I have searched for a couple of hours today on this subject and have came up empty. I burn about 200 bushel of shelled corn in a heating season. for two years I spread the ash on the garden and tilled it under in the spring. I never ran any test but I never seen any apparent problems either. Soil in this area is alkaline but not in need of amending.(I know I should test) I have went to square foot gardening so ash will be spread on lawn with some added to compost pile. Why did the PH test not work that is one of my next projects? Did you do a simple litmus test?

Curt :-)

Ash, even that from corn, would have a pH in the 8.5 to 9.0 area, very alkaline. Most of what I find is that any Nitrogen would be burned during the compustion process, same as with any other material that is burned.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ash from Corn Pellets

I guess corn is insanely cheap out there, huh?

How much ash is left Karen? Buckets and buckets?

I've thought of getting one of the multi-fuel stoves, seems like a great concept.

Lloyd

I'm not sure why the Ph test didn't work. I am not real happy with the soil test kit I bought. I think the way they have you do the tests may be part of the problem. I thought that when the corn burned down the rusults might be similar to the wood ash - thanks for the info kimmsr. I guess once burned most products would have similar a similar Ph? I wouldn't call corn insanely cheap here. In fact it has gone up in the last 2 years (as soon as we bought a corn burner - wouldn't ya know!) BUT it is still much cheaper for us then propane, fuel oil or electric. We have a drafty old house and even though we seal it the best we can any type of heater that runs on a thermostat runs to often and uses to much fuel. If we get cold we just go stand in front of the heater! My house stays fairly comfortable though and in real cold weather you just put on a sweatshirt! My brother is a farmer and put in a corn dryer last year so we have bought from him for 2 years - supporting your local farmer and keeping it in the family all at once! We like the corn burner actually it's multifuel- it burns the corn pretty efficiently but we still filled a 50 gallon drum with ash last year plus a little. We burn straight wood pellets when the weather is mild and we might just need a fire overnight and let it go out in the day. Seems that the wood pellets burn better at a real low heat setting. I haven't put any on the garden as I want to do a Ph test there first. The soil in our county is supposedly acidic but I want to run a test first. I guess if these burners continue to gain in popularity that maybe someone will have more data in the future.
Karen

Karen; You like the burner I like mine it is a lot easier than wood. found some info an the ash no!! it is not the same as wood. In a university of Minnesota study the PH of there samples (3) was 7.9 That is close to what our soil runs at around here.salts were higher than wood calcium carbonate was quite low making for ineffective liming agent. there recommendation was for 1-2 pounds per 100 square foot for p-k requirements.Sounds like fertilizer with out the nitrates. Boy did I over do in my garden. why did I not just buy 200-300 pounds of 10-10-10 and pour it on there ankle deep!Well maybe not that bad it still grows good vegetables out there.
pnbrown; No! corn is not cheap, but for me it burns clean and is produced here and is a renewable resource.
Lloyd; Very few ashes.
I searched corn ash ph.
Went to yard and garden news aug 1 2008 U of MN
Have patience I will learn this new computer system some day.

Curt :-) we are all in this together.

Curt - thanks for the great info! After you wrote that I hunted around and found the study you were talking about (I think). It sounds like I could use it on my garden with no problems as long as I don't overdue it. The only thing that might be a concern would be the salt content but again as long as I don't put it on a foot thick and follow their recommended guide lines I think I should be fine.
Where we lived 5 years ago I didn't realize how good I had it. The top of my garden had clayish soil but the bottom of my garden was the site of a former goat barn. I wish I could import that rich black soil here! The place we have now has VERY well drained, sandy, gravelly soil. The former owners kept black plastic over the garden year round from what I could tell - it was here when we moved here. I don't know if they ever tried to amend the soil or not - maybe they just used lots of fertilizer every year! We are trying to bring the fertility up and chopped all our fall leaves and spread them over the garden along with a load of partly decomposed horse manure from the stable down the road. Over the last few years I have been improving it slowly but we are trying harder this year. When I moved here I hardly saw a single earthworm. Now I am seeing more every year so hopefully that is a good sign! We are starting to compost and I am learning as I go. Been gardening all my life but have never had soil that I needed to fix this bad! Guess I was lucky.
I have a high tunnel (14 x 24) that we are doing the Four Season Harvest thing in. Started late this fall but even with what I got in I am encouraged. I have arugula, tatsoi, and mizuna that are doing really good along with some other things. Very excited about trying more.
Karen