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'Ash Wednesday' follows nearby wildfires

Smoky haze can affect tomatoes, grapes

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED AUG 19, 2020

Ash particles pepper an elephant ear leaf. Rinse off the debris. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Use a broom or hose to remove ash from the patio, not a leaf blower.

It’s raining ash! After all this high heat, what’s that going to do to the tomatoes?

Wildfires in Solano and Napa counties have filled our skies with smoke and ash, which can travel many miles from burn areas. It’s unhealthy for people or pets to be outdoors.

When we do go outside, everything is dusted with fine particles of ash. And it’s still stifling hot.

If working around ash, wear protective clothing such as long sleeves, long pants, gloves, googles and (of course) a face mask. If ash gets on your skin, wash off promptly.

Don't use a leafblower for ash removal. It just puts it back into the air.

Instead, consider where that ash came from and how your garden can cope.

Most plants will be just fine. They deal with smoke better than we do. As they process carbon dioxide, they also help filter out smoke, cleaning the air. Another benefit: That smoky haze can act like cloud cover and lower temperatures. We might finally break our streak of triple-digit days.

But smoke also contains particulate matter that clogs leaf pores and hampers this cleansing process. This gritty residue can coat the outside of vegetables and fruit, too.

To remove ash residue, spray plants gently with water -- preferably early in the morning. That acts like a rain shower, nature's way of rinsing away debris.

The crops most vulnerable to smoke: Grapes and tomatoes. Both can absorb smoke into their skins, causing what's called "smoke taint" to their flavor. (Winemakers refer to it as "ashtray taste.") The volatile phenols in ash and smoke also are absorbed by the plant's leaves.

Most grape growers wash the smoke residue off picked fruit instead of rinsing their vines. They also may discard the grape skins before processing. Consider that same approach if processing your own homegrown grapes or tomatoes.

As for the ash, it can cause a gritty film on tomatoes and other vegetables. It tends to stick to tomato skin or kale leaves, more so than ordinary dirt.

Ash accumulates on petals of a Trumpeter rose.

Not all ash is the same. Ash from burning forests or grasslands is similar to fireplace ash; it's acidic, even beneficial to a garden, and generally safe. That ash and any smoky residue could be scrubbed off with water and a little dish soap. then rinsed and dried. For leafy greens, submerge completely in a basin filled with water and a teaspoon of soap, then scrub, rinse and pat dry.

Ash from chemical fires, destroyed buildings or burned-out automobiles can be harmful. (That’s the type of ash we get if neighborhoods burn in wildfires.)

Vegetables covered with that ash residue should be discarded, UC master gardeners recommend.

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Food in My Back Yard Series

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

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Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.

* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.

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