By the logic of your argument, Palaisglide, the same can be said of granular fertiliser. ........ or of manure as well.....you don't know the chemical makeup of that either. Do you know what most granular fertiliser is made from? Most is made from petrochemicals.
I will continue to use wood ash as it comes out of the wood stove.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
Redwing, I worked for ICI, and know where granular comes from, mainly Anhydrite from mines and Ammonia water and air. Uria was first gathered from human waste water then a method found to produce it from the above products. As an Engineer all production plants came into my remit, being nosy the chemical mysteries became ingrained. In the Steam Reforming process oil certainly went into the furnace tubes then came out the other end NH3 being turned into granular fertiliser by more process, every bag has the exact make up printed on it so yes I do know what is in the product. Unless wood ash is anilysed you never know what is in it. My onlyargument is why risk your plants.
Once got given a bag of wood chips, it was the fad of the time so spread it as a mulch, big mistake, birds squirrels hedgehogs and goodness knows what other animals thought it a playground. The stuff with the help of the wind went everywhere, it got swept up and binned.
Sorry to bud in here, but I am with Redwing here. The wood ash from logs and twigs are great for the garden. I spread it in my compost and I always have fantastic compost. I do not need to know the exact details of what is in it. It is natural without any chemicals, 'cause I sure as hell ain't gonna burn anything chemical in my own house where I could breathe the chemical damps.
In fact, here in Germany they sell wood ashes in bags for the gardeners to add to their flower beds.
And as for chemicals... that might all sound fantastic and logical, dear Palaisglide. When it comes down to it, I'd raher feed my kids and the animals natural products than products that are artificially and industrially created. Nature had millions of years to get it just right, the chemical industry on the other hand is still in its infancy.
Gardenviking, no argument there, I did say in the early post we put the ash in the compost mixing it well. Having lived through a time when every foot of land was needed to grow food which meant using fertiliser to maximise crops seeing land laid fallow for many years brought back to growing crops with the use of fertiliser we knew it worked. Fertilisers were used well into the eighties still are in fact only they are reduced and placed where needed instead of random scattering. In experiments on farm land with and without fertiliser you lose around one quarter of the crop when unfertilised so tell me how do we feed the rowing population of the world by going non chemical. I could not feed my extended family from my garden even if allowed to use the neighbours gardens after getting rid of lawns decking hard standing for cars etc.
There is no one answer to the problem of feeding the people though it would help if all of us did not waste the food we buy, if some wish to put wood ash on their plants they are free to do, my way is to use what I found works over many years of trial and error, making mistakes, some big ones, you live and learn, so good luck with your gardening, we all need that especially as Spring has not reached us in the NE of England as yet.
Palaisglide: I can see that you have great experience as a chemist. The OP asked if it was ok to use wood ash from her wood burner on garden plants. She did not ask about granular fertiliser, soot, bark mulch, feeding people, fallow fields, crop yields or any of the other things you mention. Let's stay on topic. Wood ash is one thing that she has and it is a useful source of nutrients to use in her garden.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
On this forum Redwing it has always been the case that one subject led to another, many lessons are learn't by that diversity, so it comes down to freedom of speech, we all express our opinions as you have done on this thread. Let us now call it a day as ninety percent of the posters will not have wood ash therefore the discussion is irrelevant to most.
Lulu the lurcher. I bet your brain hurts after asking what began as a serious request. Yes the ash resulting from burning tree wood/ logs is a natural source of potash so just ignore all the technical stuff, it is totally irrelevant and unessessary. Happy gardening.
I live in France, we all use logburners and use seasoned wood - I, like my French neighbours put it on our soil. I'm not a chemist so really have no clue what value it has, but they have been using it here for years, and have fantastic crops/flowers. Also, what else do you do with it?? Difficult to dispose of otherwise.....
Posts
By the logic of your argument, Palaisglide, the same can be said of granular fertiliser. ........ or of manure as well.....you don't know the chemical makeup of that either. Do you know what most granular fertiliser is made from? Most is made from petrochemicals.
I will continue to use wood ash as it comes out of the wood stove.
Redwing, I worked for ICI, and know where granular comes from, mainly Anhydrite from mines and Ammonia water and air. Uria was first gathered from human waste water then a method found to produce it from the above products. As an Engineer all production plants came into my remit, being nosy the chemical mysteries became ingrained. In the Steam Reforming process oil certainly went into the furnace tubes then came out the other end NH3 being turned into granular fertiliser by more process, every bag has the exact make up printed on it so yes I do know what is in the product. Unless wood ash is anilysed you never know what is in it. My onlyargument is why risk your plants.
Once got given a bag of wood chips, it was the fad of the time so spread it as a mulch, big mistake, birds squirrels hedgehogs and goodness knows what other animals thought it a playground. The stuff with the help of the wind went everywhere, it got swept up and binned.
Frank.
Sorry to bud in here, but I am with Redwing here. The wood ash from logs and twigs are great for the garden. I spread it in my compost and I always have fantastic compost. I do not need to know the exact details of what is in it. It is natural without any chemicals, 'cause I sure as hell ain't gonna burn anything chemical in my own house where I could breathe the chemical damps.
In fact, here in Germany they sell wood ashes in bags for the gardeners to add to their flower beds.
And as for chemicals... that might all sound fantastic and logical, dear Palaisglide. When it comes down to it, I'd raher feed my kids and the animals natural products than products that are artificially and industrially created. Nature had millions of years to get it just right, the chemical industry on the other hand is still in its infancy.
Gardenviking, no argument there, I did say in the early post we put the ash in the compost mixing it well. Having lived through a time when every foot of land was needed to grow food which meant using fertiliser to maximise crops seeing land laid fallow for many years brought back to growing crops with the use of fertiliser we knew it worked. Fertilisers were used well into the eighties still are in fact only they are reduced and placed where needed instead of random scattering. In experiments on farm land with and without fertiliser you lose around one quarter of the crop when unfertilised so tell me how do we feed the rowing population of the world by going non chemical. I could not feed my extended family from my garden even if allowed to use the neighbours gardens after getting rid of lawns decking hard standing for cars etc.
There is no one answer to the problem of feeding the people though it would help if all of us did not waste the food we buy, if some wish to put wood ash on their plants they are free to do, my way is to use what I found works over many years of trial and error, making mistakes, some big ones, you live and learn, so good luck with your gardening, we all need that especially as Spring has not reached us in the NE of England as yet.
Frank.
Palaisglide: I can see that you have great experience as a chemist. The OP asked if it was ok to use wood ash from her wood burner on garden plants. She did not ask about granular fertiliser, soot, bark mulch, feeding people, fallow fields, crop yields or any of the other things you mention. Let's stay on topic. Wood ash is one thing that she has and it is a useful source of nutrients to use in her garden.
On this forum Redwing it has always been the case that one subject led to another, many lessons are learn't by that diversity, so it comes down to freedom of speech, we all express our opinions as you have done on this thread. Let us now call it a day as ninety percent of the posters will not have wood ash therefore the discussion is irrelevant to most.
Frank.
Lulu the lurcher. I bet your brain hurts after asking what began as a serious request. Yes the ash resulting from burning tree wood/ logs is a natural source of potash so just ignore all the technical stuff, it is totally irrelevant and unessessary. Happy gardening.
I live in France, we all use logburners and use seasoned wood - I, like my French neighbours put it on our soil. I'm not a chemist so really have no clue what value it has, but they have been using it here for years, and have fantastic crops/flowers. Also, what else do you do with it?? Difficult to dispose of otherwise.....