Potash

Hi, i have a very green looking garden, everything is growing like mad but I think I may have a potash deficiency, or a least not equal to my nitrogen. I have just been looking to buy some and I am amazed at the price of Potash. has anybody got any idea of the cheapest supply of it please

 

ive heard.... if ya pee in a bucket and leave 12 hrs approx then you have what u need.. free potasium

 

You can test your soil for NPK, and then top up if any are low for the type of plants /vegs you are growing

 

Next time you have a bonfire, keep the ash off it (assuming its mostly wood ash), which is very high in potash.

 

Although beware that bonfire (i.e. wood) ash is mostly [relative to the Potash] Calcium carbonate - Lime - which will make the soil more alkaline - don't stick it on your Blueberries! or anything else ericaeous

 

Yeah, 'tis a good point, I chuck it on my Raspberries every year and they are haven't turned to Stone yet!

I don't know how much you can get away with though? The ratio of "Lime" to "Potash" is quite high, and I presume it is cumulative (rather than being leached away - unlike the Potash which will be gone all too soon I think :( ) ?

(P.S. Don't stick the ash from a Coal fire on the garden ...)

 

All my recent ashes from bonfires at the allotment, have gone directly onto the comfrey bed.

All pea sticks at the end of this season will be made into charcoal and will be scattered and dug into the plots beds, as in bio char.

Steve...

 

Cracking idea ... Comfrey being so well adapted to extracting Potash into its leaves

 

Thank you all for your help, I shall try these ideas over the next year.

 

don't add anything thats not needed .... get your soil tested before adding potash
http://www.garden-soil.com/garden-soil-about-nutrients-11.html

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/wood-ash-can-be-useful-yard-if-used-caution

 

My last allotment bonfire burned approx (by volume) 4 dustbins of timber, yielding around 4 spadefuls of potash, at a guess...around 5lb.

At those quantities, I dont think I would need to test if the soil needed it or not. It's a case of "I have it, so I will use it".

Steve...

 

what about lumpwood charcoal ash from the bbq, can you use that?

 

I do Plant Potty, its only timber that has been burned with a lack of oxygen.