To Potash or not to Potash

I was just wondering how many people use Pot Ash...if so what ratios do you use for roses in the garden and roses in pots and how often...

Paul usually you do not have to add it, because most fertilizer blends have it in. Are you in the Perth sand hill as well?.

Do you feel that you have an deffiency in Potasium. If I was living in those Perth Sandhills my fertilizer application would be every 3mths to compensate for loss of nutrient leached out of the sandy soil.

They say potassium applied gives greater blooming and drought tolerance, but that is only what I have read.


warren

Older gardeners believe that patasium sulphate (potash) helps flowering and the health of the plant. I think the newer blends of fertiliser has it in them whereas the older types of fertilisers were mor nitrogen based.

Paul, I can't speak to garden soil issues, but for pottingHTs/floris in containers, I've found a definite benefit in adding a cup or more of blood-bone/potash mixed together in the Yates recommended 10:1 ratio. I'm not religious about ratios, so it becomes two handfuls and a palmful for a 20" pot.

Thereafter, I sprinkle a bit of potash on the surface every six=seven weeks. Roses without the mix seem to be slower and thinner (comparing two roses of same variety of course).

I only have -30 roses to care for in pots, so it's not a big deal in time or money.

This year I started adding supplemental potaah to other plants, too, and I can see a stronger, greener result than last year. Bougainvilleas, of course, are voracious K eaters: eat potash for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But the mandevilleas seem to like it too, ditto a cestrum nocturnam, and white butterfly ginger and assorted others.

Edit: Oh, and tomatoes too love K.

Hi Paul, at certain times of the year , I am a heavy potash user, simply because I grow show roses. I use an old scoop that you get out of the laundry powder box and each bush got one scoop per week for six weeks and then stop two weeks before a show. Must water in well. I use the powder type from Brunnings

Hey, Paul, I’ve not been quite as liberal with my potash, just started to use it this year and wanted to test carefully; worked out the directions on the Brunnings powder, i.e., dissolve 20g in 8L, amount to 1 tablespoon in 8L to cover 1m2 (there’s no measuring spoon supplied). I’ve been giving one cup of the solution to average sized pots and two to large pots and roses in the ground when I see new buds forming, i.e., before flowering as per directions. As said, just testing carefully at this stage, using smaller amounts more regularly.

betsyw wrote:Paul, I can't speak to garden soil issues, but for pottingHTs/floris in containers, I've found a definite benefit in adding a cup or more of blood-bone/potash mixed together in the Yates recommended 10:1 ratio. I'm not religious about ratios, so it becomes two handfuls and a palmful for a 20" pot.

Thereafter, I sprinkle a bit of potash on the surface every six=seven weeks. Roses without the mix seem to be slower and thinner (comparing two roses of same variety of course).

I only have -30 roses to care for in pots, so it's not a big deal in time or money.

This year I started adding supplemental potaah to other plants, too, and I can see a stronger, greener result than last year. Bougainvilleas, of course, are voracious K eaters: eat potash for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But the mandevilleas seem to like it too, ditto a cestrum nocturnam, and white butterfly ginger and assorted others.

Edit: Oh, and tomatoes too love K.

betsyw.. when you say a cup of blood and bone and potash.. do you mean one cup in total or two cups... to 10 cups or 10 litres of water...also how frequently do you apply it?

Ozroz wrote:Paul usually you do not have to add it, because most fertilizer blends have it in. Are you in the Perth sand hill as well?.

Do you feel that you have an deffiency in Potasium. If I was living in those Perth Sandhills my fertilizer application would be every 3mths to compensate for loss of nutrient leached out of the sandy soil.

They say potassium applied gives greater blooming and drought tolerance, but that is only what I have read.


warren

I'm not sure ozroz...I am in perth... but i have a lot in pots and the soil in my garden has been replaced with a garden mix.

Jac2 wrote:Hey, Paul, I’ve not been quite as liberal with my potash, just started to use it this year and wanted to test carefully; worked out the directions on the Brunnings powder, i.e., dissolve 20g in 8L, amount to 1 tablespoon in 8L to cover 1m2 (there’s no measuring spoon supplied). I’ve been giving one cup of the solution to average sized pots and two to large pots and roses in the ground when I see new buds forming, i.e., before flowering as per directions. As said, just testing carefully at this stage, using smaller amounts more regularly.

It will be interesting to see what you think after a while jac2

Paul, I mix two handfuls ofBB into about 25L of potting mix along with the potash, to start odf. Therefter, I add some BB (a handful diluted into 8-9L of water) every 9 weeks or so, maybe 2-3 times in the growing season. May be a waste of BB, but the plants seem to like it, at least nothing drops dead. A sprinkling of potash more regularly, after each bloom cycle.

I udnerstand that potash can inhibit the uptake of magnesium , so I also give the roses a dose of epsom salts once a season. They seem to like that too, for greening.

Possibly the whole exercise could be taken care off simply by using Yates's Nitrosol, which seems to balance a lot of ingredients more scientifically than my haphazard methods.

Paul, the thing is, I have no baseline, i.e., only started my garden this June and wouldn’t be able to report any difference. Potash was just a tip I was happy to pick up from the experts – stronger stems and bigger, brighter blooms sounded good; didn’t necessarily think my soil was wanting.

betsyw wrote:Paul, I mix two handfuls ofBB into about 25L of potting mix along with the potash, to start odf. Therefter, I add some BB (a handful diluted into 8-9L of water) every 9 weeks or so, maybe 2-3 times in the growing season. May be a waste of BB, but the plants seem to like it, at least nothing drops dead. A sprinkling of potash more regularly, after each bloom cycle.

I udnerstand that potash can inhibit the uptake of magnesium , so I also give the roses a dose of epsom salts once a season. They seem to like that too, for greening.

Possibly the whole exercise could be taken care off simply by using Yates's Nitrosol, which seems to balance a lot of ingredients more scientifically than my haphazard methods.

cool betsyw, thanks for that, just one more thing, what ratio to water do use with the epsom salts and how many handfulls of potash to water

Paul, I normally will just sprinkle a few pinches of potash around each rose, then scratch, then water, With epsom salts, I throw about a third of a cup into about 5l of water ( half a watering can for me).

Some people use the salts several times a year, but I get a bit timid because it will raise the acidity of the soil if regularly applied. I usually use the salts just after mid-season, or when the leaves look a bit colour-drained.

betsyw wrote:Paul, I normally will just sprinkle a few pinches of potash around each rose, then scratch, then water, With epsom salts, I throw about a third of a cup into about 5l of water ( half a watering can for me).

Some people use the salts several times a year, but I get a bit timid because it will raise the acidity of the soil if regularly applied. I usually use the salts just after mid-season, or when the leaves look a bit colour-drained.

cool betsyw thanks for that

Hey Paul, I am no evangelist for my system, which isn't really much of a system, come to think of it. You'll find more closely reasoned formulae and fertiliser routines elsewhere on the site.

Potash is sorta the New Black in my feeding fashions.