[Terrapreta] Terra Preta and Ants

[Gerald Van Koeverden]

Dr. Reddy,

The fines of rice hull ash mixed in with stored seeds are very  
effective in controlling weevils.  (Rice hulls have a very high  
silica content.)  The sharp silica structures in the ash scratch the  
cutinous exoskelton of the first insects to emerge, leaving them to  
dessicate before they can breed and lay more eggs.  (I was taught  
this in a weekend course by the Tropical Products Insitute, U.K.)

DE (diatomaceous earth) will do the same because of its silica edges,  
and is also used for pest control in storing grain.  It is also  
recommended to add DE to compost for the same reason:  it is not  
injurious to beneficials in the process like the digestive tract of  
worms, but will control certain pests that like to colonize compost  
piles.

Could it be that the charcoal has similar cystalline structures which  
keeps the insects away...in fear of being scratched to death...?

Gerald


On 13-Dec-07, at 12:06 PM, Saibhaskar Nakka wrote:

>
> Dear All,
>
>
> After the successful field trials in Alkaline soils http://e- 
> alkalinesoilsterrapreta.blogspot.com/ , I have just started second  
> season TP experiments on a small scale on our Roof top in small  
> pots http://e-terrapretarooftopexp.blogspot.com/. The charcoal is  
> exclusively from use of Magh-1 woodgas or smoke burner stove http:// 
> e-smokeburnerstove.blogspot.com/ designed by me. I would like to  
> share some of my immediate observations.
>
> One day after establishing pots and the seed with soil and charcoal  
> and only soil. I have sowed brinjal seeds in the 6 with charcoal +  
> soil and 6 only soil. To my surprise I saw that in the three  
> control pots the seeds were eaten away by small red ants. The six  
> pots with a mix of about 30% charcoal were untouched by ants. In TP  
> practice the chances of germination of the seed with out any loss  
> to creatures like ants is minimized. I thought this is the first  
> direct benefit of using charcoal. On day two I saw that all the  
> pots without charcoal are with small red ants. There is not a  
> single ant in the pot with charcoal addition.
>
> Although I love ants, to avoid ants eating away the seeds sown, we  
> could always add some charcoal along with the seeds. Second  
> important application is that in the Vermicompost pits some ants  
> eat away the earthworms to avoid such problem and for value  
> addition to the compost to create a habitat for microbes, we could  
> as well add charcoal.
>
> From web I learnt that those you want to avoid toxic chemicals are  
> using charcoal and diatomous earth as a repellant for ants. For  
> photographs please see the blog below.
>
> http://e-terrapretarooftopexp.blogspot.com/
>
> I would like to know from your experiences what could be the other  
> impacts in using Charcoal to the living things existing in soil.
>
>
> Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy
>
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