2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Ash has long been considered one of the best and most effective phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, because it contains a truly incredible amount of various substances that are vital for the full growth and development of planted crops. And most importantly, ash is easily accessible to absolutely everyone! So is it worth using it as a fertilizer, and what benefits can it bring?
On what soils is it recommended to use?
In order to improve the structure and fertility of clay or loamy soils, it is enough to apply only 300 - 500 grams of ash per square meter: even a single application of it allows in this case to achieve a positive effect for as long as four years!
The introduction of ash on too acidic soils contributes to the creation of a certain balance between the natural acidic soil reaction and the useful alkaline component (in other words, ash), and this balance has the most favorable effect on both the development and subsequent growth of plants. The only exceptions are crops, which are ideally recommended to be planted on acidic soils: melons, radishes with potatoes, etc. This means that fertilizing the above crops with ash should be done with extreme caution, after carefully weighing all possible risks.
But on soils characterized by rather serious indicators of alkalinity, experienced agricultural technicians generally do not recommend using ash in the form of fertilizer. The main reason lies in the chemical characteristics of ash, which is endowed with the ability to additionally alkalize the soil, which in turn can entail a significant difficulty in feeding growing crops.
How to use?
There are three main ways to use the ash on hand as fertilizer. In the first case, it is simply scattered under the bushes, in the near-trunk circles of fruit trees or in the aisles of cultivated crops, and also added to the holes just before planting seedlings. The second option is watering or spraying garden crops with ash infusion or solution (both are prepared from ash and ordinary water). And the third method involves laying ash in compost heaps (in this case, about two kilograms of ash is taken for each cubic meter of compost), after which the finished compost is used in the usual way.
An important nuance
It is important for everyone who uses ash as fertilizer to try not to forget that during the combustion of raw materials to obtain it, the nitrogen necessary for plants evaporates almost completely, respectively, its deficiency will have to be compensated for with appropriate additives!
Useful Tips
Before you start planting seedlings of eggplants, peppers and tomatoes, it does not hurt to add five dessert spoons to each hole with ash combined with a small amount of earth. It is quite permissible to add it during the digging of the soil - in this case, three two-hundred-gram glasses of ash are consumed for each square meter. In addition, at the stage of active growth, cabbage, as well as tomatoes with cucumbers, can be fertilized with a pre-prepared ash infusion: one hundred grams of ash is dissolved in ten liters of water, and then the mixture is infused for two days. After this time, half a liter of the prepared infusion is poured under each bush. Alternatively, you can make several longitudinal grooves, and then shed them as evenly and accurately as possible.
In order for the cabbage harvest to really please, it must be pampered with ash dressings every ten to twelve days - and so on throughout the growing season!
Ash will also serve well when sowing lawn grass: before you start sowing seeds, three hundred grams of ash are added to each square meter of the future lawn. But it is absolutely not recommended to sprinkle the sprouted seeds with ash!
It is advisable to use ash as a top dressing for your favorite indoor plants - for this purpose, it is poured directly into flower pots at the rate of a tablespoon for each five-liter pot of earth, or a nutritious infusion for irrigation is prepared on the basis of ash (for every six liters of water - two tablespoons of ash).
Do you use ash on your site?
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