Best and worse disposal idea for fireplace ash

[LouNY]

Disposing of my coal ash in the driveway, dumped two trash cans full into the sander and away we went;

Then looking at the cloud behind me in the camera,
then looking at the coverage on the driveway driving back up.

 

[Diggin It]

Thread Morph .....


Since we're talking about soil conditioning for plants that need acidic soil, what about Coal? There was a small coal pile left here when I moved in. Over the years, I dispersed it quite a bit as fill, but every once in a while I dig some up like I did today. Most of what's left is fairly fine, but some is up to billiard ball size. What would that do for (or to) Blueberries?

 

[Ford850]

In addition to spreading the ashes on my gardens, I try to save a bucket of them at the end of the winter. I use that when planting tomatoes and peppers, dusting the holes when I plant, and then dusting around the plants on the surface. It's supposed to help by adding calcium as noted above. Calcium deficiency can result in blossom end rot.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^
Lack of phosphorus and not enough water are also causes of blossom end rot.

I don't like using ashes on my driveway because of the mess; and I've put enough lime on my garden that the soil scientist said to stop. There's a couple of steep hills though, between me and the main road. I often dump my ashes there instead.

 

[goeduck]

Fireplace ash on my tomatoes? What a concept! I do get a small amount not of blossom end rot on my determinates that I plant in 15 gallon pots on my deck. This works? All this time I have been using egg shells ...

 

[ponytug]

Coal is pretty inert from a soil amendment perspective. From a health perspective, I wouldn't intentionally add it.(polycyclic aromatics).

Anything with calcium helps blossom end rot, but be aware of pH. Our soil has limestone in it, plus very hard water, but we need to add soluble calcium, and phosphorus or we get end rot on our tomatoes. We learned the hard way that there is more to blossom end rot than calcium. I will readily admit that our garden soil is quirky and leaves a lot to be desired, despite years of compost.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Jstpssng]

Coal is pretty inert from a soil amendment perspective. From a health perspective, I wouldn't intentionally add it.(polycyclic aromatics).

Anything with calcium helps blossom end rot, but be aware of pH. Our soil has limestone in it, plus very hard water, but we need to add soluble calcium, and phosphorus or we get end rot on our tomatoes. We learned the hard way that there is more to blossom end rot than calcium. I will readily admit that our garden soil is quirky and leaves a lot to be desired, despite years of compost.

All the best,

Peter

I was tormented with end rot for years, no matter how much I watered. Then I started adding triple phosphate and haven't had a problem since. Even in this year's drought I had some great fruit... until the crows, mice, and my turkeys found them.

 

[ultrarunner]

For instance, I use my Sequoia pine needles as mulch under my blueberry plants... they seem to love it. I spread ash from my burn pile under my trees and shrubs. Don't throw it out.

You have Sequoia trees as in Giant Sequoia?

As for ash been using as a soil amendment for Acid Loving Plants... plus we got a lot free recently from the fires and the plants are thriving...

 

[dragoneggs]

You have Sequoia trees as in Giant Sequoia?

As for ash been using as a soil amendment for Acid Loving Plants... plus we got a lot free recently from the fires and the plants are thriving...

I have one sequoia, I'm guessing it was intentionally planted at least 40 years ago. Unless a migrating constipated NorCal bird did the duty.

The tree is very close to the house and it causes some issues but no way I will cut it down. Very unique around here. In fact the only one I've seen other than ours was at a nursery.

 

[ultrarunner]

Toyed with the idea of planting a few down by the salmon creek in Olympia...

Aptos Blue is a favorite... Guess if I had been on it 15 seasons would have come and gone... didn't see any in the Olympia nurseries when I looked.

Not sure how ash tolerant but the large trees all have scars from past fires... kind of amazing.

Some parts of Santa Cruz near Big Basin are layered in Redwood Ash... just my luck and the Poison Oak will be the first to thrive in the burned areas...

One thing not to do is place out randomly for collection... one of the big fires in SoCal was from ash that ignited a garbage truck... the driver dumped the load to save the truck but the wind go it and disaster...