Quick question, I have a 5 gallon bucket I found in storage of Volcanic Ash from the Mtst.helens eruption in 1980. It's really fine like flour. Could it be added to soil to provide nutrients, the ash is just burnt pulverized rock, idk, any thoughts?
May likely contain some silica, and might be alkaline, as a possible ph adjuster, if it has any buffering capacity.
Otherwise, I'd fill up 1-gram drams and sell it to tourists at $5 a pop, and call it part of your retirement.
What ever you do, don't let it get sucked into an air intake on an engine; that stuff's hell on engines, turbine or otherwise. Eats bearings, rings and cylinder walls like nobody's business.
I think the tourist souvenir approach holds your most functional outlook.
Ya, I have sold some on eBay in the past. Just wondering if plants like it, I do know the landscape up by the mountain is green and lush now. Yes it's the worst for engines!
Maybe I'll try just a little and see how a plant reacts
Azomite is volcanic ash that is mined. It was laid down in a lake bed millions of years ago and now they claim it is very good for plants. Throw a little in your next batch of soil-less and see if you notice anything? It shouldn't harm the plants at all.
That's what I was gonna say, more than likely highly acidic. Maybe not because of the time elapsed. But myself, I would do a ph slurry test and see where the ph of it is at.
I'm just going by that all ash is acidic but I'm just inferring that volcanic ash is so as well. Volcanos out out nasty nasty fumes and acids. Earths anus in a major leakage!
yeah, Man, USE IT! and it might be Alkaline not acid. test it.
A well know grower here uses volcanic ash for a considerable portion of his potting mix. He grows nice plants. the ash is called "Quinken" where he lives.
Further south growers include "Scoria" which is also volcanic ash. It is not as rich as Quinken but contains high amounts of Potash and helps drainage out of sight.
Check the pH of yr ash and use it. You are likely to be pleasantly surprised!
You can actually find some testing done from that very 1980 eruption online:
"Volcanic ash samples from the May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens eruption were analyzed for major, minor, and trace composition by a variety of analytical techniques. Results indicate that the basic composition of the ash consists of approximately 65% SiO2, 18% Al2O3, 5% FetO3, 2% MgO, 4% CaO, 4% Na2O, and 0.1% S. Thirty seven trace metals are reported including Ba, Cu, Mn, Sr, V, Zn, and Zr. A change in the chemical composition of the ash as a function of distance from the volcano is related to a similar change in physical characteristics of the ash. Water soluble components were also determined after column leaching experiments were performed. Concentration levels of soluble salts were found to be moderately high (1500-2000 µg/g) with molar ratios suggesting the presence of NaCl, KCl, CaSO4, and MgSO4. Heavy metals such as Cu, Co, Mn, and Zn were found at appreciable concentrations (10-1000 µg/g). Unexpectedly high concentration levels of ammonium (45 µg/g) and nitrate (100 µg/g) ions as well as dissolved organic carbon (130 µg/g) were observed in several ash leachates. Results for fluoride and boron show low average levels of ˜5 and ˜ 0.5µg/g, respectively.2"
It's really not the worst looking at that, if it is similar to this sample that is, but possibly the extra heavy metals and sodium would put some off.. Importantly there is nothing magic there in particular that would make the risk that worth it.
Going to try some in some soil today and compare to plant with no ash same age and strain, probably best way to see results. Stuff is very heavy, heavier than sand.
Wonder if making a tea would work? I'll try it I've got lots of this stuff.
The heavy metals will be absorbed by the plant. Julian Karadjov has lots of research papers on the subject. We're growing accumulator plants here folks, but whatever you do behind closed doors is your business...
if you make a tea you are more likely to cause toxicity imo because you can't possible guess a safe dilution rate. Added to the soil the plant can pick and choose. yes she is a hyper-bioaccumulator but let's face it some of the best pot according to some people grow in Hawaiian volcanic soils.
I believe I read somewhere Indians used volcanic ash in soil but they let it sit a while before planting. Indians used volcanic stuff to also make weapons and many other things. I read they believed volcanic ash made corn taste better.