Volcanic Ash in the Garden

Forum Archives

 

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Susie

Location: Washington, Southwestern

Posted: Sep-29-2004 at 5:19pm

If the volcano does spew ash in the air, and the ash lands in our gardens, what affect will that ash have on the soil?

Will the ash negatively affect any particular plants?

 

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gary

Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor

Posted: Sep-29-2004 at 5:37pm

Basically, not much unless it is thick. Here is a site with a lot of info on this slim possibility:

"Volcanic Ash: Effects & Mitigation Strategies"

Gary

 

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cjmiller

Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley

Posted: Sep-29-2004 at 10:05pm

In Portland, when St Helens blew, we were not "deeply" buried in ash, but my sister who lives near Missoula, Mt. got dumped on significantly--4 or 5 inches, said it was not unlike a heavy snow storm, except for an occasional moment of watching a lump on the ground look like "Peanuts Pigpen" as a bird dusted off before flying away. She also said it was so dark, like twilight and incredibly quiet at first. It occured in mid May, the growing season there really had not started and the residue just kind of married with the soil and didnt seem to cause any problems other than the inconvenience at the time--which was considerable, if you were there and lived to tell about it (with embellishments)!

Carol

 

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JeanneK

Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro

Posted: Sep-30-2004 at 8:51am

I remember getting at least 4-5 inches of ash in Portland! I don't know how the growing season was impacted but it was dark and cloudy most of the summer. Great link, Gary!

Jeanne

 

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Plantsman

Joined: Sep-20-2004

Location: Outside the Maritime Pacific Northwest

Posted: Sep-30-2004 at 9:17am

When I was staying in Naples and visited Pompei I recall that the valley stretching north-westward from Vesuvius to Acerta was to a great extent volcanic residue, and a market growers paradise. The crops looked the healthiest I had ever seen. There must be some benefit in old volcano emissions.

Peter

 

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Lisa A

Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro

Posted: Sep-30-2004 at 9:35am

I mentioned this post to hubby last night. He said he recalled similar worries in '80 but thought that instead of it being a problem, growers experienced a great growing season. I moved to Oregon the following year and a friend and I visited the area devastated by the eruption (in those days, we couldn't get very close at all). It was so eerie to see all the destruction and, at the same time, see nature coming back with a bang. I recall being amazed at nature's resiliency.

Anyone want to take bets on how long it takes for Mount St. Helens' ash to appear on Ebay if it does erupt? LOL

 

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Susie

Joined: Sep-20-2004

Location: Washington, Southwestern

Posted: Oct-03-2004 at 10:54pm

Hey, thanks for the info and stories!

Originally posted by Lisa A

"Anyone want to take bets on how long it takes for Mount St. Helens' ash to appear on Ebay if it does erupt? LOL"

Back in 1980, that first big eruption was on my birthday, and within a month I had several vials of ash as late birthday gifts from friends. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some ash from Friday's little "blurp" is already up for auction.

So, I guess we probably won't get enough ash here in the Vancouver/Portland area to worry about. Interesting though, both my 75 yo mom and my teen daughter thought the ash would be nothing but beneficial for my gardens. I hope they're right.

 

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bakingbarb

Location: Washington, Western

Posted: Oct-08-2004 at 7:30pm

Didn't I read somewhere that figs love volcanic ash?

~BakingBarb

 

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mdvaden

Location: Oregon, Western

Posted: Oct-08-2004 at 10:40pm

I was at a country club, and the assistant took a loan out secured by his vehicle title. He had packaged thousands of vials of ash in a little carton that looked like a jail cell front and was labeled "BAD ASH"

He broke even.

This was initiated too late - a few months after the big eruption when novelty items had been flowing around a while.

M.D. Vaden