Plant ash is the residue of firewood after combustion. It belongs to alkalinity. The main component is potassium carbonate (K2CO3) which can be used as fertilizer. Before the widespread use of chemical fertilizers, agricultural plant ash refers to the ash produced after burning and eating by mountain grass, straw and branches (excluding the ash produced by coal).
The production of plant ash fertilizer is usually stacked with a layer of plant ash and used after several months of maturity. In industry, plant ash is also used as the main raw material of biological fertilizer project to process biological organic fertilizer.
Plant ash shall not be mixed with other fertilizers during storage. Some farmers are used to putting ash in puddles and mixing it with organic fertilizer and straw, which is very wrong. Because the ash is alkaline, it will cause the volatilization of nitrogen in organic fertilizer and reduce fertilizer efficiency. Such treatment will not only waste fertilizer, but also pollute the environment.
Ashes must be applied separately. Plant ash cannot be mixed with organic farm manure and ammonium nitrogen fertilizer to avoid nitrogen volatilization loss, nor can it be mixed with phosphorus fertilizer to avoid phosphorus fixation and reduce the use efficiency of phosphorus fertilizer.
Therefore, when planning the fertilizer manufacturing process and using plant ash as organic raw material, the fertilizer plant should pay attention to the proportion of raw materials.
1. Soil application: since the ash is alkaline, cohesive soil, acidic or neutral soil should be used. Soil application can be used as base fertilizer, seed fertilizer and topdressing, as well as seedling raising and seedling covering (seed covering fertilizer).
When used as base fertilizer and seed fertilizer, the amount of fertilizer should not be too large, and should be isolated from seeds to prevent seed burning. Generally, 50-100kg per mu is appropriate.
It is suitable for centralized soil application, strip application or hole application, with a depth of 8-10cm, and covered with soil after construction. Mix the wet soil 2-3 times or spray a little water before application.
2. Topdressing outside the root: more than 90% of the potassium contained in plant ash is soluble in water, which is a quick acting potassium fertilizer. According to this characteristic, plant ash can be used as extraroot topdressing, that is, 1% concentration of plant ash extract can be used for foliar spraying.
3. Priority crops: plant ash is suitable for various crops, especially potassium free or potassium free and chlorine free crops, such as potato, sweet potato, tobacco, grape, sunflower, sugar beet, etc.
Plant ash can be used for potato, not only for soil application, but also for potato wounds. In this way, it can be used as seed fertilizer to prevent wound infection and decay.
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