WHAT IS POTASH ANYWAY?
Fertilizer potassium is sometimes called “potash”, a term that comes from an early production technique where potassium was leached from wood ashes and concentrated by evaporating the leachate in large iron pots (“pot-ash”). Clearly, this practice is no longer practical and is not environmentally sustainable. In food production, potassium is removed from the soil in harvested crops and must be replaced in order to maintain future crop growth. Over 350 million years ago, the huge Devonian Sea was slowly drying up in the area of Central Canada and northern U.S., leaving behind concentrated salts and minerals. This process continues today in places such as the Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea. These ancient marine salts are now recovered and used in a variety of useful ways, with the majority being used as potassium fertilizer. Potassium is a natural plant food because fertilizers such as potassium chloride, potassium sulfate, and potassium nitrate are widely found in nature. Fortunately,
