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Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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Posted by
whaas 5a Milwaukee (
My Page) on
Mon, Feb 15, 10 at 21:32
| I have a 10'x6' fire pit that I burned brush in maybe 2x a year for the last 2 years.
I plan to make my last burn as soon as the snow melts, maybe late March.
Are there any issues with planting in this area come mid-April? Will be a combination of Yellowwood, shrubs and perrenials. I plan to remove most of the ash. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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| Burn piles will be productive areas to grow in again, but I think trying in mid-april would be a mistake. The burn pile sterilizes the top 4-6" of soil. I would remove most the ash and compost that spot heavy for a year or two. |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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In most areas of Wisconsin, just like in Michigan, burning anything is tightly regulated and is not a good idea anyway since burning brush produces large amounts of air pollution. A far better use for that brush you think needs to be burned is to chip, or shred, it and use it for a mulch.
To determine whether the soil where brush has been burned previously is good for growing requires a good, reliable soil test, especially for soil pH because if that is high (alkaline as it should be from the ash) that will lock up nutrients needed by the plants growing there. |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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- Posted by whaas 5a Milwaukee (My Page) on
Tue, Feb 16, 10 at 11:14
| Are you saying if burned in that area before its likely to be more alkaline? For some reason I thought more acidic. Technically the only plant I have on order is a Yellowwood...so I could wait on everything else. The Yellowwood does very well in high alkaline soils. |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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| The ash from trees and shrubs is about 50 percent Calcium Carbonate, CaCo3, which is lime. |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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| I would say if you've only burned in that spot four times and you plan to remove most of the Ash, I doubt you would have any additional problems planting there than you would anyplace else in the area... |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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| I've burned lots of slash and at the last acreage we owned I had many fires and found if the cold ashes are raked out of the burn area and flung over nearby areas and soil lightly sprinkled over the burned area and seeded with grass it grows really well. If I had chipped all that slash I'd still be there doing it 20 years later. I cleared 4 acres in 4 years doing it part-time. Is there anywhere on this continent where slash from logging is chipped, not burned? Can't imagine it. There are huge fires every winter here post-logging altho we are very rural and maybe the pollution is now over the Rockies. |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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| Hey whaas, don't feel quilty about burning. As a retired fire captain with 34 years of wildfire experience, I would encourage open burning in the winter or spring as a good method of fire hazard reduction. Here in California it is required in most all areas that you remove or modify flammable vegetation 100' fron structures. Often open burning is the only viable way of accomplishing this task due to terrain, volume of material, and expense. Non fire season burning is tightly regulated by the county air pollution control district. They determine the "burn days" based on predicted air movement. A properly managed burn pile using dry vegetation produces little smoke. Chips are great and I am not against chipping, but it also has a "carbon footprint" IMO... |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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- Posted by whaas 5a Milwaukee (My Page) on
Thu, Feb 18, 10 at 21:17
| I'm not too worried about burning the brush...only a few times in the last couple years. Mainly large limbs from trees that previous owners never pruned. Bottom line as long as I plant plants that tolerate high ph I should be ok...? |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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| Think of the millennia that farmers have practiced, and still practice, slash and burn agriculture. You'll be fine. |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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| A properly managed burn pile using dry vegetation produces little smoke. Hi Mendopete, could you please elaborate on how to properly manage a burn pile? I don't really like burning, but clearing the invasive shrubs and trees from my lot generates so much brush, I have no choice but to burn it and would like to do it as cleanly as possible. |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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| To burn cleanly you must avoid burning fuels with high moisture content and burn them hot. I cut down limbs and brush into 6' lengths and stack them with all the butts facing in one direction. Basically make manageble piles I can drag and feed to the burn pile after it is cured (2-6 months). Build a good burnpile by starting a "campfire" above ground (no pit) so as to allow for good airflow. When the coals are good and hot begin feeding. Feeding a hot fire with the dry material is key to a clean burn. Check first with your local fire department and be safe! |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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- Posted by whaas 5a Milwaukee (My Page) on
Mon, Feb 22, 10 at 22:09
| As mentioned above the keys are in how you build it, cure it and keep it hot...it does help with smoldering. I burned a 30' black cherry in 1 hour. |
RE: Fire Pit Turning to Planting Site
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| Hi, I am a newby when we bought our property we had to get rid of a very large camphor laurel, I wanted to try my first attempt at growing watermelons, we have great rainfall. I was told by an old farmer to grow them in the ash of the fire, I did not remove the ash just raked it all even, that was in the winter. In the summer I planted my watermelons organic seeds on this patch, and bingo, the best biggest watermelons you have ever tasted, sweet and very juicy. The soil ph is 8-9 alkaline! All the literature I have since read recommend a soil ph of 6-7, I am not sure why this worked but I sometimes think give it a go and see what happens. I didn't have much time to plant my garden as the spring season wasn't far away so I just went for it. Not sure why this worked or if I just have great soil and plenty sun and water and the ph?? Not sure but it worked. |
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