Wood Ash Ph
Always perform a soil pH test before applying the wood.
Wood ash ph. Benefits for Soil pH Most wood ash contains a good percentage about 25 percent of calcium carbonate an ingredient in garden lime. There are several ways to estimate the liming of wood ash. Wood ash is high in calcium content with the effect of raising soil pH.
A soil pH of 70 is neutral. It has been used for many purposes throughout history. The CCE tells you how well the wood ash will raise the soil pH compared to lime calcium carbonate.
Where wood ash is applied frequently it is worthwhile to use a pH test kit to monitor changes in pH and prevent levels rising over pH75 Wood ash may be especially useful in vegetable gardens where club root of brassicas is a problem. 34K views View 2 Upvoters. In addition wood ash contains abundant calcium an element that elevates soil pH a negative in our area since native soil pH is usually too high in any case.
Soil pH of 45 to 60 is common. Wood ash when heavily applied also increases soil salinity that is detrimental to plant growth. The main benefit of wood ash in the soil is to raise the soil pH or make it less acid.
Wood ash may not supply nitrogen but it has good amounts of potassium calcium and phosphorous that are beneficial to many types of plants. When wood ash is used at pH levels above 65 interference with plant growth may occur as the alkalinity level of the soil increases. As a rule of thumb wood ash contains 15-30 Calcium Carbonate Lime 3-8 Potassium Carbonate and other salts 1-3 Phosphorus and other trace elements depending on where the wood was grown.
It is alkaline so it can neutralize soil acidity and the source of the alkalinity is calcium minerals so it can replenish the Ca lost to decades of acid rain. Below 7 is acid and above is alkaline. Calcium carbonate has a ph value of 94.