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#1
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ash from wood fire
hi guy's
I had several large bonfire which leaves me with a big pile of ash is this any good on the garden or should I bin it? cheers richard |
#2
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On Wed, 11 May 2005 16:46:12 GMT, "r.bartlett"
wrote: hi guy's I had several large bonfire which leaves me with a big pile of ash is this any good on the garden or should I bin it? cheers richard Excellent source of potash. If you make your own compost mix it in with the greenstuff. |
#3
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"Jupiter" wrote in message ... On Wed, 11 May 2005 16:46:12 GMT, "r.bartlett" wrote: hi guy's I had several large bonfire which leaves me with a big pile of ash is this any good on the garden or should I bin it? cheers richard Excellent source of potash. If you make your own compost mix it in with the greenstuff. And.......remember is is very alkaline...HW |
#4
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And.......remember is is very alkaline...HW
Any wildflower area? Poppies like it. DaveK |
#5
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The message
from "Harold Walker" contains these words: "Jupiter" wrote in message ... On Wed, 11 May 2005 16:46:12 GMT, "r.bartlett" wrote: hi guy's I had several large bonfire which leaves me with a big pile of ash is this any good on the garden or should I bin it? cheers richard Excellent source of potash. If you make your own compost mix it in with the greenstuff. And.......remember is is very alkaline...HW And that too much makes the soil sticky. -- Rusty Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar. http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
#6
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"r.bartlett" wrote in message news hi guy's I had several large bonfire which leaves me with a big pile of ash is this any good on the garden or should I bin it? cheers richard I have no knowledge of botany or horticulture but logic says that when a tree or plant grows it draws carbon, oxygen, hygrogen and nitrogen from the air. But the air does not contain any of the other trace elements needed. So these must be drawn up from the soil. When you have a bonfire you are returning the carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and possibly nitrogen to the air as carbon dioxide and water vapour, but not the trace elements. So your ash consists of some unburnt carbon (as charcoal) but the rest is all the trace elements that came from the soil. So really it must be returned, otherwise you are depleting the soil. Is that right? |
#7
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"peterlsutton" wrote in message ... "r.bartlett" wrote in message news hi guy's I had several large bonfire which leaves me with a big pile of ash is this any good on the garden or should I bin it? cheers richard I have no knowledge of botany or horticulture but logic says that when a tree or plant grows it draws carbon, oxygen, hygrogen and nitrogen from the air. But the air does not contain any of the other trace elements needed. So these must be drawn up from the soil. When you have a bonfire you are returning the carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and possibly nitrogen to the air as carbon dioxide and water vapour, but not the trace elements. So your ash consists of some unburnt carbon (as charcoal) but the rest is all the trace elements that came from the soil. So really it must be returned, otherwise you are depleting the soil. Is that right? ____________________________ Quite correct though you have over estimated the gases. Best Wishes Brian. --- |
#8
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The message
from Tone contains these words: On Wed, 11 May 2005 16:46:12 GMT, "r.bartlett" wrote: hi guy's I had several large bonfire which leaves me with a big pile of ash is this any good on the garden or should I bin it? cheers richard Apple trees love it. Sprnkle it around the base Though there's not too much potash in heartwood: the highest concentrations are in twigs, new growth and leaves, so if you're burning brambles, weeds, prunings, &c, you'll get a much more useful ash. -- Rusty Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar. http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
#9
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I have no knowledge of botany or horticulture but logic says that when a
tree or plant grows it draws carbon, oxygen, hygrogen and nitrogen from the air. But the air does not contain any of the other trace elements needed. So these must be drawn up from the soil. When you have a bonfire you are returning the carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and possibly nitrogen to the air as carbon dioxide and water vapour, but not the trace elements. So your ash consists of some unburnt carbon (as charcoal) but the rest is all the trace elements that came from the soil. So really it must be returned, otherwise you are depleting the soil. Is that right? ____________________________ Quite correct though you have over estimated the gases. Best Wishes Brian. What happens to the nitrogen Brian. You sound as if you know about this. Plants contain nitrogen and although you can supply it in a fertiliser, in the wild it must be absorbed from the air (I presume), but what happens when you burn it? On a slightly different slant, there was a survey done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (the cream of american scientists) a few years ago and only about 20% of the students were aware the the vast bulk of a tree came from the air. Most thought that it was all sucked out of the soil through the roots. Peter |
#10
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The message
from "peterlsutton" contains these words: What happens to the nitrogen Brian. You sound as if you know about this. Plants contain nitrogen and although you can supply it in a fertiliser, in the wild it must be absorbed from the air (I presume), but what happens when you burn it? It's absorbed from the soil in the form of nitrates, nitrites and salts of ammonia, mainly. What happens when you burn what? -- Rusty Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar. http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
#11
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Plants contain nitrogen and although you can supply it in a fertiliser, in the wild it must be absorbed from the air (I presume), but what happens when you burn it? It's absorbed from the soil in the form of nitrates, nitrites and salts of ammonia, mainly. You have got to be right Jaques. As soon as I wrote the above, I realised that if plants could utilise nitrogen from the atmosphere you would never have to give them a nitrogen fertiliser |
#12
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Plants contain nitrogen and although you can supply it in a fertiliser, in the wild it must be absorbed from the air It's absorbed from the soil in the form of nitrates, nitrites and salts of ammonia, mainly. peterlsutton writes You have got to be right Jaques. As soon as I wrote the above, I realised that if plants could utilise nitrogen from the atmosphere you would never have to give them a nitrogen fertiliser IIRC trees breathe in Carbon Dioxide CO2, and take up water H20 from the ground. As the tree gets bigger it tends to dry out the central part, which becomes a pure hydrocarbon (which is why there is little potash), and the liquids are sucked up just under the bark through the Xylem through 'transpiration' which is a bit like evaporation but done through 'pores' in the surface of the leaves. The power of this is so great it can suck huge volumes per day up to the top leaves. They use the hydrogen H in the water and the carbon C in the CO2 to make a hydrocarbon structure H-C and release the waste products, the oxygen O2, into the air. (When you burn the wood this process is reversed, you burn oxygen and produce CO2 and water vapour). Which is just as well as we breathe in the oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Not too sure about the nitrogen cycle but I know some plants such as beans are known to 'fix' nitrogen in the soil from the atmosphere and there are bacteria which do the same in the compost heap. Much of the rest comes from animal waste products in the form of urine /urea /ammonia which is high in nitrogen and fish / bone / blood products are also high in Nitrogen and Phosphorus. Animal manures have Phosphorus besides Nitrogen and Potassium as well as trace elements. Bear in mind its not just direct feeding that is important if you are being organic, you want to also feed the soil and improve its structure, so all sorts of other things are important too. No doubt someone will correct my mistakes and add to our bank of shared knowledge ..... -- David |
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