From Permacltur@aol.com Wed Nov 24 11:06:15 1999 Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 08:53:24 EST From: Permacltur@aol.com Reply-To: permaculture To: permaculture Subject: Re: Ashes In a message dated 11/20/99 2:38:36 AM, newman@bcinternet.net writes: <> Decades ago, Organic Gardening magazine did a study of mulch using newspapers. This was at a time when use of lead-based inks was common. Despite incorporation of large amounts of newspapers into the soil, they could not find any measurable increase in soil lead or in lead uptake of a variety of vegetables. Don't worry. Apply ash to soil gingerly, in repeated small applicatons. It is basically chemical fertilizer and has an immediate alkaline reaction. Do NOT apply ash to compost piles, manure piles or home shitters of various sorts (e.g., outhouses, composting toilets) as it will drive off nitrogen into the atmosphe re. Ash also has insecticidal properties when dusted on crop leaves, for example in control of damage by striped cucumber beetles. Avoid use on ericaceous plants such as azaleas or blueberries. Because it has a lye-like property, it can be used to callous "seed" potatoes after cutting so you can plant them very soon after you have cut them. (Potatoes tolerate acid conditions but grow best at pH of 6.5. They are grown in acid conditions to ihnibit scab disease. The ashes will not hurt them and will supply some of the potassium that they need.) Wood ash contains valuable trace minerals and I use it under inoculated legumes to feed the rhizobia that fix nitrogen in the roots of the legume crop. You will get a huge increase in N fixation if you do this. enough for now. For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since 1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses, consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and annual correspondence courses via email. Our online course began Oct. 24, late registrations accepted. Copyright, 1999, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL 32192 USA. Internships. YankeePerm@aol.com We don't have time to rush. A list by topic of all Yankee Permaculture titles may be found at http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalog.html Elfin Permaculture programs are listed at the Eastern Permaculture Teachers assn home page: http://home.ptd.net/~artrod/epta/eptahmp.html --- You are currently subscribed to permaculture as: london@metalab.unc.edu To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-permaculture-75156P@franklin.oit.unc.edu