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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Wood Ash for Fruit Trees

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  • From: "road's end farm" <organic101@linkny.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Wood Ash for Fruit Trees
  • Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 08:17:10 -0400

On Monday, October 13, 2003, at 05:04 PM, Doreen Howard wrote:

Several sources say that wood ash is an excellent and free fertilizer for
fruit trees. At my new place, I've inherited a large pile of wood ash that
was the burn pile. How much ash should I spread around the root zones of my
apple, pear and apricot trees?
Doreen Howard
No. IL, where the autumn foliage is awesome this year


You might want to get a pH test first. Wood ash can be a great thing to apply; but it's possible to get excessively alkaline soil by putting too much wood ash in a small area, especially if it's done year after year. I did this to a garden years ago, and ruined the flavor of my tomatoes for several years.

Also, what did they burn in the burn pile? Was it just orchard wood? If they were burning miscellaneous household trash, or treated lumber, you might have things in the ashes that you don't want.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly




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