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How to make potassium fertilizer yourself

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How to make potassium fertilizer yourself

The use of wood ash as a fertilizer has become quite popular and especially useful for people who heat with wood. But before you get started and happily spread ash all over the garden and in the buckets, you should know which plants it is best suited for. Also, not all ashes are created equal, so some caution is advised, especially if you’re using it to fertilize edible plants. Find out if you can add wood ash to the compost, which plants benefit from it and how exactly you can make potassium fertilizer yourself with this waste product.

Use wood ash as fertilizer – advantages and disadvantages and what you should consider

Is ash good for plants? Definitive. But whether it is suitable for vegetable plants and other edible varieties depends primarily on the origin. Trees store any pollutants from the environment in the wood. For example, if the trees were in an industrial area, the pollutants are also present in large quantities. And precisely because they do not excrete them again, the age of the tree also plays a role, because the older, the more pollutants are stored. So if you use wood ash as fertilizer for the vegetable patch or fruit plants, you should be sure of its origin.

Notice: If you have larger quantities that you want to use, it may also be worth doing a laboratory test for heavy metals.

Ash fertilizer is suitable for these plants

wood ash as fertilizer in beds or for potted plants

Otherwise, it is the calcium that is so valuable as a fertilizer in the wood ash. There is also potassium and magnesium, so that plants with this nutrient requirement in particular benefit from it. The high lime content is in turn ideal for heavy clay soils, but less so for sandy soils. According to this, the basic wood ash is suitable for plants with a high potassium and lime requirement, such as:

  • berry bushes
  • flowering perennials
  • Fuchsien
  • geraniums
  • carrots
  • potatoes
  • Leek
  • fruit trees
  • Rosen
  • Cauliflower
  • Saddlery
  • tomatoes
  • onions
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The fertilizer also proves to be very useful for some plants that are increasingly attacked by pests or diseases. Such sensitive plants include pears, plums, peas, carnations, mallows, fuchsias, roses and daisies.

use no Wood ash as fertilizer for plants that need acidic soil. These include, for example:

  • Azaleas
  • Busy Lizzie
  • Hydrangeas (but also depending on which flower color you prefer)
  • daffodils
  • orchids
  • peonies
  • Palm trees
  • Rhododendron
  • Rosskastanien

In this article you can find out whether wood ash is suitable as lawn fertilizer and how to apply it.

Make and use the potassium fertilizer yourself

wood ash as fertilizer in beds or for potted plants

There are various ways to spread wood ash as fertilizer and thus dispose of it usefully. How it works:

Apply wood ash directly as fertilizer

Probably the fastest way is to spread the ashes directly in the bed. All you need to be aware of here is to stick to the non-recommended amount: per square meter 300 ml/30 g. That’s about the equivalent of a cup. It is a fast-acting fertilizer that decomposes quickly. Therefore, the risk of overdose is quite high. Follow the recommendation as much as possible.

Alternatively, you can also mix the prepared soil with the ashes (e.g. for potted plants). This also prevents overdosing.

Put ashes on compost

Since you can use your compost for fertilization anyway, the ash can also be incorporated directly there and then spread out together. This also reduces the risk of over-fertilization. This variant requires a certain amount of preparation time, because the wood ash is repeatedly distributed between the individual layers of the compost heap. Since the decomposition of the compost tends to stand still in winter, i.e. during the heating period, this time of year is less suitable for the method.

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So how can you use all the ash that is constantly accumulating in the fireplace? Store them dry in suitable, sealable containers (no aluminum!). As soon as the composting starts again, you can always take out the necessary amount for each layer.

make liquid fertilizer

make liquid fertilizer yourself to water the plants


Scattering the ashes on a windy day like the first method would obviously not be such a good idea. And dry wood ash is also less than optimal during dry spells because it requires water to decompose and subsequent watering could wash it away. In such cases, a liquid fertilizer that you use as irrigation water from time to time is very practical. How to craft it:

  • Take a container (watering can) that is resistant to alkalis.
  • Fill them with water.
  • Dissolve the cooled ash in it.
  • Pay attention to the dosage when fertilizing! You should not spread more than 30 g of ash per square meter, albeit over the irrigation water and not directly as a powder.

Only use wood ash as fertilizer!

do not use ashes from the grill or pellets

As already mentioned, ashes are not always the same. Our contribution only applies to real wood ash from burned wood, but that from straw or other vegetable waste can also be used. You should use the following types of ash no way use as fertilizer:

  • Ash from treated wood (varnish, glue etc.)
  • aus Pellets
  • paper ash
  • Barbecue coal ash

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