Plant ash is a kind of ash fertilizer formed after firewood burning, and it is a loose hot quick-acting fertilizer. In addition to available potassium (5%- 15%), it also contains effective nutrients such as phosphorus, calcium, iron, magnesium and sulfur. Potassium can promote nitrogen metabolism, sugar synthesis and transportation in plants, promote plant growth and enhance its ability to resist pests and natural disasters, and also improve plant drought resistance. Plant ash is widely used in fruit production.

1. Promote seed germination

After tree seeds are sown, the plant ash is used to cover the seeds by 0.5- 1cm, which can increase the soil temperature, keep the loose and ventilated state, promote the seeds to germinate in advance, and make the grown seedlings neat and robust with high seedling rate.

Promote rooting

When transplanting seedlings, using plant ash combined with organic fertilizer as base fertilizer or adding 5%-20% plant ash into nutrient soil can not only increase the effective nutrients of base fertilizer and nutrient soil, promote root growth, but also reduce pests and diseases.

Prevent defoliation

Spraying 10% plant ash lixivium (fresh plant ash 10 kg, fresh water 100 kg, fully stirring, standing 14- 16 hours, filtering, removing slag and clarifying, and spraying) as supplementary nutrition can improve leaf vitality and prevent early abscission.

Improve quality

Plant ash not only contains a lot of nutrients such as potassium and calcium, but also contains a variety of trace elements such as iron and magnesium, which has a rapid effect and is a high-quality foliar fertilizer. Spraying 50%-80% plant ash lixivium on the leaves before and after flowering can make the leaves green, enhance photosynthesis, reduce the shedding of flowers and fruits, promote the colorful flowers and fruits, prolong the ornamental period and improve the fruit quality.

5. Suppress pests and diseases

Spraying 30-50kg of plant ash per mu of nursery can kill underground pests and germs, protect seeds, roots and stems, reduce pests and diseases, and prevent the occurrence of damping-off and anthracnose. The application of plant ash in orchard can control the occurrence of powdery mildew and fruit rust, and the application of 2.5-5 kg of plant ash per plant can also prevent root rot. Spraying 2%-3% plant ash leaching solution can control aphids, red spiders and other pests on flowers and fruits, and improve the control effect of pear psylla.

6. Improve the drought resistance of fruit trees

For dry land fruit trees with poor irrigation conditions, spraying 5%-6% plant ash leaching solution for 2-3 times continuously can improve the drought resistance of fruit trees. Because plant ash contains a lot of potassium ions, it can effectively weaken the transpiration intensity of fruit tree leaves, enhance the drought and high temperature resistance of trees, promote the operation of carbohydrates, and improve the disease and insect resistance of trees.

It should be noted that plant ash is alkaline and should not be mixed with acid fertilizers and pesticides. Spraying plant ash extract on leaf surface should be used after filtration and clarification to prevent the pollution to leaves, flowers and fruits.

The main components of various plant ash are shown in the following table: (Click to enlarge)