paula

Can any tell me if you can use wood ash on banana trees
I would think it would work great.do you?

Richard

Yes! The quantity to use though varies with your situation. As a general rule, fruiting bananas need per year:
1 pound of Nitrogen
1/32 pound of Phosphate
1.5 pound of Potash
+ other secondary and micronutrients.
They will tolerate more Phosphate in the soil, but not use it.

By weight, 1 pound of wood ash is about 3% to 7% Potash. If the ash is composed of vegetable rinds such as melons, cucumber, squash -- then the percentage can be as high as 10% or 20%. For most people, 5% is a "good enough" estimate to use.

1 cubic foot of wood ash (7.5 gallons) weighs anywhere from 20 to 40 pounds, the lower number for pine and the higher number for fruit woods and hard woods like oak.

As an example, suppose wood ash will be the only source of potash for your bananas. Then over the course of one year, you will mix into the mulch around each plant 20 pounds (1 pound divided by 5%) of wood ash. This would be anywhere from 7.5 gallons to about 4 gallons -- the smaller number for hardwood ash.

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