Is sycamore firewood any good?

[lone wolf]

How to Apply Wood Ash​

Before you apply wood ash to your vegetable garden soil, it's best to do some soil testing. Most plants prefer a pH level between 6.0-7.0. If your soil is alkaline (with a pH of above 7), wood ash is not a best choice for your garden. Use less, or avoid using it altogether.

For fertilization, apply a thin dusting of wood ash over the garden bed, orchard floor, grass, etc. Make sure the ash is cool with no live embers before applying.

Application guidelines vary from 5-10 pounds per 1,000 square feet up 15 to 20 pounds (approximately a five gallon pail) per 1000 sq. ft. per year. More isn't necessarily better. In fact, too much ash can throw off the soil pH and nutrient balance.

As an example, some years ago my brother applied a light layer of ash in his apple orchard. My nephew saw the ash, and, wanting to help, added a lot more ash. The trees got “burned” from the excess nutrients and their growth that year was stunted.

In our garden, we apply a dusting of ashes in late fall or early winter. This gives the ashes time to break down. We also apply soiled coop bedding at the same time for nitrogen.

Chicken manure needs time to age before it's safe to have in contact with plants. Top dressing the garden beds in fall effectively acts as sheet composting.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I've had zero problems with adding ashes to my gardens. All winter I throw pails of ash down wind and let the wind spread it, it all gets tilled down each spring. We have been doing this, this way for more than 50 years.

Only thing I want to add is, my gardens are pretty much all compost, as I add huge amounts of hay/grass every year into my gardens to feed the gardens and for weed control. Normally I cover the entire garden and it all gets tilled down in the fall.

SR

 

[unclemoustache]

No, ash does not raise acidity. In fact, it does the exact opposite. All ash is alkaline.

Yeah, that’s right. I had it backwards.
My thumb is not so green.


.

 

[.358 win]

Pretty sure the magic word was free.. Once the door is closed it's hard to see what kind it is.. Sycamore makes a barrel stove hot, also a wood/coal furnace hot.. Never tried it in a fireplace. Could it be better ?? I was offered one (whole tree) not long ago. Storm damage. Also, could drive right next to it.... Oh , it was free. Besides the hustle to cut, carry, split etc.. If it wasn't a friend it would've been a paid thing..

 

[Bill G]

Yeah, that’s right. I had it backwards.
My thumb is not so green.


.

I know the feeling. I am good at killing trees and weeds. I am not so good at growing flowers and vegetables.

 

[Bill G]

Pretty sure the magic word was free.. Once the door is closed it's hard to see what kind it is.. Sycamore makes a barrel stove hot, also a wood/coal furnace hot.. Never tried it in a fireplace. Could it be better ?? I was offered one (whole tree) not long ago. Storm damage. Also, could drive right next to it.... Oh , it was free. Besides the hustle to cut, carry, split etc.. If it wasn't a friend it would've been a paid thing..

I agree, once the door is closed the wood gets along fine and the boiler does not complain., Today I put dry Ash, wet Mulberry. wet Elm, and dry Maple in. They seemed to be getting along just fine.

 

[pdqdl]

Too much will overly raise the acidity,

I suspect Unc may have meant raise the pH number. He's pretty savvy about stuff, but he's not a chemist.

As pH numbers go up from 7, alkalinity is often said to go up. Almost no one says acidity goes down, however, when the pH number gets smaller.

For anyone interested, it's just an inverted logarithmic scale of the acidic hydrogen ion concentration.

A pH of 3 is equal to an H+ (acidic hydrogen) ion at a concentration of 1/1000. Your seriously basic soil might might come in at 9.0 pH which would be equal to only one acidic hydrogen ion per 1,000,000,000 atoms/particles in a water solution. ​

 

[pdqdl]

How to Apply Wood Ash​

Before you apply wood ash to your vegetable garden soil, it's best to do some soil testing. Most plants prefer a pH level between 6.0-7.0. If your soil is alkaline (with a pH of above 7), wood ash is not a best choice for your garden. Use less, or avoid using it altogether.

For fertilization, apply a thin dusting of wood ash over the garden bed, orchard floor, grass, etc. Make sure the ash is cool with no live embers before applying.

Application guidelines vary from 5-10 pounds per 1,000 square feet up 15 to 20 pounds (approximately a five gallon pail) per 1000 sq. ft. per year. More isn't necessarily better. In fact, too much ash can throw off the soil pH and nutrient balance.

As an example, some years ago my brother applied a light layer of ash in his apple orchard. My nephew saw the ash, and, wanting to help, added a lot more ash. The trees got “burned” from the excess nutrients and their growth that year was stunted.

In our garden, we apply a dusting of ashes in late fall or early winter. This gives the ashes time to break down. We also apply soiled coop bedding at the same time for nitrogen.

Chicken manure needs time to age before it's safe to have in contact with plants. Top dressing the garden beds in fall effectively acts as sheet composting.

While that is some seriously good advice for gardening, it does not address why people might wish to add ashes to their garden in the first place. Ashes contain a large amount of minerals that have been absorbed from the soil by the plants that made the wood. These minerals include calcium, potassium, manganese, magnesium, iron, and a lot of other good things. Except that they are usually formed as carbonates or oxides in the wood ash. This form of the minerals generally makes a very basic solution when mixed with water, which you know is going to happen out in a garden. So it becomes a balancing act as to whether to add plenty of minerals using some acid reversing cheap wood ashes, or to manage the mineral problems with extra fertilization at a greater expense.

information I extracted from an internet source on this topic:

"average wood ash would be about 0-1-3 (N-P-K)"​

​

"Wood ash has a liming effect of between 8 and 90 percent of the total neutralizing power of lime, and can increase plant growth up to 45 percent over traditional limestone."​

​

"Most of Georgia's soils are naturally infertile, acidic and low in organic matter. Therefore, additions of nutrients are required for adequate plant growth. Nitrogen fertilizers often lower the soil pH, which makes neutralizing agents such as lime or wood ash a necessity on most Georgia soils. Liming improves crop growth by increasing the availability of nutrients such as phosphorus, providing calcium and magnesium to crops, and decreasing the availability of certain metals. While dolomitic and some calcitic limestone are the most common liming agents used in Georgia, wood ash has many of the same effects. It also can replace many of the macro and micronutrients removed during plant growth and harvesting."​

​

"Several studies compare plant growth using traditional limestone and wood ash. Most conclude that ash gives better growth responses than limestone. While some studies have reported detrimental effects at extremely high application rates, these responses were explained by the drastic increases in soil pH beyond the plant's optimal level. As long as the soil pH is maintained at the proper level, productivity will be enhanced by using wood ash as a soil amendment."​

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[Bill G]

So how many of you can taste soil and tell the pH level? Well at least to a rough number......

 

[pdqdl]

This ought to cover that topic:
https://www.boston.com/real-estate/gardening/2019/07/02/we-ate-our-garden-soil/

 

[Woody912]

Heck no!
I wouldn’t burn that if you paid me.
Very little heat, and when you’re done, you have more ash left in the stove than there was wood to begin with.

No thanks!

burns about like poplar, has lots of water and total ***** to split, maybe a little better than cottonwood. Might be ok for lumber if quartersawn.

 

[pdqdl]

There are so many different answers on this thread, on average, we have almost no usable info.
I'd happily give my opinion, but I don't ever recall splitting any sycamore. The wood is generally pretty wet and heavy when you cut them down.

From several charts I found, sycamore comes in around 19-20 million BTU's per cord at 2900lbs per cord. That puts it close to ash, american elm, black cherry, and a number of other common woods. Not as good as the premium firewoods, but considerably more than cottonwood and other low-heat firewoods.

 

[Billhook]

burns about like poplar, has lots of water and total ***** to split, maybe a little better than cottonwood. Might be ok for lumber if quartersawn.

Well that is the opposite to my experience. We have both Poplar and Sycamore and Ash here. Poplar will burn but does not last very long, we have been burning dry Sycamore all this Winter. It splits well and kicks out some heat, second only to Ash

 

[Sawyer Rob]

burns about like poplar, has lots of water and total ***** to split, maybe a little better than cottonwood. Might be ok for lumber if quartersawn.

Why only QS lumber? You don't like the looks of this,

There's lots of good applications for non-QS Sycamore lumber!

SR

 

[singinwoodwackr]

burns about like poplar, has lots of water and total ***** to split, maybe a little better than cottonwood. Might be ok for lumber if quartersawn.

You must have weird Sycamore
all the trees I’ve cut up, split and burned were easy to split other than the occasional knot but any wood will have that issue. Burns better than Poplar and Cottonwood, imo.

 

[Woody912]

Why only QS lumber? You don't like the looks of this,

There's lots of good applications for non-QS Sycamore lumber!

SR

sycamore around here wants to warp. Some people like the rayfleck pattern in qs boards.

 

[sevensandeights]

My experience has been similar to some others here. Sycamore in NW Pennsylvania has a lot of water and is the most miserable wood I have ever attempted to split. Told my tree guy to never bring it to me again!

 

[Billhook]

So how many of you can taste soil and tell the pH level? Well at least to a rough number......

I think that you need to be careful to remember where you took the dog for a walk!

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I like Sycamore, I know I'm in the minority but I like it. Heavy as heck when fresh, lots of water, but dry as a feather when dry, dries pretty fast. I take it if I see it, but to each his own I guess.

 

[Billhook]

I told you all that it splits easily, even a horrible gnarly bit!