pretta in action?

Led Zep Rules said:

"I think the calcium and potassium in particular are quite valuable nutrients for my tomatoes."

That is one of the most important statements said on this board this year, IMO. Calcium is the key as it relates to producing maximum nutrition in plants. From the web site linked below:

"Besides being the fifth most abundant constituent in the earth�s crust, plants use (by weight) more calcium than any other nutrient in the ground. It's critical for cell division. Plants are big into cell division, especially fast growing species like tomatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and many other vegetables. Despite all this, calcium is rather ignored in the NPK world that we live in."

Those who focus on soil ph as it relates to ash miss the point. The dynamic task of calcium out-weighs all other factors; save the fact that wood-stove/fireplace ash is free. The role calcium plays deserves exploration for those who don't understand the important role calcium enacts. From the US Senate Study reported in 1936:

"A 10-year test with rats proved that by withholding calcium they can be bred down to a third the size of those fed with an adequate amount of that mineral. Their intelligence, too, can be controlled by mineral feeding as readily as can their size, their bony structure, and their general health."

And too:

"A cage of normal rats will live in amity. Restrict their calcium, and they will become irritable and draw apart from one another. Then they will begin to fight. Restore their calcium balance and they will grow more friendly; in time they will begin to sleep in a pile as before. Many backward children are stupid merely because they are deficient in magnesia. We punish them for our failure to feed them properly."

To say that a full spectrum of nutrients in our food could be our goal is a under-statement. Calcium none the less deserves our utmost attention IMO. Not only because it merits understanding and usage, but because without it in our food we will continue to not reach our greatest potential IMO...

Blutranes

Here is a link that might be useful: Calcium - The Forgotten Plant Nutrient

Note that both the North Carolina State University and the York County (Penn State) articles state that you need to have your soil tested before applying wood ashes.

Check your barn door son, your little bias is showing.

Note it is also stated on the "Calcium" site the suggestion of getting a soil test. However, unlike those who are padlocked into narrow thinking, it as well offers alternatives that too can be utilized to get positive results...

Blutranes

Note - the link provided above:

Wood Ash in the Garden

states: "Applying small amounts of wood ash to most soils will not adversely affect your garden crops, and the ash does help replenish some nutrients."

while the poster of that link states: "Very small quantities applied over large areas of your lawn, if it is acidic, would be okay, but not on the garden and not in the compost pile."

Interesting contradiction, no?

Val

This winter, I've decided to throw my ashes on the perennial flower beds all along the front of the house. So every 10 days or so, I go out with a 3 gallon bucket of charcoal and ash, and fling on the snow covered plants.

This isn't very attractive to the un-ash-thrown-trained eye, a 5 x 1 foot smear of grey on the white, with lumps of black. But, secretly beneath the snow, the daffodils are high-fiveing each other, the phlox rejoicing, and the sedum ecstatic. I share their joy, so I don't mind if it looks like some river in Tennessee.

We tried, last year following a 3' snow dump, throwing the ash on the icy driveway to help melt the rink. I wouldn't recommend that, particularly if you threw the ash on the foot path twixt garage door / front door. You track into the house this sullen, grey, glue-like substance. It does vacuum up. Eventually.

david52 is this something you have done before or are you experimenting. I have wood stove ash and use it sparingly; but a 3 gallon bucket every 10 days sounds like you are killing your plants. Lye is made from ash.

helenh, I've been doing it now for 12 years. I don't throw all the ash on the same spot for 12 years, it gets spread around all my flower beds, my vegetable garden, compost heap, and out on the lawn. Yesterday, I threw another 3 gallons of ash on the same beds, but of course, not on top of the other ash that was there already. The snow is melting off a bit now, and there are spots where the ash is now a grey slurry over the dead winter stuff. Daffodils are just now starting to come up through that, as well as a species of low-growing sedum. It doesn't bother it a bit. After a forest fire, there is often 3 or 4" of ash on the ground, some places much thicker than that. That doesn't stop things from growing again as soon as the rains come. Slash and burn agriculture has been around for millennia.

I do have two lots-of-ash-in-the-same-place. One is the "ash pit" where we throw ash when it's too dry out and we risk starting a grass fire. Thats had, over the years, I dunno how much ash thrown in - maybe a cubic yard. The pit is surrounded by lush green grass, with a white oak growing near by. There is no effect, one way or another, that I can see. Maybe the grass is a little thicker around the ash/grass edges, but there are other explanations.

The second spot is right off the edge of the concrete patio, where we use a garden hose to rinse out the hibachi and the charcoal smoker and wash the ash and residue off the patio onto the grass. On one occasion 2 or 3 summers ago when we used some Kingsford Mesquite charcoal, it turned the grass yellow, but it recovered. I think it had to do more with that specific charcoal than anything else, and we don't use it anymore. But we continue to wash out the charcoal ash on the same spot, mow the grass, and so on. No bad effects at all.

There are, it seems to me, two schools here on the forum. There are those who dump copious amounts of ash all over the place and don't have any problems, and there are those who worry about it, don't use ash or only a little bit, and talk about their concerns. On another thread on this same subject, I suggested that one try dumping a buncha ash in an out of the way spot in the garden and seeing what happened.

Linked is a description of making lye from wood ash. filter water through hardwood ash, boil to concentrate. I don't think thats what I'm doing.

Here is a link that might be useful: making lye from wood ash

Well I have lots of ash; I will try it. I do use it to melt ice on my long driveway and I have sprinkled it around. It will dissolve pop cans. I threw an Al can out the back door into the bucket of ashes; part of it dissolved. Three gallon buckets every 10 days sounded like a lot.

Wayne, if the neighbor's garden is thought to be lusher ...possibly it would have been even more lush if he hadn't put the wood ashes on.

When you go overboard with anything, you can usually rely on something happening which is away from the usual.
Why not stay away from the bad results that might happen and instead use the ashes where they can benefit.

If you regularly lime your lawn, then don't apply the ashes. If you don't regularly resort to liming, then throwing the ashes over your lawn aint going to do much harm.
Keep your ashes for when you have to put them under the wheels of the car to get you out of being stuck.
Throw the ashes over tree limbs and shrubs to bring them back from freezing rain effects. The sun...with the ashes will prevent breakage of limbs.
Makes for great sidewalk ice traction.

Keep ashes away from fruit trees...especially apple.
If you like, sprinkle...I say sprinkle, some around clematis, iris, or peony and water in well.

Around plants that draw snails and slugs, sprinkle ashes --works like diatomaceous earth or coarse sand.
Lilacs like a little sweetness given them, sprinkle some wood ashes around lilacs and water iin well.

Glad to have seen this thread the second time around. I've been of the opinion that wood ashes held some possible, and difficult to remedy, adverse effect on the garden. DH usually throws them around in the forest altho this winter he did blacken the pristine snow on part of the lawn and garden. Not yet giving him carte blanche to use ashes over the entire yard. We'll do a pH test before spreading too many ashes but hopefully can get some positive results from all the ashes we have.

Thanks for all the links and info, people!

thank you for all the information