# Fire Place Ashes



## Blue.dog (May 8, 2005)

What do you do with your fireplace ashes?
I have heard pro's and con's about putting them in the garden soil.

right now with all of the cold weather, I have a lot of ashes to deal with.

What is your experience?

thanks,

B.D


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

I used to put mine in the flower beds, its just pot ash I believe, unless you used the chemical starting fireplace logs. I never had any problems.


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## w_r_ranch (Jan 14, 2005)

Me neither. I put some in each flower pot, around my trees but a majority of them are broadcast in the garden.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

I like to use them to "coat" seed potato cuttings and then place some in the hole along with the cuttings. The pot ash does them well in my East Texas acidic soils. Otherwise,just add them to the compost pile.


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

fire place ash is probably acidic

tannic acid from bark

might do well around azaleas or magnolia trees


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

*ASH*

LJ area should be a neutral PH 7 its a guess on my part looking at the crops grown at the PRISON and liveing within 35 miles of LJ.That being said the ash is probably on the acid side.And lowering the PH in your soil would be a good thing.Most consider 6.5PH to 7PH ideal for the home garden.I'm not saying 7PH is bad just going toward 6.5PH is better....CVA34


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## Blue.dog (May 8, 2005)

cva,
thanks,
Jim


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## Red3Fish (Jun 4, 2004)

*I am thinking the other way....*

They used to make lye for lye soap out of ashes. That is caustic, if I am not mistaken....the opposite of acid.

Later
R3F


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Red3Fish said:


> They used to make lye for lye soap out of ashes. That is caustic, if I am not mistaken....the opposite of acid.
> 
> Later
> R3F


You are spot on Red3Fish. I use them to increase ph in my acidic soils in East Texas. Has much the same effect as lime. 
See:

http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/frederick/2004/ashes.htm

Interestingly, the article indicates that wood ash can enable potato scab and does not recommend it for that application. It must depend on your soils ph to begin with because, years and years of growing new potatoes in my garden with wood ash has never shown the least bit of scab....and production is definitely enhanced with the ashes. Perhaps if you already have a high ph, rather than a low ph as we have, then the scabbing might be a problem with use of ashes on potatoes.


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

*senior moment*



cva34 said:


> LJ area should be a neutral PH 7 its a guess on my part looking at the crops grown at the PRISON and liveing within 35 miles of LJ.That being said the ash is probably on the acid side.And lowering the PH in your soil would be a good thing.Most consider 6.5PH to 7PH ideal for the home garden.I'm not saying 7PH is bad just going toward 6.5PH is better....CVA34


 Lucky for me I said _Probably on the acid side.I was not sure so I left me an out.Really made an UH OH.Looking around on GOOGLE most agree its on the alk/caustic side. If it is then being in the LJ area you probably don't need it. If you got a soil test you would know the PH.Your COUNTY AGENT probably can answer what your PH is also. I SORRY will try to do better....CVA34


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## V-Bottom (Jun 16, 2007)

Put around tomato plants early to prevent '' cut worms" from doing their thing. Hard wood only...use like dust and 7 "dust" ur early plants to keep worms off. Use when a GOOD DUE is out...It sticks...


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

i was wrong, here is some more info... # A fertilizer for the yard and garden. Wood ash contains 10-25% calcium, 1-4% magnesium, 5-15% potassium and 1-3% phosphorus. This makes it a good (0-2-10) fertilizer for the garden. The type of wood you burn does play a role in the amount of nutrients it contains. Hardwoods generally produce 3 times more ash that contains 5 times more nutrients than softwoods. Ash will temporarily change (increase) the pH of garden soil, so you should only use it sparingly and not at all if your soil pH is already over 7.0. Two pounds of wood ash equals about 1 pound of ground limestone. When used as a fertilizer, wood ash should be applied at least two months before high nitrogen fertilizers because it promotes the loss of nitrogen from ammonia-based fertilizers. Don't use wood ash on acidic-loving plants like rhododendron, blueberries or azaleas and don't add wood ash to the compost pile.


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## Gfish (Aug 31, 2009)

Meadowlark is right, ashes raise the ph level in soils so you can use them in the plants that like a higher ph. If your in south Texas our ph is 11 to 11.5 and you want it around 7- 8.


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