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briergardener_gw

Ashes from paper, are they good for soil?

briergardener_gw
13 years ago

Yesterday i have burned big amount of old confidential papers (black and white, not glossy).

Now i am wondering if using these ashes will create any soil contamination.

Comments (10)

  • aperture_lyan
    13 years ago

    Based on my own experience,it's not good that you're going to use that. It will be better if you'll use decayed organic matters like leaves or manure, used to improve soil structure and provide nutrients.

  • rockguy
    13 years ago

    Shredded would have worked also, paper has more nutrients than ashes. Ultimately ashes from paper is the same as ashes from wood+ whatever is used in the processing like clay, soda, enzymes etc. My problem with using it in the garden is it has to be turned under, tends to blow around worse than just wood ashes, bieng flakier.

  • matthewwilliam
    13 years ago

    According to me you can use.

  • Kimmsr
    13 years ago

    About all of what was in the wood that is left after pulping to make paper is the celulose fibers, nothing of the nutrients that the trees once contained. If the paper is clay coated there might be some added ti the paper but probably not much. I can find nothing that lists what, if any, nutrients might be left in the ash from burning paper but I'd suspect not much since the paper itself would not have much.
    Newsprint, what newspapers are printed on may have more nutrients because the pulping process is different then that of the more commercials shhets.

  • briergardener_gw
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    My soil is more on acid site, so i was hoping that ashes will be not so bad. I dumped them in compost.

  • jollyrd
    13 years ago

    When I consider the volume of ashes left after you burn paper - i.e. minimal and very hard to contain - I choose to shred paper and add it to compost pile to help balance the wet ingridients

    I then use ashes from wood burn pile to add directly to the soil of raised beds

  • Sandi Marr
    7 years ago

    I burn wood and i put my ashes on my lawn when it rains,my lawn is dark green and I have hardly any weeds or creeping charlie.I a firm believer the ashes are good if you spread them out over the lawn and when you cut the lawn you can use the grass clippings around the plants for weed control after they dry out.One thing I did learn is don,t use ashes where you are planning to put potatoes,potatoes didn,t like the soil after that.mmmm ?

  • kimmq
    7 years ago

    Wood ash is quite alkaline, about 25 percent Calcium Carbonate (lime), however, the pH of wood ash must vary greatly since the sources of information walk all around that without providing any numbers.

    Paper ash (paper contains quite a few fillers including clays) would be alkaline as well even though all of the nutrients the original wood contained would have been removed. Depending on the paper different clays are used with white paper having the most including Titanium Dioxide.

    Prior to adding either ash have a good reliable soil test done to see what the soil pH is and what, if anything, might be needed to adjust that. Potatoes do not like a soil pH much above 5.5 and can develop scab in soils with a pH above that level.

    kimmq is kimmsr

  • StillDa BaeBeeBoi
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Shouldn't be a big thing because soil tithe it's just as important as nutrient levels. But paper ash/wood ash act more like coconut coir, providing more in structure (density, moisture control) than nutrients - but, unlike coir, ashes can't totally replace your soil.