Leave a reaction | Ayanda Kunene | Last modified November 5, 2023.
Using up wood ash in your yard and garden is a natural solution. The minerals from the wood are restored to nature, where they can be reused again.
Garden fertiliser
Wood ash contains all the trace minerals from inside a trees wood, which are the building blocks needed for plant health. While it doesn’t contain carbon or nitrogen, those are in ready supply from compost.
Researchers recommends about 5 gallons of wood ash per 1,000 square feet of garden. Since wood ash will raise the pH of soils, it’s not good for acid-loving crops like blueberries or potatoes.
Boost compost
A small amount of wood ash can help give compost piles a boost. While birds may be beautiful around a backyard compost pile, in rural areas open compost can attract bears. We’ve found that dusting a bit of wood ash on top of the pile helps keep bears and other large omnivores from digging in the scraps as well.
After we started adding wood ash to our compost, we noticed that it was markedly more healthy. Stick a hand into the middle of the pile, and you’ll come out with a palm-full of hard-working worms actively converting everything into nutrient-rich compost.
Control pond algae
Since wood ash contains micronutrients that plants need to thrive, it can also help strengthen aquatic plants. The potassium in wood ash can boost rooted aquatic plants in a pond, making them better able to compete with algae. That in turn, slows the growth of algae in a pond. Be careful not to add too much.
Pro tip: Use some rough math to calculate the volume of your pond, and then add about 1 tablespoon per 1,000 gallons of water.
Preventing plant frost damage to plants
I’ve heard that dusting plants with wood ash before an early light frost can help prevent frost damage. It makes sense, as the mineral salts in wood ash would lower the freezing point of water without harming the plant tissues as other types of salt might.
Our garden is always packed or undercover early in the season, so I tested this method, but it might be worth a try.
Prevent calcium deficiency in tomatoes
Those ugly black spots on tomatoes are often the result of calcium deficiency. Eggshells and bone meal are often added to tomato planting holes to provide them with calcium, but wood ash can do the same job.
Pro tip: Add about 1/4 cup of wood ash to each tomato planting hole and scratch it into the soil before setting out transplants. Wood ash is high in calcium and helps to supplement the soil to prevent this issue.
Subscribe to 1oak farmstead
Get updates on the latest posts and more from 1oak farmstead straight to your inbox.
Our Shop
Follow Us!
Raising soil pH
As noted above, wood ash helps buffer acidic soils and can help raise soil pH if that’s needed on your particular plot. This is handy for most garden vegetables, with the exception of potatoes which grow best in slightly acidic soils.
Be aware that not all parts of the world have acidic soils, and if your soils are already alkaline, then adding wood ash could cause issues.
Slug and Snail repellant
Creating a circle of wood ash around crops prevents slugs and snails from crossing into plant beds. It’s also a good solution for leafy crops like lettuce. The wood ash barrier is only effective until it rains or the ash gets wet, which is unfortunate because you’ll need to reapply regularly. The benefit, on the other hand, is that it’ll wash off easily at harvest time.
Protecting bee hives from ants
Generally, bees are capable of defending their own hives from intruders, but with all the challenges they currently face, most hives are in a slightly weakened state. They can take all the help they can get! One of my readers suggested making a circle of ash around a beehive to help deter ants.
I do not know if it would have unintended consequences, but I think it’s worth a try if ants are getting to your bees.
In theory, a circle of wood ash should be a nontoxic way to deter ants from robbing the hives. If you've tested this, I'd love to know how it went!
Dustbath for poultry
Since wood ash helps treat fleas and other insects, it’s perfect for helping poultry relieve themselves of parasites. Chickens and turkeys naturally dust bath to help clean their feathers of unwanted intruders, and adding a bit of wood ash to the bath only helps get the message across.
Our layers had a particularly bad infestation of avian lice, and we filled a worn out car tyre with wood ash for them. They dove on it with excitement and spent long hours rolling in the ash. No need to apply pesticides; the birds know how to solve their own problems organically, given the right tools.
No need to worry if they eat a bit since wood ash is also an avian mineral supplement.
Chicken feed supplement
Since wood ash is high in minerals, it can be good as a food supplement for chickens in small amounts. Adding wood ash to your chicken feed (less than 1% ratio) may help to extend a hen’s laying period and can help reduce the smell of chicken droppings.”
One of my readers also mentioned to me that charcoal bits are used to help treat eggbound chickens. A bit of further research, and I found that charcoal bits are given to chickens to help prevent diarrhea and treat for intestinal parasites. So the tiny flecks of charcoal in with the ash will also help the chickens.
Other sources note that wood ash is used as a general dewormer for livestock, but I haven’t found anything specific about how it would work in other animals beyond chickens.
Pro tip: When using ash as a feed supplement, be especially sure that you didn’t burn anything but clean, untreated wood in the stove.
Thank you for tuning in. I bless you.
Until next time.
Pull Up A Seat And Visit Awhile
[Related] Seventeen laws of farming
What Do You Need?
Now That You Are Here!
#Your1oakPlug over here at 1oak Farmstead™ has a saying " Turn your everyday dust into golden haze."
Learn what you can, when you can! Life and knowledge will grow and thrive when/where you nurture it! Enjoy each season!!
Join the other Friends, Farmers/Homesteaders who get the best of homesteading sprout delivered right to their email every Wednesday and Sunday!
Connect With Us!
Never miss what's new with 1oak Farmstead™.