Coal Ashes in the garden?

BTW, the small amount of sulphur in the coal is oxidized and goes up the flue. My mistake. The ash contains little or no sulphur. There is, however, quite an array of metals left behind.

mikeandgerry wrote:I have wide range litmus paper and a color chart. I took 6 ounces (avoir.) and about an ounce and a half of fine coal ash using a shot glass as the volume measure. My water tested in the 7 range. After stirring in the coal ash, I tested again. The mixture tested in the 8 range.

Solid ash, according to a paper I found, showed a dry pH in the range of 9.1 to 11.3

http://www.mcrcc.osmre.gov/PDF/Forums/CCB6/3-2.pdf

Well a ph that high would be toxic to acid loving plants. If there is no sulphur left in the ash it would not be beneficial for what I had in mind.
Thanks for the lab work

How about taking sample of your garden soil adding to it the amount of coal ash you might add in a couple of years and sending it off for a soil test. Or better yet two soil tests one without added ash and one with.

Being heavily involved in the road milling and recycling industry, I know the by product of coal, the fly ash ,is used in the stabilization process of road building. A professor at The Ohio State University did extensive testing of adding fly ash to the lime and cement products for added sub base strength and durability. Maybe you won't be able to till the garden next year as easily as you did in the past.

This part was on this site until almost the end use to spread it around the pine and spruce trees to save the lawn from the acid from the trees.

Where I use to live. The landlord had his yard hard filled with coal ash from a shoe factory. He had the most healthy pear,cherry,apple, and peach trees that I had ever seen. He also had blueberries, rasberries, grape vines, and rhubarb. It was about a one acre lot. But it had a huge amount of fruits to sell and give away. Its now a parking lot. found this on here tonight so was just wondering how good it is ? My part starts here One time i took a peach tree my friends had in his yard there was all kinds of coal ash under the dirt it an had the best peach i ever had eaten. I did plant it in my yard but was not as good in his yard why????????? took the first part of this off this site.

Probably be easier to give an answer if you would finish your profile as to where you are/were from.

I'll add my two cents. I've got a large-ish garden that's probably about 40 feet long by 12 feet wide. Been putting coal (and some wood) ash on it for about 20 years. Some here have been asking Why? What's the benefit? There has been a significant benefit in my garden- the soil is much lighter now. I have heavy clay soil here. When my soil dries out it is as hard as a rock. The soil in my garden however is much lighter than the rest of my yard - easy to work in the fall and in the spring.

Mike

mdrelyea wrote:I'll add my two cents. I've got a large-ish garden that's probably about 40 feet long by 12 feet wide. Been putting coal (and some wood) ash on it for about 20 years. Some here have been asking Why? What's the benefit? There has been a significant benefit in my garden- the soil is much lighter now. I have heavy clay soil here. When my soil dries out it is as hard as a rock. The soil in my garden however is much lighter than the rest of my yard - easy to work in the fall and in the spring.

Mike

Finally, someone answered the question relative to my problem! I am replanting (for the third time) the shrubs in our front flower bed. The soil is so heavy with clay and the drainage so poor the previous plants did poorly. I've been considering adding coal ash to the soil instead of peat moss. Peat moss did not help at all, neither did adding crushed stone to the bottom of the hole. This time I'm going to mix coal ash in with the clay to see if that will allow the soil and roots to breath properly and hopefully prevent root rot.
I don't care if there are heavy minerals in the ash as I am not planning on eating the shrubs!

I grew up in the Pittsburgh area, steel mills throwing all kinds of crap in the air & mostly clay & shale soil but the gardens & shrubs all did well. One of the mills had a Manganese crusher (would put a coal breaker to shame) guys would bring home bags of the dust & mix it in with the soil, they would have the best gardens of all.

My guess Sam is that you are right. Most of the common heavy metals are class V poisons

Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 12e

Section IX. Special Systems Pharmacology >

Chapter 67. Environmental Toxicology: Carcinogens and Heavy Metals

... but then so is Fluoride in the water. I used to know this stuff backwards but that was about 10,000 gallons of beer ago and very few neurons are operational these days but here are some take away thoughts:

The probable heavy metals are trace nutrients - read the Centrum label but watch out if you suspect there is cadmium present - which I doubt. That's a nasty one.

As I pass through NEPA organizing coal supplies in Sept, all those that have slaved to grow good fresh food stuff in your coal ashes and are worried and need to dispose if it, let me know and I will take it home and eat it.

When in your veggie patch look up not down, the stuff coming from F ukushima is your biggest toxicology worry. Ask an Air Alaska flight attendant how he/she is feeling these days.

10,001 gallons - life is good the weather is grand - 10,002 who cares about anything.

Just think CNB as beer drinkers we may survive as others that insist on drinking water perish. In early times as cities grew the water became foul for obvious reason, the way to survive was to drink beer which uses boiled water that took away harmful bacteria. As it seems clean water is no longer a priority over profit then drink up & live my friend. But I am afraid that such a simple process as heating the water may not be enough, we can still experiment & go out with a bang. As you pointed out I saw where those people in Alaska are going thru the debris washing ashore & not even thinking of the danger of the gift that keeps giving totally unseen.

I just came up with a new use for my coal ash.
Yesterday I had to dig up the two clean out lids on the septic tank. It wasn't that much fun considering the rocks and clay. And I only had to go down 12 inches. I got rid of all the dirt at another location and now I am going to cover the lids with the coal ash. The next time (10 years) I need to dig up the septic tank, its going to be a lot easier!

The next time you try to get your lid/lids off, you might find them pseudo cemented on the tanks--put some tar paper over the lids before you put the ash on.

I would mix the coal ash with some soil or the like, I fill in the ruts that the mail person leaves by the mail boxes & after a while it gets hard as concrete if compacted.

Caol ashes are very acidic. It grows great poison ivy (growing great where I dump mine) and I understand tomatoes like to grow in them too. Other vegetable plants and flowers like lime soil. Might not hurt to spread them in your garden but you will probably have to use a lot of lime...maybe not worth the trouble. Work better on the icy road.