[Terrapreta] Fwd: Terra Preta and Ants

[Edward Someus]

Dear Gerrit 

Thanx for this interesting paper. 

TECHNICAL NOTICE:
Activated charcoal (from gas mask 300 mesh about 50 micron) is very much
different than TP. 

Activated charcoal is an aggressive - powerful absorbent with specific
surface area BET 650-1200 m2/g, while TP is mild with specific surface area
BET 25-100 m2/g, As far as I know CALCON Carbon tried to put in activated
carbon to soil since long time, but was not successful. 



Sincerely yours: Edward Someus (environmental engineer)
Terra Humana Clean Tech Ltd. (ISO 9001/ISO 14001)
3R Environmental Technologies Ltd. 
ADDRESS: H-1222 Budapest, Szechenyi 59, Hungary
TEL handy:  +(36-20) 201 7557
TEL / FAX:   +(36-1) 424 0224
TEL SKYPE phone via computer:  Edward Someus
3R TERRACARBON:   http://www.terrenum.net 
3R CLEANCOAL ENERGY: http://www.nvirocleantech.com 
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: Gerald Van Koeverden
Date: 2007.12.14. 2:06:44
To: Terra Preta
Subject: [Terrapreta] Fwd: Terra Preta and Ants
 
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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