How To Use Ash As Fertilizer

Ash - fertilizer of our own production

A lot has been written about ash, which is by no means accidental. Ash obtained from burning wood, leaves, grass residues is an excellent potassium-phosphorus fertilizer. It is important that the potassium and phosphorus contained in it are in a form readily available to plants.

In addition, the ash contains some trace elements (magnesium, boron, sulfur, etc.), which are so necessary for plants during their growing season.

Ash does not contain chlorine, so it is especially good for plants that react negatively to chlorine: strawberries, raspberries, currants, potatoes.

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I want to tell you about my practice of using ash in the garden for spraying plants from pests and diseases. To do this, pour three kilograms of sifted ash with water in a ten-liter enamel bucket and boil for 20-30 minutes. I cool the broth, defend and filter. Then I divide the resulting volume of the solution into ten parts. Then I dilute a tenth of the resulting concentrated solution with water to 10 liters. Thus, I get a working solution, to which I add 40-50 g of laundry or tar soap to improve the wetting of the sheet surface. Sometimes, instead of soap, I add washing powder with bioadditives (1-2 tablespoons per 10 liters of solution). I use this solution for spraying fruit and berry crops from various pests. I noticed that such an ash solution successfully affects not only pests, but also pathogens of plant diseases (powdery mildew, scab and others).

Potassium, phosphorus and micronutrient fertilizers contained in the solution, in addition to the destructive effect on pests, saturate plants with minerals. To enhance the fertilizing effect, I add a solution of mineral fertilizers to the ash solution. In June, it is a urea solution, in July - azophoska, in August - superphosphate and potassium sulfate.

	Urea	Azofoska	Superphosphate	Potassium sulfate
June	15-20 g / 10 l	-	-	-
July	-	30-40 g / 10 l	-	-
August	-	-	25-30 g / 10 l	15-20 g / 10 l

It must be remembered that it is very important not to exceed the established norms, since exceeding them is fraught with dangerous consequences. The leaf apparatus of plants can get a chemical burn, and then instead of benefit you will receive irreparable harm.

I want to remind gardeners that such spraying should be carried out in the morning or in the evening (the best option) in calm, windless weather, observing personal safety measures (glasses, gloves, respirator). The spray nozzle must be adjusted to the minimum solution flow to obtain a misty spray. This will increase the efficiency of processing plants. In July, instead of Azophoska, you can use any complex fertilizer (Kemira, nitrophoska, nitroammofoska …).

And another useful advice from my practice. Measuring 15-20, 30-40 grams of fertilizer each time is tiring. I make it easier. In ten-liter canisters I dissolve separately 2 kg of urea, 3 kg of azophoska, etc. 20-30% solutions are obtained. It is easier and more accurate to use such solutions. For example, if it is necessary to obtain a working solution of urea for spraying, it is enough to add 100 ml of a concentrated fertilizer solution to 10 liters of water.

You can find detailed information on the practice of using foliar dressing on my websites: http://viktorfelk.narod.ru/ and

Viktor Felk, experienced gardener, Karelia

Photo by Olga Rubtsova