Hi people, I haven't posted much on this forums yet I've been browsing them for a long time

I've been growing organics for a couple of years now, but I've used ashes (hardwood ashes in that case) only a few times before. So yesterday I decided to try a new formula which I'll be testing on only one plant that has started blooming about 2 weeks ago.

I usually have two compost piles, one for veg and one for flowering. I dump lots of banana, orange and apple skins in the flower compost, because they are rich in P and K. But yesterday I was checking some bookmarked pages on the Internet and came across this. It is a very useful NPK guide for us organic freaks!

And I realized the fruit I usually throw in my compost pile can also be burned down to ashes, which makes them water soluble. So I made a small fire, and proceeded to burn down skins into ashes. This morning I collected the unflushed ashes (I let the fire extinguish itself) and stored them in a container, waiting to use them this afternoon when I water the plant.

I don't really know how much ashes I'll be diluting in water, I guess I'll throw a good teaspoon in a litre, not much more because I have never tried that and don't want to overfert. (this is also the reason why I'm givin' it a try on a single plant, don't want to burn the other flowering babies

I was wondering if you people had any input concerning my method.

Any constructive criticism is welcome! Sorry for the bad English, I'm French.

Peace

Hello Relik, How's it going in France? I have never heard of this but a good place to put this post would be the Organic Fanatic thread here in Organic soil. We are now discussing the uses of Comfrey as a tea additive, among other things. this topic would fit right in.
Von

Hey vonforne, thanks for the reply!

I actually live on a French island, under the tropics. So plants are growin' good, but we're going back into summer, in a couple of months days will be too long to trigger flowering. Just enough time for a last harvest. :wink:

I'll check that thread and be sure to post my question there, thanks again!

Peace

[Suby]

Salut Relik , au moin je ne suis plus tout seul comme francophone ici

I have limited experience with ashes, I know some have radical impact on ph so I would test the ph of the water with ashes, I would love to know the effect on the ph.

I've not composted for a long time, I want a worm farm badly but it's -20 here for at least 4 months of the year...

Salut Suby!

I have heard of people encountering pH issues with ashes, however I didn't bother to measure mine when I watered the plant. But it seems to be responding well, no signs of burn, pH issues or nutrient lockout. But it's only been 2 days, if it is still alive by the end of the week then I guess I'll do it again, this time measuring the pH.

I've been told that pH is likely to rise when watering with unstrained ash water, I don't know know if this is true but I did strain mine before watering.

I'd like to set up a worm farm too, but I still need to find the perfect place for them in my garden. Meanwhile, they just pop up from the ground after heavy rains. I guess it's enough for now but worm castings should be a great addition to my composts and teas (I've only started using teas this year).

You ever thought of an indoor compost bin? Might be a temporary solution for you if you have such a cold weather.

Take care, keep it organic!

Update: after a week, the plant is thriving! Amazing trichome production, new shoots, no stretch and no pH issues (but I'll test my pH next time, just to be sure)! I'll definitely do it again! Too bad I don't have a camera, the result is really good.

Peace

[foomar]

Replaced pk 13/14 with wood ash last year after a trial showed it just as good and obvioulsly free.
The fireplace has only seen clean dry hardwood and no firelighters or rubish or coal since the war hence 100 % organic.
Run it through an old 150 micron mesh and mix some in with the compost and dissolve/mix with water and add in place of pk.

Supriseing how little ash is produced from a ton of logs if burnt properly less than a kilo.

[Suby]

Hey Relik

Good post foomar.

Relik how much of the fruit ashes did you use?
I notice foomar uses them in his compost, which solves the problem with carbonates in the soil, I'm still sketchy on wood ashes but I'll give a go after I try the fruit ashes.
Dude did you use the asjes straight up in a soil mix or only after in when into the compost compost?
I want to give the fruit ashes a try in a brew also.

I hand a very good friend at OG that I've lost site of :( his name was AllaLoon, he was making a strong P/K compost by only using fruit peels and other elements high in P and K to make a bloom compost that he would keep in a seperate worm bin.
It's benefit is 2 fold, you eat more fruit and you smoke better weed.

Sub's

[foomar]

Been adding fresh white ash in various mixtures with a peat component at around a handfull in 50 litres.
It is intensely caustic and a teaspoonfull in a litre of water has a pH of 9 - 10.

Expect the ash to contain trace elements that survived the heat but no idea which if any , and to contain oxides of phos and potash readily available to the plant.

A fellow grower locally says this is better than the commercial p/k boosters and he runs hydro for a liveing so thats good enougth for me.

[emmy75]

hey relik

im glad u started this post. i wanted to add apple pomace to the veg stage as it is a good source of n. if i had a compost i would use it that way. the soil i use depletes n after 2-3 weeks because of the fir bark and sawdust. u talk about fruit ashes for flower but do you think apple ashes would be good for veg?