Wood ashes- should I add'em?

[gOurd^jr.]

So I have plenty of wood ashes, mostly pine. However I don't know if I should add them or not, my soil is pretty dang rich as is. Here is what I mixed up in a big bin a few months ago. It was turned many times and "cooked" for 6-8weeks before winter hit but now it is frozen. (1 bag =1.5cf)

most of a bale Peat moss ~3cf
2 bags Mushroom compost
2 bags composted yard clippings
1 Bag Fox Farm OF
1 bag roots organic soil
1/2 bag FF Happy Frog
1 bag Mushroom compost blend (basically shroom compost before shrooms grown in it)
1 bag Sheep & peat
1 bag fluffy coco fiber
as much EWC as I could muster up I'd guess ~30lbs...
Also mixed in some
Kelp meal ~8 cups
Alfalfa ~4 cups ( I bought a50lb sack of horse pellets for 12$, soak some for 15 mins and they dissolve nicely into wet meal)
Guano-Primal Harvest 0-12-1 ~12 cups seems like a lot now but this will be for flowering mainly
Dolomite powdered ~8 cups
also threw in a sprinkle of compost starter and FF dry ferts with bacterial and mycho inoculants

So what I think is that I could maybe use a little more pH buffer in this mix and I know wood ashes should help raise pH and counteract acidity form peat and manure composting. Also adding in some K as well right? but should I bother? overkill perhaps?

I transplanted some plants into this mix straight and got some burning, though not until I also fed some tea a couple times which was TOTALLY unneccessary and foolish...I think the mix might be OK for straight water...after a flush plants recovered quickly and grew awesome for a while.

so now that since its frozen winter and I can't cook new soil up for a long time I am cutting this strong mix with "premium" bagged soils, FFOF and roots are my choices for now. It sucks to pay through the nose for expensive dirt when I already made so much way cheaper, but its gotta last me all winter and I gotta do what i gotta do. plants seem to like it well so far.
Once we thaw out I'll scoop a bunch of manure from a local farmer and get to composting that down.
So what do you organic mix-masters think, add in some wood ashes? a bit more dolomite?
all replies appreciated
cheers

 

[VerdantGreen]

wood ash is pretty fine and can gum up your soil. the kelp meal should have your K covered.

as for your mix it looks like it would be very heavy and rich. i would cut it with 30% perlite or pumice or sharp sand for a start. maybe add some more peat also

 

[gOurd^jr.]

Thanks for chiming in VG, I forgot to mention that imediately before planting I mixed in some perlite to loosen it up a bit say ~10-15%. I try to stay away from adding much perlite, especially now that im mixing with bagged soil which has perlite in it. Its useful stuff it just never really breaks down and goes away...almost creepylike. I'll certainly be recycling all this so I keep my perlite to a minimum. I like peat and coco for aeration and drainage. not sure how coco breaks down long term though.

Anyways I think I'll leave out the ashes until next batch, I too think I have K covered and can easily whip up kelp tea to supplement if necessary. probably better off with lime as a buffer give me some calmag. I might throw in some more peat though and then use less expensive bagged soil. hmmm.....
Thanks again VG, peace all

 

[hopleaf]

sounds like a good recipe for a compost tea, but for a soil mix it seems way overkill. sphagnam moss, EWC, and perlite is really all you need to make a quality soil. by adding all that extra stuff to your compost only invites bad bacteria and fungus. when you over feed your compost then the bad microbs have the opportunity to settle in and find a nice spot to eat and reproduce. i think you have the right idea by mixing it in with other soils, but i would highly suggest a very light feeding regime if any feeding at all. as for the wood ashes i'd just toss em in the outside garden and not get to crazy with the soil mixtures.