Ohia Ash shown to Improve Ohia Health

[ohiagrrl]

My findings are based on a year of hard work. It seemed obvious to me that after 34 yrs of intense vog-induced acid rain, any sweetening of the soil would provide a measure of balance to these overly acidified forests, however, another experiment with lime wasn't as effective, shocked a tree or two and turned leaves yellow. The added nutrients in hardwood ash explain a lot about why my trees perked up. I compared ash-treated and untreated trees to gauge the difference in a years time. The treated trees bushed out while the untreated ones stayed spindly. I do not recall having named this fertilization process as "a cure" but like with any systemic malfunctions in carbon based life forms, boosting immune support helps slow down or prevent disease. Nothing too complicated here. To Midnight Rambler: In my experience, the parts of a tree that are suffocated by CF never rebound but if caught in time, the remaining functional vascular systems of the tree seem to be able to keep delivering nutrients to unaffected branches (at least within a span of a year). Speed in treatment is imperative which is why pre-treatment seems even more effective. I think any and all measures to aid the forests are vital including stone dust or if injectables prove viable, etc...Trying this out on seedlings might not be a good idea because wood ash mixed with water is also potassium hydroxide,(KOH) or caustic lye (anti parasitic, anti fungal) and might burn baby roots. To those of you who believe that we have all the time in the world to wait on definitive answers about whether the issue is fungal or parasitic, be aware that fungal infections are often spread by parasites, ie: assume it is a compound infection. Fire permits are available to Ag land residents but the easy work around is to use a food pit which is legal in Hawaii County as well as smokehouse and fudo I used a barrel the size of a laundry bin with welded rebar legs. Nothing fancy. The forest is our watershed and ROD is all of our problem. I am sharing my experiences in the hopes that other folks will find them useful on their own property and it is in accordance with state recommendations of burning diseased wood. ON another interesting note, Dr Bambu in Lower Puna reports that if you have to take down a sick tree that if you paint both cut ends with sodium borate (concentrated borax) that the disease does not as readily jump to the next healthy trees. Borax should not effect wood ash effectiveness but I have not tried it yet. To those of you excited about this conversation thank you and keep up the good works! !!!! To Lee M-S, contempt prior to investigation is something that has always puzzled me, This is an easy experiment unless you don't like to get your hands dirty.