How To Feed Tomatoes With Ash: Rules, Terms And Reviews

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Tomatoes ask for ash: a super-budget top dressing for a rich harvest

Ash is an excellent top dressing for growing tomatoes. But if you make it wrong, you can do harm. The following guidelines will help you avoid mistakes.

What is the value of ash as fertilizer

In the process of life, plants extract trace elements from the soil, turning them into stems, leaves and fruits. Subsequent generations on depleted soil cannot fully develop:

1. Due to a lack of potassium, the edges of the leaves dry out, the fruits are deformed and ripen unevenly.
2. Phosphorus deficiency leads to growth inhibition. A striking feature is the purple color in plants.
3. The lack of sodium is indicated by gray-brown spots on the leaves and the loss of drought resistance.
4. Without magnesium, tomatoes grow slowly and bloom late, as a result of which the fruits do not have time to ripen.

5. Due to the lack of calcium, the fruits become tough and tasteless, with white veins inside.

   

   White veins in a tomato are a sign of calcium deficiency

The lack of microelements is compensated by the introduction of fertilizers, and one of them is the ash left after burning plant raw materials. She has the following advantages:

1. The widest set of trace elements - about 30. In addition to those already mentioned, there are silicon, manganese, boron, iron and many others.
2. Natural origin. It has been proven that trace elements from natural compounds are absorbed better than from synthetic ones.
3. Low cost. The gardener receives a significant part of the necessary ash for free - by burning tops, fallen leaves, dry branches, husks and other plant waste. If stove heating is used in a house or greenhouse, a lot of valuable ash remains after burning wood.
4. Disinfectant and healing properties.
5. The ability to reduce soil acidity and stimulate the development of beneficial microorganisms.

Top dressing is done several times per season:

• when digging the ground (second half of October or mid-April);
• when soaking seeds (February 20 - March 1);
• when planting seedlings in the ground (May 10–20);
• before flowering (early June);
• in the process of flowering and fruiting (from late June - early July);
• at any time in case of illness.

How to feed tomatoes with ash

Here is how and in what quantities ash is applied:

1. When digging: dry ash is evenly distributed over the area in an amount of 20 g / sq. m (2 kg per hundred square meters). With acidic and heavy soil, the procedure is performed both in autumn and spring.
2. Seed soaking. 1 tbsp. l. Powdered ash is poured into 2 liters of hot water and left for a day. After the infusion is filtered and the seeds are soaked in it for 3-6 hours

It is useful to water the seedlings with this composition at the stage of two true leaves.

1. When planting seedlings in the ground. At this stage, ash is brought in, if it was not possible to do this when digging a vegetable garden. Pour 1 tsp into the hole. fertilizers, mixed with the ground (without this, chemical burns on the roots are possible). Then 1 liter of water is poured into the hole, the roots are immersed there and sprinkled with earth. No subsequent watering is required. With this method of introducing ash into the soil, 14 days after planting, the bushes are additionally watered with infusion (a glass of ash per 10 liters of water), aged for 3-4 days. The composition is applied in a volume of 1 liter per bush immediately after watering with plain water.
2. With an invasion of pests. The bushes are watered with a sprinkler method so that the aboveground part is wet, and then powdered with crushed and sifted ash.

3. Before and during flowering, as well as during fruiting. Three methods of feeding are practiced - dry and watering with infusion. In the first case, after moistening the soil, pour a quarter of a glass of ash under each bush. Can be repeated every 14 days. To prepare the infusion, 0.5 cups of ash is poured with a bucket of water and infused for 4–5 hours. After that, poured 0.5 liters of infusion under each bush.

   

   The infusion prepared according to the recipe is poured under a tomato bush

Foliar feeding with a decoction is practiced - spraying the aerial part. It is inferior in efficiency to the root, but has a bactericidal effect.

Ash broth recipe:

1. Pour 300 g of ash with 10 liters of water and boil for 30 minutes.
2. Leave to cool completely.
3. Add water to compensate for evaporation to a volume of 10 liters.
4. Add 30-40 g of unscented soap (to stick the composition to the leaves).

Tomatoes are sprayed in the evening, in dry weather.

Not allowed:

• Exceeding the indicated doses.
• The introduction of ash together with manure, ammonium nitrate and other nitrogen fertilizers: nitrogen under such conditions quickly turns into ammonia and evaporates.
• For the same reason, seedlings are not fertilized with ash until the stage of two true leaves, when nitrogen is especially important for them.
• Ash application to alkaline soil (pH> 7).

Video: root top dressing with ash

Reviews about feeding tomatoes with ash

The gardener will soon be convinced of the advisability of feeding with ash with his own eyes: the plants will acquire a healthy color, become strong and elastic, and delight the owner with large and tasty fruits. In the absence of suitable plant materials, fertilizers can be purchased at the store, which include ash.