Tobacco Ash in Gardens

[gphenry]

I am an outdoors smoker. The back deck or front porch, just sitting and relaxing. Wifey has asked though that I not empty my ashes in her flower gardens. Back to the relaxing thing, it sure would be nice to just clean my bowl while leaning/resting against the railing. So this ash is bad for the flowers thing, is that a fact? It doesn't seem right to me, though I know I will never convince the boss that it is. Just for my own edification, what do you think?

 

[smeigs]

that is an interesting thought. I would love to be able to throw my ash in my garden. Perhaps it would make my peppers have a more "smokey" taste haha!

 

[cortezattic]

My dad occasionally mixed some ash from the charcoal grill into his tomato beds.

His tomatoes were good and reasonably abundant. Ash contains nutrients like phosphorous,

potassium, calcium, and other elements that growing plants need; but it raises the soil's pH.

Some plants don't like the alkalinity.
I don't think the small amount of ash from continuous pipe smoking would make too much

difference, one way or the other, in even a small garden.

 

[lonestar]

Cortez is spot on with his answer. Ashes are a wonderful soil amendment and are typically used to balance the PH of soil. I dont think you dumping a pipe is enough to make much change but could hardly hurt anything.

 

[macabra11]

When I am outside wandering the yard and my pipe is done, I have no problem emptying it in the flower beds. A pinch of dottle and ash isn't going to affect anything.

 

[gphenry]

My brother-in-law has thrown his cig butts in the garden which has made his sister ready for war. I do think this is a soil PH level issue, and a bowl from a pipe will make no difference at all. But at the end of the day this is a war I will not be fighting. It is just nice to know.

 

[dochudson]

it doesn't really matter if it's good or bad for the flowers since his wife has requested that he doesn't.

 

[plateauguy]

+1 Doc

 

[mso489]

Uh-oh. If anyone has any science on this, I'd like to know. I've been emptying my pipe ash "tray," actually

a rectangular red fairly deep dish (maybe for condiments?) into the kitchen compost bucket, a mixture of

ash and dottle, but mostly ash. This was done with entirely good intent. I could as easily send it to the

landfill. The ash/dottle is organic and biodegradable. Seems like viable compost. Is there something I'm

missing here?

 

[rwramsey]

I've been emptying ash in my back garden for years to no ill effect. I am careful not to dump hot ash directly onto a plant because you know....

Flowers and plants come back every year as normal.
In any case, like dochudson said, doesn't really matter.

 

[txbeerboy]

I don't think the cigarette butts would look very good. Plus they don't seem to go away with out help. I don't think ashes will hurt much, but I don't really know.

 

[cobguy]

Cortez is spot on with his answer. Ashes are a wonderful soil amendment and are typically used to balance the PH of soil. I dont think you dumping a pipe is enough to make much change but could hardly hurt anything.

Exactly ... won't hurt a thing. I have put ash / dottle into much smaller containers (house plants)

with no ill effect at all. Some plants seem to even thrive on it.
My Crape Myrtles have been "getting some ash" :wink: for several years now and this year

they are blooming even more than ever.

 

[redbeard]

Do a test, make her another garden that you can add your ashes to and leave the other alone. See if one thrives or if they remain the same. I'm sure she wouldn't mind another small garden.

 

[apatim]

I empty the ash in various potted plants on our patio. None have suffered... in fact, one seems to be thriving this year although in past years it had looked somewhat anemic. My wife thinks the ash is helping the plants. I certainly can't imagine smoking so much that the ash amount could endanger a garden.

 

[ruscho]

At my grandmother's house smoking was only permitted outside on the porch and all the butts from visitors went into a butt-can.
When it was time to plant her vegetable garden, I remember she would put a few cigarette butts in every potato bed to keep the grubs, moles, etc. away. I think she did that with few other veggies, not sure. All I know is that it apparently worked and I never got a nic buzz from eating her french fries So you may want to pitch that angle to the wife :puffpipe:

 

[hawke]

Actually it can hurt in some cases. Fertilizer has numbers to measure its contents. Like 10-10-10 which is equally balance.

1st number: Nitrogen

2nd number: Phosphorous

3rd number: Potash(where pipe ash would be)
From my old hippie days I vaguely remember...

Grass likes a lot of nitrogen. Flowers and tomatoes like the Potash. Too much nitrogen can burn a plant and too much potash is not good for some garden plants in the early vegetative cycle while it good during the flowering or growth cycle. I think it raises the PH of the soil.

It may be that the gardener wants to know how much of the levels of each area they are adding therefore they do not want others to do any fertilizing.
Side Note: Nicotine is a great pesticide.

 

[yaboofive]

I mix all kinds of ash (tobacco induced) into my compost as a good source of nitrogen. that being said, some plants don't work well with a nitrate high fertilizer.

 

[tbradsim1]

Ash is alkaline, too much and you decrease the PH so most plants absorb nutrients at a slightly acidic state, you need to find out if the plants you have enjoy a higher or lower PH. ,

 

[smokingspirit]

I have heard people using tobacco ash in hen houses to keep bugs down, I have seen photos of birds using Cigarette butts to make nest does anyone know definitively besides the anti smoking propaganda?

 

[mso489]

It occurs to me that, with the exception of jiminks, the quantities of ash are so small, they won't do harm nor for that matter benefit either. Lately I've watched my young, extremely fit hyperactive neighbor enrich his soil with seemingly tons of some sort of peat mix, a pile about four feet high and ten feet across. I can only admire the capacity of my neighbor for work, but I think this does illustrate the scale of what is involved to make any significant difference in soil quality, or depletion.