[Terrapreta] Fwd: Terra Preta and Ants

[Gerald Van Koeverden]

According to a old research study, the effect of charcoal fines on  
insects might have nothing to do with it as an abrasive or 'scratchy'  
medium.  This article shows that certain dusts actually absorb the  
lipoid layer from the exoskelton of bees without any apparent  
abrasion, resulting in the dehydration of the insect.

The results (Table 1) show
that all the dusts effected an increase in the rate of water-loss of  
the dead bees; that
the three most effective dusts were silica gel, Almicide and  
activated charcoal, the
common physical property of these materials being their capacity to  
act as powerful
absorbents; that Bentonite and activated charcoal, both soft  
materials, were more
effective than carborundum, which is hard and highly abrasive. These  
facts again
indicate that abrasion is not an important factor in the action of  
these dusts in dis-
rupting the waterproofing layers, and suggest furthermore that they  
may act by
adsorbing the lipoid material.

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/32/1/95.pdf

Gerrit

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Gerald Van Koeverden <vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca>
> Date: December 13, 2007 12:55:28 PM EST (CA)
> To: Saibhaskar Nakka <saibhaskarnakka at gmail.com>
> Cc: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org, terrapreta-owner at bioenergylists.org
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Terra Preta and Ants
>
> 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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