What do you do with your ashes?

[AIM]

I shoveled them into a pile next to my boiler a couple years ago. In the spring I shoveled them back up and spread them in the field. The problem I have is where the ashes sat for a few months will not grow grass now.
Will this change in time or will I have to dig up the area and add new dirt?

 

[Pain Cow]

My favorite ash disposal story was the time I threw a bucket of 2 day old ashes on an old stump at the corner of my property. Fast forward next morning I have a smoldering crater where the stump was. It was amazing. That's the first time my ignorant negligence actually got a job done. See you in hell, ancient sweetgum stump.

 

[Redneck Ont]

My favorite ash disposal story was the time I threw a bucket of 2 day old ashes on an old stump at the corner of my property. Fast forward next morning I have a smoldering crater where the stump was. It was amazing. That's the first time my ignorant negligence actually got a job done. See you in hell, ancient sweetgum stump.

Nice!! LOL

 

[Hlakegollum]

I shoveled them into a pile next to my boiler a couple years ago. In the spring I shoveled them back up and spread them in the field. The problem I have is where the ashes sat for a few months will not grow grass now.
Will this change in time or will I have to dig up the area and add new dirt?

They should flush out of the soil fairly quick. Maybe spread a little soil and plant grass in the spring.

 

[ihookem]

If it's acidic, what trees like acidic soil?

 

[Blazin]

Some for the gardens, and the rest over the bank is the ritual here.

 

[MattB]

akaline??? thought acidic--as thats what happens when you add water to it, the first step in making lye--which is acid--

lye isn't acidic. It's alkaline. It will eat through stuff like acid but it's on the other side of the pH scale.

 

[Deleted member 83629]

fill the pot holes in the driveway.

 

[Philbert]

lye isn't acidic. It's alkaline. It will eat through stuff like acid but it's on the other side of the pH scale.

Actually, lye (sodium hydroxide) is good for cleaning grease off of chains. Maybe I should stop buying those commercial cleaners!

Philbert

 

[Freakingstang]

Actually, lye (sodium hydroxide) is good for cleaning grease off of chains. Maybe I should stop buying those commercial cleaners!

Philbert

makes me wonder if a wet ash solution would be a good cast iron skillet cleaner (oven cleaner has lye)....

 

[Philbert]

Well, before we had Amazon, or even hardware stores, wood ash was used for a lot of things, including tanning hides, making soap, etc. I'll bet there are even some on-line sites that will tell you to use the ash from specific types of wood for specific uses! Let us know! I will post in my Challenge Chain thread if I try it for cleaning chains.

Philbert

 

[Davej_07]

After they are cold in the pail outside, I dump them into the garbage or on the pile at the edge of my woods. In spring I rake them flat and start over again in fall.

 

[chads]

I have a tin I shovel them into, then next time I need to empty the stove they are plenty cool,I pour them into a cardboard box and discard into the trash.
Chad

 

[camovan]

After it cools we mix with some sand and throw it in the chicken coop. They give themselves dust baths with it and it keeps the mites off them.

 

[Erik B]

I have 2 ash cans with lids and when one gets full, I put it in the garage for a few days before throwing the ashes in the woods.

 

[Kenji Acso]

i put it in a 55gallon drum, in the summer i fertilize.

here's an old trick, dating back hundreds and thousands of years:
wood ash+urine= potasium nitrate, best fertilizer all round.
i got more recipe like this but i wont post them here... hehe, you can make just about everything, from clothe washing to black powder.

 

[tla100]

Spread around house to keep critters and bugs from trying to get in. Not sure if it works but I read it on the interweb. Have noticed not as many bugs in basement. Mice like to dig around house/foundation

 

[Wood Doctor]

Times have changed since 2009 when this thread was launched. Nowadays I collect the ashes in clear plastic bags. The city comes by and trucks them to a site where they use them to make fertilizer. I made a special bag holder that makes it easy to collect the ashes. The top of the bag is secured by a rubber band that wraps around a frame with a groove routed out for the rubber band. That holds the bag open and makes it much easier to fill with the stove shovel.

 

[Cedar Row]

Actually, lye (sodium hydroxide) is good for cleaning grease off of chains. Maybe I should stop buying those commercial cleaners!

Philbert

Good thought! You going to try it? I would be interested to know how it works, how to come up with a process to allow the use of the lye created to clean chains and other things. Anyone ever try to make a degreasing solution with lye from ashes?

 

[Philbert]

I think that the species of wood matters. I am sure that there are instructions in the Mother Earth News, Foxfire books, or somewhere on The Internet. If I try it I will post in the Challenge Chain thread.

Philbert