5 SECRET Wood Ash Benefits For Plants! (Use Wood Ash fertilizer This Way)
It Seems Like a Waste But In Case of Plants, Nothing Is a Waste, If You Know The Right Way To use It. & In This Post, We Will discuss Indepth About Wood Ash, Its benefits For Plants, & In What Ways we Can use Wood Ash, So keep Reading.
What Is Wood ash, & How Its made?
Wood Ash Is The grey Colored Powder Left After Burning a Wood, In Appearance, Wood ash Is a very Light Wieght, Grey To White Colored Powder, That is a Rich Source of Potassium, & Some Other Trace Elements. Wood Ash is an old Fertilizer Used From 100 Of Years by The Farmers, Specially At The Flowering Stage of a Plant.
Benefits of Wood Ash For Plants!
There Are Several Benefits That Wood Ash fertilizer Provides To Our Plants, Let me Describe Them Shortly.
1-Potassium Source:
First of All Wood Ash is a potassium Enrich Fertilizer, Potassium is an Essential Plant Element Responsible For Promoting a Healthy, Timely, & Big Size Fruiting On a Plant.
& Wood Ash is its Organic & a Free Source, Potassium Uses aren’t just limited to This, You can Follow a Detailed Guide From This To Learn All About Potassium uses For Plants.
2-Alkaline pH:
Another benefit of Wood ash for Plants is Its Effect On The Ph. Its Alkaline In Nature, Means Its Usage Will Raise The Soil Ph, Which Is Good For Many plants.
3-Best For Vegetables:
Wood Ash fertilizer is also Very Useful For vegetable Plants, Its promotes Healthy Flowering & Fruiting on a Plant, Along Its Organic nature.
4-Calcium Source & Trace Elements:
Another Plus Point of Wood Ash is The Trace Elements It Has. Wood Ash Besides The Potassium Also Contains Several Plant Nutrients. Like Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron, Magnesium, Boron & So On.
These Elements are Required in Small Amounts But Plays a key Role. Without These Elements No Plant can grow Well. Most Leaf Problems Also Appears because of The Shortage of These Elements.
5-Enhances Soil Texture:
Another Quality of Wood ash Is that It Makes The Soil Better, In terms Of Soil Structure, Looseness, & fertility. & Soil Is a Fundamental Thing To Grow a Plant, Overall Wood Ash Also Have Positive Effect On The Soil.
6-Repels Pests:
Wood Ash fertilizer also Repels Pests & Insects. Its fine particles Block The Movement & Breathing Of Small Insects, Also Its Ph & Scent is Non Ideal For Pests & Insects. Algae, Soft Body Insects Like Snails & Slugs, Ants, aphids Etc all Will Be Repellent To Wood Ash Powder, So Again Wood Ash is Super Useful.
How To Use it For Plants?
Now Lets Know the Different Ways To use Wood Ash for Plants.
Mixing it With Compost:
The First Way is most useful, We Can Add Some Wood Ash In The Compost Pile While making It, Or After its Made, Either Way The Compost Will be Acidic, Wood Ash Will be Alkaline, Overall Both Will make almost Neutral Ph, But Benefits of Both Will be In It.
Simply use It For Any Plant, Any Time.
Dont Use More Than 3 to 5 Table Spoons of Wood ash in a Gallan Of Compost Media.
Now use This Compost as Same As Before, A handful For a 10″ Pot, & So On. You can Repeat This Every 2 Weeks.
Wood Ash Tea:
Another Easy Way To Use Wood ash Is To make a tea out Of It. Its Useful Because It Will Absorb better & faster into The Roots.
Add 2 to 3 Table Spoons of Wood ash in a Liter of Plane Water.
After 2 to 3 days, You can Add this Liquid On The Soil of Any Plant.
Use a 100 ml For a 10″ Pot, A Little up & Down Is fine, As Its an Organic Fertilier.
You can also buy a Pure Quality Wood ash From Here.
Applying Over The Soil:
Another Simple Way To Use Wood ash Powder For Plants, Is To Sprinkle it Over The Soil. Wood ash is Purely Alkaline, So Dont Use To Much.
Only a thin Layer of white Powder over Soil Will Work best. This Will Kill All The Insects or algae Over The Soil, & Also The Nutrients Will Get into The Soil With Water Time To Time.
Dipping For root rot:
Another Easy Way To Use Wood Ash fertilizer is For Root Rot Issue.
You can Dip The Roots of a diseased Plant in Wood Ash Powder For few Minutes.
& Then Transplant It as Like as You Were Doing Before.
The High Alkaline Absorbant Nature of Wood ash Will Help The Plant To Survive & Recover.
Can We use It For All Plants?
Following an Ideal Method, Wood ash can be Used for all Type of Plants, Even If Its an acid Loving Plant, because Potassium is Required by All Plants. Just Follow Proper Dosage, use For Flowering, Fruiting, vegetable, indoor, Outdoor Plants. But Generally It Works Best on The Flowering & Fruiting Stage of a Plant.
Do It Have Any Side Effects?
There are Also Some Side Effects of Wood Ash You Should Know.
Highly Alkaline:
Wood ash is Highly Alkaline, Using to Much can stunt The Growth of a Plant, Highly Alkaline Medium limits The nutrients Intake, & In Result The Nutrients Will be Available in The Soil, But The plant Will be Unable To Take It Inside. So Use it in Limit.
Nutrients Imbalance:
Another Drawback of Wood Ash fertilizer is The Nutrients Imbalance. Imagine You are using Wood ash Over & Over, now The Potassium & Other trace Elments Will be High In The Soil, But Ther Will be No Nitrogen, & so Much phosphorus In The Soil.
So a Balanced Fertilizer Should be Your Choice, That You can make By Mixing Several Fertilizers, There is a Detailed page linked Here, On Different organic fertilizers, You can Learn About.
Leaf Burns:
Applying Wood ash On The Leaves can Result In Leaf Burnings, So Avoid that, Follow a Proper Method.
Make Soil Salty:
Poor Quality Wood Ash Contains Heavy metals, & Can Also Cause a Salty Soil. So Dont Use Too Much, In Limit Every Thing have benefits, Follow a proper Method & Every Thing Will be fine.
So Its all About Wood ash For Plants, if You Wanna Know The Safest Way Of Usinh Wood ash, Then It Will Be With Compost, It works as a Balanced fertilizer With a Neutral Ph, So Here is a detailed Guide On How To Make Compost At Home, Using kitchen Waste, if You Like To Read.