Fire place ashes

I have been saving the ashes to put in my garden but now that we have gone thru almost 2 huge wood piles Im thinking I may have enought here to do some damage. So how much should I put in my beds and what will it do to my Ph if anything. Thanks for any help!
Caren

Like you I have an abundance of wood ashes so I have been looking into this. The best info I have found so far is in "Secrets To Great Soil". It says wood ashes raise Ph about 2/3 as much as limestone. Wood ashes have an average nutritional rating of 0-2-7, 10-30%Ca, 3-6% Mag and .02% FE. Rate of recomended application, 1lb per 100 sq. ft. for average soils, 3lbs. per 100sq. ft. potasium deficient soil. Here is the little blurb they give for wood ashes.

" Fast acting, supplies micronutrients, rich scource of calcium, so raises your ph about 2/3 as much as limestone. Don't exceed recomended rates or apply if your soil ph is above 6.5 Keep dry before spreading to prevent leaching; avoid using on seedlings to prevent burning; not good for acid loving plants. "

Couple of other things I gleaned from other portions of the book. Using it for seedlings is fine as long as you apply it at least 3 weeks ahead of time and potasium leaches out of sandy soil much faster than clay (of course) so that might determine how much you put down from year to year. Also vegetable plants are heavy potasium users so wood ashes might be really usefull for them. Good book, I haven't found another with any real info on wood ashes.

Julie

I use about 2 pailfulls in my 3cu yard pile of finished compost. I use the rest of my winter ashes in the yard. I have put it to the beds as a trial and it wasn't too good. My soil tends (naturally) to be 6.8 to 7.2 so ashes are not good there. I like the mineral and potassium so I always add it to the compost (PH 5.8 to 6)

If it's of any use to you, spring flowering bulbs love ashes...a handful per clump is a good guideline. Not that you'd use your hands, so say 2/3-3/4 of a cup per clump of large bulbs - Daffd, tulips, frits and lilies -- and1/8-1/4 cup for smaller bulb clumps like crocuses and scilla. Usually we have enough spring rain here to wash it down, but if you don't you'll need to water it in.

Suzy

Thank you all!

I guess it probably depends on the Ph your soil starts out with. Like Soferdig, I'm on alkaline soil, so some people don't recommend using ashes here. But I'm not going to throw away a good natural organic ingredient, so I put it out somewhere on my property. I noticed years ago that the bluebonnets did well near where the previous owner had once burned brush, so I think it eventually breaks down and is okay. But I don't put any on flowerbed or anything because I don't want to raise the Ph too much.

In Louisiana, soils tend to be very acid. Have your soil tested. You may very well learn that your soil is desperate for wood ashes for their alkaline ph as well as their minerals. Places with a lot of rain and rotting organic matter, like Louisiana, tend to have very acid soil.

An older friend, as well as many other old folks in this area, circle their fruit trees with ashes. They say they have no web worm or other bug problems as well as add nutrients to the trees.

I have spread lots here and am running out of lawn space. The spring rains will start soaking the ash into the soil structure. I always mulch the areas I have spread the ash cause lots of large chunks. I always am glad to get fresh snow cause the grey snow looks ugly when I spread the ash.