Ever heard of using wood ashes

[trudy]

for control of aphids? My brussel sprouts are full of them. And I really don't want to spray if I can get away from it. A friend of mine swears by it. She said not to use much, just a light dusting on your veggies to kill aphids and you don't have a wait period really from treatment to harvest. Anyone know about this? The way she talked it was such a small amount that it wouldn't interfer with the soil ph. She says it suffocates them, but wouldn't it also have the same effect on any beneficials at the same time. Or are the good bugs not around in cold weather? I guess with anything else u have to take the good with the bad, huh. trudy

[jack]

Gidday

That's a bloody good question.

I throw all our wood ashes onto my vege garden. Mainly onto my garlic though. Wood ash, if soaked in water makes lye or caustic soda so is very alkaline. Lye will destroy fats and grease and therefore I suppose it will destoy any waxy protection that the afids have so destorying them as well/

Therefore I reckon it's worth a try to experiment a bit with it, like a very weak solution of lye made from the ash, sprayed on the sprouts to see how it works. Just do a few and if it works let's know.

[Deleted]

Trudy, I have to agree with Jack,pick a control plant and give it a try.

[Compost Pharmer]

If you have aphids, get some lady bugs. They eat the aphids.

[trudy]

I dont have enough for the investation greg. They are really bad on them. T

[crazy1]

I'd apply the ashes in the AM T. When the dew is still on the plants, that way it should stick to em. And most beneficial bugs are only out during the daylight hours. Let us know how it goes. This does sound interesting thats for sure.

[trudy]

Will do, hopefully saturday morning if all goes well. T

[TennOC]

Works good as a dry dusting tho I never tried spraying the ash in a liquid, so I'm not saying that won't work.

[trudy]

It would be a dry dusting, good to know it works. Thanks, trudy

[TennOC]

Ashes will help with slugs and snails too, put them around the plants on the ground, maybe a thicker layer than what you'd call a "dusting". It's pretty hard to have too much wood ash in the garden unless you already have very alkaline soil.

[trudy]

Thanks TennOC I will, I've not seen any slugs or snails so far. Just occasional earthworms, I'm still building my soil which gets better with each season. trudy