Just curious if anyone knows if placing ashes (e.g. from a fire pit) around tropicals such as elephant ears, bananas, cannas, etc is okay/beneficial/harmful? I have some ashes to dump and thought I might check about placing them around plants. There were no chemicals in the wood burned ... just regular firewood and small limbs from the trees in my yard. Thoughts?
Ashes for tropicals?
I've used them on bananas, they seem to love it...especially the ae ae variegated banana.
Thanks much, rjudd. Do you apply it lightly or a decent/heavy layer? On the surface or scratched in?
Ashes are good, just remember they have a very high pH. Bananas like a heavy feeding, but ash is devoid of nitrogen and can even deplete it from surrounding soil. Ideally, you should compost it. It's high in potassium which is good for tuber plants. There's a lot of tropicals that prefer low pH so you need to avoid placing ash around those.
I always start with a light amount. Seems that is the best in all the plant kingdom...a little is a lot!