mathrulz
Active VIP Member
Doesn't wood ash have a ridiculously high C:N ratio? Upwards of 1000:1? Not very good as it immobilizes N. What is your pH? Fertilizers will lower the pH of the soil over time.
For agricultural discussion, thecombineforum is your best bet. Has members in northern alberta from as far north as La Crete / High Level. You'll get more options there.
One of our neighbours did some field trials last year and compared the yield differences with a weigh wagon and seen up to 9bu/acre increase in cereal grains. His soil was a bit lower pH than ours, but even less than half this increase would be beneficial given the cheap cost of the wood ash (nearly free). Our pH is around 5.6, and like you say - the fertilizers and continuous grain cropping over the past decade or so is being attributed to the drop according to our agronomist as well - most land is having this issue now-a-days apparently, unless it's rotated with hay or chemfallow or something similar I guess. He also supports the wood ash in helping with this - I'm not sure about the c:n ratio though, but I guess I'll find out next year! Managed to track down a spreader that worked out as well!
Thanks for the combine forum tip - I've checked that out in the past, but find it much more cumbersome to navigate through personally...