Does anyone one know if volcanic ash is to strong to mix in my soil. I went to see a volcano here and brought back a huge bag of this fine volcano ash.
let me know what you think!

volcanic ash is good to supplement your soil....thats what the growers in the big island deal with....but they got it worse though....lava is thier soil!! they have to excavate to grow in the ground...peace!!

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" The stone that the builder refuse, shall always be the head cornerstone..." ~Bob Marley http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journal...-hawaiian.html

cool ! So I will try it then. Any idea what the ratio should be? 25ash/75soil??

from what i have seen about the ash it is very acidic. so mix a test batch first then ph it.

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give me a + to rep if my infomation helps

Will do. Thanx for the advice!

Check out the "Lava Sand" article in the Index/Library at the Dirt Doctor's web site.

vlocanic ash is kickass fertilizer... (there's no shortage in flagstaff!)...the stuff is legendary. and cinders make a fabulous(possibly the best) porous substrate...way better than perlite. I think hydro guys have problems with lava, and I've heard you can't run it more than one cycle(hydro) before changing... I don't know hydro, but if I had a free supply of ash and pumice, I'd be using it in my soil mix.

Well then there is no reason to wait! so i should put this pumis in the mix also or crush it up a bit?

Always for all soil amendments, the finer the better for the young root system to nibble on. "As fine as Worm Shit".

I'd say both...finely ground for nutes, and some chunks for porosity and aeration...in flag', we used cinders for construction(e.g.-filling in around foundations, road beds etc.). the 1/2" chunk cinders would be perfect...and there's plenty already ground up with it....I wish I had 20 cu.yds. of that on hand! people in volcanic areas don't know how good they've got it! i've heard and do believe that there is no maui wowie like that grown on the volcano. they also have the advantage of high altitude tropics in hawaii which even california can't match.